The essays in this volume explore how two domains of human experience and action-religion and technology-are implicated in each other. Contrary to commonsense understandings of both religion (as an "otherworldly" orientation) and technology (as the name for tools, techniques, and expert knowledge oriented to "this" world), the contributors to this volume challenge the grounds on which this division has been erected in the first place. What sorts of things come to light when one allows religion and technology to mingle freely? In an effort to answer that question, Deus in Machina embarks upon an interdisciplinary voyage across diverse traditions and contexts where religion and technology meet: from the design of clocks in medieval Christian Europe, to the healing power of prayer in pre-modern Buddhist Japan, to 19th-century Spiritualist devices for communicating with the dead, to Islamic debates about kidney dialysis in contemporary Egypt, to the work of disability activists using documentary film to reimagine Jewish kinship, to the representation of Haitian Vodou on the Internet, among other case studies. Combining rich historical and ethnographic detail with extended theoretical reflection, Deus in Machina outlines new directions for the study of religion and/as technology that will resonate across the human sciences, including religious studies, science and technology studies, communication studies, history, anthropology, and philosophy.
"...Stolow takes an interdisciplinary voyage through the many different contexts in which religion and technology meet. By putting god back into the machine, he and the featured authors revise the idea that the two exist as separate areas of action and experience."
Concordia
"...an interesting reminder of the interconnectedness of various aspects of human culture."
Choice
"Taking in an impressive historical and geographical sweep, the book contains fascinating chapters on thinking about machines, thinking through machines, and thinking machines, enabling readers to see religion and technology anew."
Author of Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture
