JRFM - Journal for Religion, Film and Media

14/06/2024

Call for Papers "Death, Loss and Mourning in Film and Media", JRFM 12/1 2026 (May)
Submission Deadline: 1 June 2025

What are the narratives the media and popular culture offer us about death? How can media, online spaces, influencers, and popular culture be a part of loss and mourning? What notions of an afterlife do films and the online world provide? How are religious imaginaries about death reinvented in media representations? These are some of the questions we encourage authors to explore in this upcoming issue of The Journal of Religion, Film and Media (www.jrfm.eu ).
For more information see attachment or full call on our website, https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/calls
Best wishes,
Natalie Fritz, Coordinator JRFM

21/05/2024

*"Fiction, Religion and Politics in The Handmaid’s Tale”* New Issue of JRFM now online (OA) and as print on demand

We proudly announce the publication of the current issue https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/19 of the Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM) on Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Since its publication in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale has become a global cultural phenomenon with an enormous impact on different media productions, from opera to graphic novel to a much-acclaimed TV series. The novel develops a disturbing vision of the theocratic, totalitarian state Gilead and thereby articulates not only contemporary fears but points out how religious and political fanaticism fuel social violence, inequality, and the abolishment of individual rights. The articles gathered in this issue approach the complex interdependence of fiction, religion and politics in The Handmaid’s Tale from different perspectives and in light of the novel of 1985 and the Hulu series that started in 2017.

Enjoy reading!

16/05/2024

Call for Papers "Exploring the Diversity of Representations of Islam in Film and TV Series"

We want to inform you that the Call for Papers "Exploring the Diversity of Representations of Islam in Film and TV Series" of the Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM) is open until February 15th 2025. The editorial team invites contributions from scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including – but not limited to – religious studies, theology, media studies, sociology, digital anthropology, film studies and cultural studies.

Contributions might include questions such as:
- the representation of the diverse and multifaceted traditions and practices of Islam in films and TV series;
- how religious patterns associated with Islamic traditions determine film characters and plots;
- how critical debates on Islam shape and are shaped by media production;
- the tension between modernity and tradition, particularly in filmic representations of migration, gender relations, expectations for women, and intergenerational interactions;
- the analysis of elements of Islamic traditions that so far have found little attention in media representations, such as Sufi mysticism or minority traditions.
For more information visit the JRFM homepage (https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/calls) or read the attached pdf.

We wish you a wonderful summer,
Natalie Fritz,
Coordinator JRFM

16/11/2023

"Here Be Dragons. (East)Asian Film and Religion" NOW AVAILABLE!

The new issue of JRFM "Here Be Dragons. (East)Asian Film and Religion" is online (https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/18) and available as print on demand. It brings together contributions on Japanese, Chinese and Korean films, including one additional glimpse to South Asia, presenting portrayals of independent filmmakers, highly renowned classics, but also examples of manga and anime, the cyberpunk genre, or on most recent highly successful streaming series. The issue aims to pique curiosity and to encourage readers to delve more deeply into the multifaceted and intriguing relationship between religion and media in Asia.

Enjoy reading!

07/11/2023

Call for Papers for the 2024 International Conference on Religion & Film in Hollywood

The Call for Papers is posted on the Journal site (https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/jrf_announcements.html), and you are invited you to consider submitting a proposal. The conference will be held June 26-28, 2024, in Hollywood, California, with the theme, “Religion and Film: Past and Future.”
Proposal submissions are due January 15 and acceptances will be announced by March 1.
More details regarding conference schedule, discount hotel options, and a Hollywood tour will be published in late 2023.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/icrf2024.pdf?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=279504602&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-90CbX1rE6d0YkJWUPrMpiAZc-xYYcrgM0gwoqZCSUSDX73F7wi5IFJCRsCsXPijfrRRxIru9S7QO-rLYsXfQSmf8_Sc_vkZLmOw2wHALWiNNEPBao&utm_content=279504602&utm_source=hs_email

15/06/2023

Call for Papers. Escaping the Moment. Time Travel as a Negotiation of Transcendence
Time travel is transcendent per se, as it goes beyond physical boundaries and exceeds what is empirically observable. However, the idea of travelling through time is possible as a thought experiment in different media representations. It forms a meaningful topic in the fantasy and science fiction genre. In this upcoming issue of JRFM, we will reflect on different media representations of time travel and their connection to transcendence.
For further information visit:

Call for Papers. Escaping the Moment. Time Travel as a Negotiation of Transcendence 2023-06-12 JRFM 10/2 2024 (November 2024); Deadline submissions: 10 February 2024 Escaping the Moment. Time Travel as a Negotiation of Transcendence Time travel is transcendent per se, as it goes beyond physical boun...

