Paper short abstract:

Early religious sources speak of technologies of transportation: chariots, boats, or flying devices. Transportation allows for proprioceptive experiences of being transported, of speed, and of external agency. Metaphorically, experiences of traveling are taken as explaining “journeys to the Real."

Paper long abstract:

From Ancient Greece, Egypt, Persia and Vedic India onwards, sources speak of technologies of transportation: chariots, carts and boats, and so forth, but even flying devices (e.g., in Ancient India, vimāna-s). The contribution will discuss the different soteriological functions and purposes of the real and metaphorical land-, sea-, and air-travel, and will argue, that it is not astonishing that already Ancient religious traditions had a high appreciation of latest human artifacts and technologies of travel. Transportation allows for proprioceptive experiences of being transported, of speed, and of external agency. Technologies of transportation allow, moreover, new vistas on the traveler’s home, on the journey, and on a final destination. Metaphorically, different phases and experiences of traveling are taken as explaining “journeys to the Real,” or, being transported from finitude to a deathless state, or from immanence to transcendence.

Paper short abstract:

This paper presents early modern strategies of disseminating and influencing religious information using case studies of various religious phenomena such as visions and astrological sightings. In particular, the technologies made possible by the letterpress starting in Europe after 1440 are focused.

Paper long abstract:

Today, sensational and attention-grabbing titles in newspapers or internet blogs are a daily part of the journalism and media landscape, including reports with religious content. This paper shows that such strategies of disseminating information and influencing opinions were already a significant part of the media economy at the beginning of book printing (in Europe after 1440). Case studies with different religious content, such as visions or astrological sightings, are used for this purpose. Theories from the disciplines of religious studies, sociology and literary studies are used to highlight the elements and to bring to the fore the function of such early forms of what could today be called ‘clickbait’.

In three steps, schematic regularities within the titles of early modern religious reports are revealed, such as certain terms that describe the genre and the use of attention-grabbing adjectives. In the second step, the functions of these elements are analyzed. Tools from different disciplines provide helpful theoretical impetus here, such as Markus Davidsen's onomastic anchoring, which can establish a connection between the reading public and the protagonists, or Richard Lanham's economics of attention, in which he discusses the connections between style and substance. Subsequently, these elements and their functions are also embedded in the context of the early modern media landscape and its technological features.

In addition to examining titles with regard to their function as so-called ‘clickbait’, other techniques for conveying and influencing religious knowledge are also considered, which developed strongly in the early modern period, such as printing and the use of posters.

Paper short abstract:

In the nineteenth century, Spiritualists turned to machinery in a bid to raise the objectivity of their research. The attempt of the Dutch investigators Matla and Zaalberg van Zelst to build a machine for spirit contact is analyzed, with a focus on the problems they encountered persuading others.

Paper long abstract:

New technologies have a way of shaping every single aspect of a given culture. Religion in this way is no exception. After the upsurge of Spiritualism in the second half of the nineteenth century, proponents of a scientific investigation of the afterlife more and more turned towards machines for their alleged objectivity.

In this paper, the case study of the Dutch amateur psychical researchers Matla and Zaalberg van Zelst is taken into consideration. These two men claimed to have built machines that allowed communication with spirits independent from mediums (therefore attempting to exclude explanations such as fraud). Using these machines, they wrote a new chemistry-based view of what happens after death, with their main informant being the alleged spirit of Zaalberg van Zelst's father. Four books were dedicated to the endeavor, but without much success in the form of continued research (barring one falsification by a fellow psychical researcher).

Cases such as the one of Zaalberg van Zelst and Matla show the difficulties that arise when technology is used to prove a religious point of view right. The researchers' search for objectivity, and the criticisms of their opponents, show the negotiations that can ensue when claims are made for a scientifically proven (form or aspect of) religion. Other, shorter, examples will highlight how the problems Zaalberg van Zelst and Matla encountered were far from unique: their approach was structurally very similar to many afterlife-related research before and after them.

The study of religion can learn from such attempts what happens when technology is attempted to be utilized for the verification of a religious view of the afterlife. Of special interest is the active engagement such attempts brought with it, proving that we should be careful with labeling such endeavors as mostly rhetoric in nature.

Paper short abstract:

Contemporary Judaism includes the stream that seeks to reconcile Torah and science. Among its objectives is the facilitation of Shabbat practice by means of technical devices that conform to Jewish law, halacha. Our paper examines the principles guiding the engineering of Shabbat "solutions".

Paper long abstract:

The main challenge is posed by the holy time of Shabbat, during which "work" is forbidden. Associated with work, "fire" is also forbidden for contact and electricity is equated with fire. This raises a considerable number of problems: the use of the lift, wheelchairs, the emergency call button in hospitals, or simply of kitchen appliances or the reading lamp.

Various institutions are dedicated to solving these problems and inventing objects as facilitators of compliance with Jewish law, halacha. Our presentation will address three questions:

1) What gesture is considered permissible in place of the prohibited gesture? Let us take the Shabbat lamp as an example. On Shabbat it is forbidden by halacha to turn off the light by pressing a button. The lamp does not propose to turn off the light but to cover it. This is done, however, by pressing a button and touching the lamp. How are "turning off" and "covering" the light different gestures?

2) The terminology chosen is not that of "object" but that of "solution", "application" or "halach-technologia" allowing to extend the practice of Shabbat into areas previously forbidden - such as going to synagogue for people without mobility thanks to the kosher wheelchair - and make it possible to rejoice during this sacred time (oneg Shabbat).

3) The new political reality of the Jewish people, namely the existence of a State, entails the need to rethink halacha as well as certain political notions. Thus, for example, in the practice of Shabbat and the respect of the prohibitions to act (pe'ula), one can no longer appeal to the goy (the non-Jew) but must find one's own "solutions" through technological research. Similarly, the notion of piquah nefesh (acting to "save life" is permitted on Shabbat) is rethought as piquah nefesh tziburi, "saving public life" or "collective".