Page 213 - Key Words in Religion Media and Culture

196 Jeremy Stolow

other “supernatural” creatures. These diverse figures define the horizons of
human action at the same time that we humans define ourselves and our
“others.” Put otherwise, technological devices, such as gods, must ultimately
be placed in a single continuum, in relation to which humans enact, confirm,
transform, or even deny our own humanity in the ceaseless traffic with other
actors that populate our cosmos. Of course, this insight is already well rooted
in most religious traditions, where one can easily find a vast repertoire of
deified engagements with humans and their ever-evolving technological
appurtenances. In Hinduism, for instance, there is Lord Vishvakarma, the
Divine Architect of the Universe, designer of the gods’ palaces, chariots, and
sacred weapons, and also the popular deity among modern-day engineers,
factory workers, craftsmen, and artists, who every September 17, the day
of Vishvakarma Puja, bring out the tools of their trades and seek the deity’s
blessings. For Roman Catholics, there is St. Clare of Assisi, traditionally the
Patron Saint of eye diseases and embroidery (hence her popularity among
needle and gold workers), but who, in the twentieth century, came to include
television within her sphere of influence. For his part, God’s messenger,
the Archangel Gabriel, has established his patronage over all the modern
telecommunication and transmission industries, including postal services,
radio and television broadcast, and e-mail. One significant challenge for
scholars of religion and media is to find comparable divinities and sacred
powers in less obvious places—perhaps even in our relationship with such
mundane nonhuman actors as discarded Coke bottles.

Notes

1 For an analysis of the fetishistic dimensions of Coca-Cola, see Chidester (1996).
For a broader discussion of the deep entanglement of magic and modernity, see
Meyer and Pels (2003).
2 Of course, this summary risks caricaturing the complexities of these writers, and
the reader should not infer here any suggestion that their positions with respect
to technology are interchangeable. The primary goal of this discussion is to bring
to light the popular narratives that absorbed these philosophical discussions and
rendered them “commonsensical.”
3 Interview with Heidegger for Der Spiegel, conducted on September 23, 1966
and published posthumously on May 31, 1976. English translation in Wolin
(1992: 91ff).
4 Interestingly, the classical definition of techne compares favorably with the idea
of magic, which is etymologically rooted in the Proto-Indo-European magh: to
make, or to have the power to do things.
5 See, e.g., Davis (1998); Hankins and Silverman (1995); Sconce (2000); Stivers
(2001); Styers (2004)