15/05/2023

NEW ISSUE ONLINE NOW! "Paradise Lost. Presentation of Nostalgic Longing in Digital Games"
While digital games have been an arena to imagine the past since their early days, in the past decade, there has been a surge in retro-gaming as a kind of narratological, ludological, visual, and technological longing for the early days of gaming. The new issue of JRFM "Paradise Lost. Presentation of Nostalgic Longing in Digital Games" is dedicated to the manyfold interrelations between video games, nostalgia, and religion. The articles explore different aspects in digital gaming that play with and cater to an idealized, romanticized, and glorified past, a more innocent time in human history.
https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/17

16/03/2023

To celebrate the first decade of the Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM), we invite you to participate at the international conference "Open Success!? Research and Publishing in Religion, Film and Media"on 14/15 September 2023 at Graz University (Austria). At the conference we will reflect on Open Access publishing and discuss the interrelation between researching in religion and media and disseminating the findings in a digital journal involving editorial boards, scholars, authors and readers, libraries, publishing houses and IT experts.
We also invite scholars from all disciplines to present a poster that demonstrates their current research in the field of religion, film and media (deadline submission 31 May 2023).
More information:
https://open-success.uni-graz.at/en/welcome/

15/11/2022

"How do we pedagogically engage films in the ethics and religious studies classroom? How is our scholarly engagement with film challenged by our teaching experiences?" The new issue of JRFM is titled "Academic Teaching with Short Films in Religion and Ethics" and focusses on short films as teaching partners in the ethics and religious studies classroom. The issue is available on https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/16 and as print on demand.
An inspiring lecture – not only for lecturers, but for everyone who is interested in religion, media and teaching.
Enjoy reading!

15/08/2022

CALL FOR PAPERS "Here Be Dragons. East Asian Film and Religion", Submission Deadline 15 February 2023.
Nowadays, the film industry is a vibrant element of East Asian popular culture that has become increasingly important on a global level in the last decades. The many film productions provide a multifaceted arena of highly diverse content that spans nearly all aspects of the cultural developments in the countries. Religion has always played a major role in these contexts in various ways and in accordance with the highly diversified religious landscape of East Asia. We invite contributions from scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including – but not limited to – religious studies, theology, media studies, sociology, digital anthropology, film studies and cultural studies.
More information on:

Paradise Lost is not only the title of John Milton’s famous epic poem (1667), but also a philosophical-theological notion linked to and emerging from the ‘Fall from Eden’ in Genesis. It expresses – or imagines – the human experience of a definite rupture in history, the inextinguishable u...

15/07/2022

CALL FOR PAPERS "Ah, why should all mankind for one man's fault, be condemned, if guiltless?"
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" expresses – or imagines – the human experience of a definite rupture in history, the inextinguishable urge to return to the period before the rupture and – unable to do so – thus constructs an idealized version of this past to long for. We invite contributions that explore the theme of ‘Paradise Lost’ in the context of digital games from various cultural and religious backgrounds that take the debate beyond a western and Christian context. For more information:

Paradise Lost is not only the title of John Milton’s famous epic poem (1667), but also a philosophical-theological notion linked to and emerging from the ‘Fall from Eden’ in Genesis. It expresses – or imagines – the human experience of a definite rupture in history, the inextinguishable u...

16/05/2022

"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Media Ethics and Religion" – the new issue of JRFM is now online (https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/15) and available as print on demand. The articles all engage with media ethics and religion from specific perspectives and with particular interests: "How do groups and individuals refer to religion through and within media practices in order to express, challenge, legitimize, or criticize moral values, norms, and principles? How and to what extent do the media themselves influence the articulation of the relationship between morality and religion within the public space and as understood by groups and individuals? Why must and how can we teach media ethics?"
We wish you inspiring reading!

02/05/2022

Media-produced images of flight, despair, and hope are everywhere. They influence our perception of the phenomenon depending on what is shown and how? How do we deal with these pictures? What ethical responsibilities do producers and consumers of such representations have? And what role plays religion? "Uncertain Destinies and Destinations. Audiovisual Perspectives on Migration and Religion" sheds light on different aspects of the subject flight and religion. This new volume of the "Religion, Film und Medien"-series is now available as print or download (https://www.schueren-verlag.de/film-und-medien/titel/705-uncertain-destinies-and-destinations.html)

01/02/2022

"Visions of a Better World" – The 2022 International Conference on Religion and Film at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Conference dates: 8-10 June 2022
Proposal submission: Deadline 1 March 2022
More Information:
[email protected].

15/11/2021

"How do religion and media participate and complicate power dynamics between what is often perceived of and stereotyped as the “west” and the “rest”, between colonizers and colonized?" The new issue "Media and Religion in (Post)Colonial Societies: Dynamics of Power and Resistance" of the Journal of Religion, Film and Media (www.jrfm.eu) deals with various questions concerning the impact colonial and resistant agendas draw on media for various purposes as identity-formation or propaganda. The issue is available online https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/14 and as print on demand at Schüren, Marburg.

