Many facets of social life are now intrinsically linked to the Internet through increasing dependence of user-centric platforms like blogs, social-networking websites, online forums, and open source websites. The Malaysian Church is not exempt from having to negotiate with an increasingly tech-savvy and networked community of believers. Based primarily on Internet ethnography, this book looks at how the Internet is a component of "everyday religion" in the lives of Malaysian Christians at individual, institutional, and national levels. It examines the ways in which online Christian expressions are increasingly integrated into the everyday religious routines of Christians for the development of their personal identities and inter-religious interactions. This book also shows how traditional notions of spiritual authority can be both challenged and reinforced through creative uses of online tools. Also discussed are some of the ways in which Christians utilize the Internet to engage with national socio-political issues within the context of a restrictive mainstream media environment. All these different narratives will show that while the Internet may be "free", the users of the Internet are not necessarily so. While the Internet has provided Malaysian Christians with new tools to experience their faith in new ways, several aspects of "old" offline socio-cultural habits persist online. All of these leads to a robust and growing environment of Internet Christianity in Malaysia.

Inhalt

1.Introduction: Online Religion and the Malaysian Context.- 3.Locating the Everyday and the Offline in Online Christianity.- 4.The Personal Experience: Blogging as Development of Spiritual Identity.- 5.The Institution's Perspective: Malaysian Pastors as Online Authors and Citizens.- 6.Lessons from a New Online Christian Community.- 7.Engaging Malaysia: A Grassroots Approach to Inter/Intra-Religious Communication.- 8.Re-producing Ideology: A Case Study on Facebook Christian Groups and the Bersih 4.0 Rally.- 8.Conclusion.