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Draft:Journal for Religion, Film and Media

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Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM)
Description peer-reviewed, open access, online publication (semi-annual)
Disciplines Theology, Study of Religions, Sociology, Communications Studies, Ethics, Cultural Study
Languages English
Publishing House Schüren, Marburg
Location University of Graz, Austria
First Edition 15.11.2015
Website https://jrfm.eu
ISSN (Print) 2414-0201
ISSN (Online) 2617-3697

Journal for Religion, Film and Media

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History

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In 2013 Christian Wessely (University of Graz) and Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati (then University of Zurich, today LMU Munich) developed the project of a peer-reviewed, open access online journal to offer a platform for discussion in the field of media and religion in Europe and elsewhere. As there were no comparableopen access journals in German-speaking countries, the idea quickly met with interest. The Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM) was born. Other scholars from different countries and with different backgrounds joined the project to form an interdisciplinary editorial board. It first consisted of Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler (University of Marburg), Anna-Katharina Hoepflinger (then University of Zurich, today LMU Munich), Stefanie Knauss (Villanova University), Marie-Therese Mäder (LMU Munich/University of Macerata), Alexander D. Ornella (University of Hull) and Davide Zordan (Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento). In order to reach the widest possible academic audience in the fields of media, religion and film, the editorial board decided to publish the journal in English. Schüren Publishing House (Marburg, Germany), a well-known German publisher in the sector film and media, supported the project and joined as a reliable partner. Until today, Schüren is responsible for the graphic design and print on demand of the journal. In November 2015 the first issue of JRFM, Thinking Methods in Media and Religion, was published.

After Davide Zordan's untimely death in autumn 2015, Philippe Bornet (University of Lausanne) joined the editorial board as his successor in March 2016. Over the years there have been a few more changes in the editorial team. In September 2024 the editorial board consists of: Martina Bär (University of Graz), Philippe Bornet, Natalie Fritz (University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons/Bern University of Applied Sciences), Theresia Heimerl (University of Graz), Anna-Katharina Hoepflinger, Marie-Thersee Mäder, and Sofia Sjö (Åbo Akademi University); chief editors are: Stefanie Knauss, Alexander D. Ornella, Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, and Christian Wessely.

Indexes

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JRFM is listed on several indexes:

ATLA American Theological Library Association; ANVUR (Class A rated); DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; EBSCO Film & TV Literature Index; ERIH PLUS European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences; Index Theologicus; Sherpa/Romeo; SCOPUS; Ulrichsweb (login required)

All Issues

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  • Fiction, Religion and Politics in The Handmaid's Tale – Maragret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, has had an incredible impact to this day and different media productions, e.g. a TV series, an opera, a ballet or a graphic novel, adapted the novel's core conflict of power, politics, religion, and gender. The issue approaches the novel and the series from different perspectives and explores the interplay between politics, religion and fiction.
  • Here Be Dragons. East Asian Film and Religion – East Asian popular culture has become increasingly important on a global level in the last decades. The media in particular have become an important part – culturally and economically – of this development. Religious traditions and motives play a crucial role in East Asian media productions. This issue presents approaches to different media formats, as animes, TV series or films that refer to or are produced in a Japanese, Chinese, Korean or South Asian context.
  • Paradise Lost. Presentation of Nostalgic Longing in Digital Games – Milton's “Paradise Lost” (1667) has long found its way into popular culture. The 20th and 21st centuries have also seen the emergence of new arenas for narratives and iconographies of it: digital games. This issue's articles analyse how digital gaming refers to a glorified past and which religious concepts play a role in this.
  • Academic Teaching with Short Films in Religion and Ethics – How can lecturers use short films profitably in the religious studies classroom? Why should we approach religious concepts and traditions with films at all? This issue reflects on the author's own experiences, approaches and possible challenges and opportunities when teaching with short films in the ethics and religious studies classroom.
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Media Ethics and Religion – Images are everywhere, therefore a critical reflection on media providede images is a crucial task of media ethics. This issue brings together authors who approach specific media sources from different perspectives and investigate the various levels of responsibility.
  • Media and Religion in (Post)Colonial Societies. Dynamics of Power and Resistance – The articles of this issue reflect power dynamics between colonizers and colonized and the role religion and media play in it. The authors think about e.g. mediatised identity-formation or the use of media in colonial and resistant propaganda.
  • Materiality of Writing. Reconsidering Religious Texts – Two questions inspire this collection of articles, To what extent does the materiality of a text influence its meaning? To what extent does the materiality of a text influence the way it is transmitted and interpreted? This issue sheds light on these and other questions concerning materiality and meaning-making processes.
  • Religion and Popular Music – This issue is dedicated to very different music genres and their respective references to religious traditions. The genres range from German rap to flamenco to Black Metal and to Lady Gaga. As a reference to opera – another important genre of popular music – this issue is structured as an online-journal libretto.
  • Science Fiction and Religion – Science fiction films offer us the possibility to explore new galaxies or experience the benefits or consequences of yet unknown technologies. But this opportunities also involve ethical considerations about how far we can go, what creation is and who the creator is...
  • Apocalyptic Imaginings – The articles address issues such as authority, authenticity, belief, imagining social futures, and art as social laboratory. The issue highlights that “apocalyptic work” is the work of revealing and unveiling – both for artists and creators of media texts and for academics as scholars of contemporary culture.
  • Understanding Jesus in the Early Modern Period and Beyond. Across Text and Other Media – This issue offers nuanced views on how historical narratives about the life of Jesus were produced and circulated in European culture.
  • Special Edition: Selected Papers of JRFM – In this volume, selected articles from all issues published so far are presented to show the bandwidth of our journal - and, of course, to inspire the public to quote it and to submit papers!
  • "Who, Being Loved, Is Poor?" Material and Media Dimensions of Weddings – The wedding industry flourishes, royal weddings attract millions to their tvs. But what is marriage actually all about? How is it nowadays connected to religious traditions? This issue offers critical readings of different media format that deal with weddings and marriage.
  • Trauma, Memory and Religion – Is it possible to represent trauma? Why and how do filmic representations challenge the audience? This issue highlights that many documentaries on atrocities confront us with a crucial moral question: what would you do?
  • Using Media in Religious Studies – The issue explores media as a crucial part of research, as means for both producing and representing scholarly results. It focuses mainly on two topics: didactics of teaching religious studies and exhibiting religions.
  • Drawn Stories, Moving Images. Comic Books and their Screen Adaptations In many comics, religious symbols are widely used; protagonists often become – in their own, sometimes rather particular ways – savior-like figure in order to bring salvation to an evil and hostile world. This issue focuses on the religious potential of comics books and their screen adaptation.
  • From Social Criticism to Hope. The Cinema of the Dardenne Brothers – This issue presents insights in the work of the Dardenne Brothers from the perspective of the study of religions and theology. The articles also reflect about the interaction between cinema and reality, between wanting to show, having to show, and taking responsibility.
  • "I Sing the body electric". Body, Voice, Technology and Religion – We are bodies, we need bodies to interact and communicate with others. It is existential. One possibility to communicate with our body is our voice. This issue deals with the interrelation between body, voice, technology, and religion with selected articles from different disciplines.
  • Thinking Methods in Media and Religion – The first issue of JRFM presents a range of methodological procedures by highlighting three selected communication models: the first part considers a model that defines communication as an overlap of spaces that mediates meaning-making processes; the second part looks at the employment of a gender lens for investigation of the relationship between media and religion; the final part analyses the interaction between media and religion in the context of various contemporary art productions.

Networks

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