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Virtual Pilgrimages on the Internet

Authors: Mark W. MacWilliams;

Virtual Pilgrimages on the Internet

Abstract

Abstract Virtual pilgrimage on the Internet is an important religious phenomenon for understanding the new ways of being spiritual in the postmodern world. While often conservative in character, linked as they are to actual sacred sites that are permeated by the mythical imaginare of tradition, virtual pilgrimages exploit the new technological possibilities of the Internet to re-imagine the sacred. In what follows, I argue that virtual pilgrimage has four key characteristics as a form of religious travel. First, it creates a mythscape, an immaterial mental geography that originally comes from sacred oral or scriptural traditions. Second, it exists as an interactive visual-auditory medium for experiencing a sense of sacred presence. Third, it generates symbolic forms of entertainment that are liminoid in character. Fourth, as a leisure activity of individuals ‘Net surfing’ from their home or office computers, it can create ‘virtual travelling communities’ of pilgrims who use the discourse of communitas to describe their experience.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
32
Top 10%
Top 10%
Average
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