This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games that ritualize death change how with think about playing with technology? By offering an emergent, embodied, networked, and ecological sense of ritualization and digital media this dissertation avoids logocentric, genderless, and disembodied theories of both religion and the digital while bringing a posthuman epistemology to religion, death, and media studies.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games that ritualize death change how with think about playing with technology? By offering an emergent, embodied, networked, and ecological sense of ritualization and digital media this dissertation avoids logocentric, genderless, and disembodied theories of both religion and the digital while bringing a posthuman epistemology to religion, death, and media studies. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Borchert, John William"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Religion","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Zachary J. Braiterman"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-22T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-05-22T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:56:04Z","subjects":["Death","Digital","Media","Posthumanism","Religion","Ritual","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1302","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Zachary J. Braiterman"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Borchert, John William"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Religion"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Death","Digital","Media","Posthumanism","Religion","Ritual","Arts and Humanities"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1302"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games that ritualize death change how with think about playing with technology? By offering an emergent, embodied, networked, and ecological sense of ritualization and digital media this dissertation avoids logocentric, genderless, and disembodied theories of both religion and the digital while bringing a posthuman epistemology to religion, death, and media studies.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Immanent Technologies: Posthuman Digital Religion In America"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Zachary J. Braiterman"],"dc:creator":["Borchert, John William"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games that ritualize death change how with think about playing with technology? By offering an emergent, embodied, networked, and ecological sense of ritualization and digital media this dissertation avoids logocentric, genderless, and disembodied theories of both religion and the digital while bringing a posthuman epistemology to religion, death, and media studies.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1302"],"dc:subject":["Death","Digital","Media","Posthumanism","Religion","Ritual","Arts and Humanities"],"dc:title":["Immanent Technologies: Posthuman Digital Religion In America"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Religion"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:56:04Z"}