Digital Materiality in Protestant Evangelical Christianity

Abstract

Abstract Materiality—the role of objects, bodies, physical contact—plays an important part in many religious traditions. Protestant evangelical Christianity offers an interesting perspective on materiality, given that its megachurches rely on the growth, size, and vibrancy of their congregations and services, and that connectional ties and/or the transmission of supernatural power play important organizational and spiritual roles. The Coronavirus epidemic has accelerated the process of digitalization (if nothing else as a hybrid of or backup to physical services). Protestant evangelical churches’ strategies of digital materiality can be considered under the three main rubrics of the “mega,” “accountability,” and “anointing,” each of which strategy has its particular characteristics, capabilities, and limitations. The case of Protestant evangelical Christianity shows the ways in which materiality poses one of the most significant challenges to online religious forms, which is also likely to provoke the most innovative digital solutions looking ahead.