Minecrafting Bar Mitzvah: Two Rabbis Negotiating and Cultivating Learner-Driven Inclusion through New Media

In 2013, a boy with special needs used the video game Minecraft to deliver the sermon at his bar mitzvah at a Reform synagogue, an apparently unique ritual phenomenon to this day. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this article examines two rabbis’ negotiations with new media, leading up to, during...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion, media and digital culture
Main Author: Gottlieb, Owen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2020
In: Journal of religion, media and digital culture
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Reform Judaism / Religious instruction / Bar Mitzvah (Celebration) / Minecraft (Computer game) / Inclusion (Sociology)
RelBib Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BH Judaism
ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies
Further subjects:B differentiated learning
B Inclusion
B Accessibility
B Narrative
B Video Games
B Judaism
B Ritual
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Description
Summary:In 2013, a boy with special needs used the video game Minecraft to deliver the sermon at his bar mitzvah at a Reform synagogue, an apparently unique ritual phenomenon to this day. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this article examines two rabbis’ negotiations with new media, leading up to, during, and upon reflection after the event. The article explores acceptance, innovation, and validation of new media in religious practice, drawing on Campbell’s (2010) framework for negotiation of new media in religious communities. Clergy biography, philosophy, and institutional context all impact the negotiations with new media. By providing context of a set of factors influencing a particular negotiation and validation of a ritual and educational innovation using new media, the article intends to demonstrate the importance of clergy narrative for understanding new media negotiations in religious settings, and in particular in progressive religious communities
ISSN:2165-9214
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion, media and digital culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/21659214-BJA10019