26/10/2021

08/10/2021

Call for Papers for the Open Section of Issue 8/2 (2022): Teaching Religion/Theology with Short Films

Films are often used as a medium in teaching religion, theology and ethics in the context of higher education: images, sounds, stories, movement, emotions attract students to a subject that might appear abstract or unfamiliar and removed from their everyday reality. But how do we use films to teach religion, theology and ethics? What pedagogical challenges does the medium of the short film pose, and what possibilities does it offer? What tools or methods do we employ when teaching religion, theology and ethics through short films? What opportunities does working with film offer for teaching critical media literacy in addition to religious, theological and ethical competency? These are some of the questions that the authors of the pre-organized thematic section of JRFM 8/2 (2022) pose as they reflect on their use of short films in the religion/theology/ethics classroom. In addition to this pre-arranged thematic section, we invite submissions to the open section of the issue on any topic suitable to the profile of our journal. In order to be considered for publication in the issue 8/2, articles should be submitted for review by February 28, 2022. For any questions about the issue 8/2 (2022), please contact Dr. Marie-Therese Mäder ([email protected]) or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvtJja2ihYQ

Had Marx got his way, society would be so happy being revolutionaries, there'd be no need for religion. He'd obviously never been to a Gulag. (Part 1 of 4)P...

22/09/2021

Heute abend im Livestream vom Friedhof Sihlfeld.

25/05/2021

CALL FOR PAPERS "Ah, why should all mankind for one man's fault, be condemned, if guiltless?"
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" expresses – or imagines – the human experience of a definite rupture in history, the inextinguishable urge to return to the period before the rupture and – unable to do so – thus constructs an idealized version of this past to long for. We invite contributions that explore the theme of ‘Paradise Lost’ in the context of digital games from various cultural and religious backgrounds that take the debate beyond a western and Christian context. For more information: https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm

15/05/2021

NEW ISSUE ONLINE!!
«How does the materiality of a text influence meaning-making processes? » The new issue «Materiality of Writing. Reconsidering Religious Texts» deals with various questions concerning the impact a text's material quality has on communication processes. The articles work with a variety of fascinating examples – from tattoos to video games to samplers, and many more. Enjoy reading! https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/issue/view/13

03/05/2021

«What does Christian Identity mean today? How is it represented in film and TV? Can a possible crisis (of faith) be transformed into a chance?» With these and other questions deals this year's conference (2–5 June) of the International Research Group «Film und Theologie». Due to Covid the conference is held online (Conf. language: German). For more information and registration:
https://www.akademie-schwerte.de/veranstaltungen/christliche-identitat-der-krise-glaubige-und-kirche-im-aktuellen-film-0

22/04/2021

"Exciting Academic Position at the University of Graz"
The Institute for Systematic Theology and Liturgical Studies is looking for an University Assistant without doctorate. For more information see the pdf below or the homepage (German and English) https://jobs.uni-graz.at/en/MB/61-1/99/6886
Application Deadline: May 12th 2021

19/01/2021

"And then it snowed..." A quick moment of quiet, maybe even ease in this special times. For just an instant, let us forget what is going on and wrong all over the world, and just enjoy the white splendour without considering its own dangerous sides. Focus on the bright light, the snow is reflecting and spreading everywhere. A symbol of hope, arising in the distance... but still...

15/11/2020

«God Gave Rock n' Roll to You – and Other Music too!» The new issue of JRFM explores the fascinating and manifold interactions between religion and popular music. The articles approach different music genres, interprets and their connection to religion. From Christian rock to Flamenco and Folk music, from Nick Cave to Lady Gaga, Venom Prison and Dorian Electra. Enjoy reading and start listening!

06/11/2020

Exciting call for papers:

06/11/2020

«What can they show, what must we see?» Terror attacks are announced and available as live streams on social media, tv-broadcasting stations show images of dead refugees, naked people advertise ice cream or cell phones. Today's global mediatisation provides us with news from all over the world. But, what do we see? How are the news presented and how do we respond to them? It' is all about responsibilities, different codes of ethics and the role of moral authorities. The JRFM-issue of May 2022 is dedicated to the research field of media ethics and religion. For more information visit the Call for Papers on www.jrfm.eu or read the attached call. https://jrfm.eu/index.php/ojs_jrfm/announcement/view/34We

15/09/2020

CALL FOR PAPERS – Media, Power, Religion: Reconfigurations in Postcolonial Societies
"Today it is easier than ever to access media productions from a wide range of cultural contexts and tune into the digital lives of a vast part of humankind. What remains often hidden is that the media we prod-use and the voices we decide to listen to shape our horizon, our perception of the world, and of the people we encounter..."
For more information read the attached call or switch to www.jrfm.eu

11/08/2020

«It's the little things that matter the most ...» Have a laugh, enjoy summer, have a nice day and don't forget: the next issue of JRFM will be available on 15 November!

26/06/2020

JRFM Wishes You Happy and Safe Holidays!