@Preacher_Bot: an experiment in evangelical speech making. Issue 2 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cantwell, Christopher D.
• Is Part Of: Religion. Volume 48:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 276
• Page End: 290
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Digital humanities -- social media -- Twitter -- evangelicalism; Religion -- Periodicals; Religions -- Periodicals; Theology -- Periodicals; Religion -- Périodiques; Théologie -- Périodiques; Religion; Religions; Theology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 200.5
• DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2018.1445073
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0048-721X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article is an experiment in digital methodology. It applies tools associated with the digital humanities to the study of Protestant evangelicalism in order to ask what digital research methods can offer the study of religion. Beginning with the development of a social media computer program called a Twitter bot designed to mimic evangelical ministers on twitter, the article considers how digital scholarship allows the work scholars produce to mirror more closely the religious worlds they study. Next, the article analyzes the results of the program using text analysis software. In documenting trends in the bot's output, the article highlights how digital research methods can help answer long-standing questions in the field as well as potentially ask new ones. It concludes, The article, then, is both an exploration of contemporary religious cultures and a consideration of new media methods for analyzing them.