Thursday, June 04, 2026
four digital faith-based activism outputs coming in soon
Yesterday I found myself working on four different digital activism faith-based outputs. What is most exciting is that all four are due out over the next few months.
First, I created a short (2 minute) video to introduce Chapter 25, Mission in Digital Culture, which I wrote for the Oxford Handbook of Digital Theology. The Handbook is being launched next week.
Second, I checked page proofs for “Relational labour and faith-based digital activism: theorising the interplay between online and offline,” which I wrote for Disconnected: Digital Theology in and between Contexts.
Third, I worked on the editorial for 7 journal articles, for the “Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism” special issue due out with Ecclesial Futures in August. I will be contributing not only the editorial, but also an article – “The visual grammar of online faith-linked climate activism: Case studies of grassroots “moana” theologies in Oceania.”
The blind peer reviewers where very positive. My article “offers new models for how Christianity might engage with climate change,” “highly original;” “successfully draws together empirical analysis, theological reflection, and methodological insight.”
These four outputs began in January 2023. I had a week self-isolating with a very mild dose of Covid. The unexpected space of a free week, and the very mild symptoms, allowed me to write the chapter for the Oxford University Press (OUP).
During that week, I saw a call for applications for Research Fellowships with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities (IASH) Edinburgh. Immersed in the “Mission in Digital Culture,” OUP book chapter, I realised that further research questions generated by the chapter fitted with research themes important to IASH Edinburgh. My application to IASH Edinburgh was successful and the intellectual work at IASH during June-July 2024 was instrumental in writing the chapter on “Relational labour and faith-based digital activism: theorising the interplay between online and offline,” for Disconnected: Digital Theology in and between Contexts.
The relationships I formed at IASH generated momentum for the Ecclesial Futures special issue. A particular catalyst was IASH offering to support and host a hybrid colloquium in April 2025, which was significant in gathering the various articles and creating a shared conversation. The 7 articles have been described as “cutting-edge” that “will advance scholarship in our field in several directions” and form the August issue of Ecclesial Futures.
It is very exciting and gratifying to have four outputs in the area of digital faith-based activism and to have all four being published over the next few months.
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