MEDIUMS AND THE NEW MEDIA: The Impact of Electronic Publishing on Temple and Moral Economies in Taiwanese Popular Religion

Abstract

Spirit -writing cults ("phoenix halls," luantang) play an active role in negotiating social and cultural change in modern Taiwanese society by producing and distributing in printed format a steady stream of new authoritative texts, revealed by the gods through the services of possessed mediums. These texts transport self-consciously "traditional" religious and moral teachings, adapted in form and content to  the needs of a modern society. Believers accumulate merit by sponsoring the publication and distribution of such texts ("morality books," shanshu). In recent years, websites have emerged that publish morality texts in electronic format. Based on field research in Taiwan and on the web, the paper examines the impact of the new communication technologies on evolving notions of merit accumulation, as well as on the economic support structures of the "content provides," i.e., the spirit-writing temples.

Keywords: spirit-writing (fuluan æ‰¶é¸¾), phoenix halls (luantang é¸¾å ‚), morality books (shanshu å–„书), merit (gongde åŠŸå¾·), religion and the internet