Page - 197 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Review: religion@home | 197www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 195–199 explanations as deficit-narratives (in German, Mangelerzählungen). Primarily decisive are not the characteristics of the online forums, but the problems of the offline offerings. The users criticize or complain about (a) the incompat- ibility with the demands of modern life and work of participation modalities in religious institutions and organizations, (b) individual negative experienc- es with hometown religious communities and/or churches, (c) lack of space for religious exchange and increasing “levels of organization of the churches” (352) and (d) the lack of religious expertise. finally, Neumaier describes the general tabooization of religion as a fifth, all-embracing deficit-narrative, with reference not to local religious communities or churches, but to the interview- ees’ non-religious environment. In the eighth chapter, the deficit-narratives are subsumed under the axis, or key category, of “destabilization”, which is intended to serve as a common explanation. this category is a product of actual conditions, especially the well- known dissatisfaction with offline offerings. Online usage is therefore concep- tualized as a “strategy of homeostasis” or re-stabilization: “existing convic- tions are to be secured against imminent uncertainty or restored in the face of a destabilization already in progress” (415). two interesting results can be highlighted here. first, Neumaier observes that, despite time-consuming and dedicated use of online forums, the “shift” in faith orientation of users is only small: online forums are in large part used to restore, stabilize or deepen exist- ing beliefs. secondly, despite intensive and regular exchange with other users, the individual’s faith remains largely a private matter: “religious convictions are now in the innermost of the individual ... Communities, forums, and the family can serve to a varying extent as a place of exchange on religion-related issues, but the influence of this exchange on individual religiosity is classified as marginal – religion is restabilized, not transformed” (420). In the ninth, and final, chapter, Neumaier relates the results of the empiri- cal analysis to the broader theoretical investigative concept. first, she high- lights that the use of online forums leads not to increasingly fluid contacts, but, on the contrary, to more long-term and stable interactions (exceptions can be found partly in the exchange mode characterized as the “conflict arena”). second, she points out that as a new social space the internet challenges cur- rent ways of conceptualizing the private/public dichotomy. in fact, Neumaier observes that even in areas which are normally understood as belonging to the private sphere, such as family and partnership, the possibility for exchange about religion and of religious communication is perceived as deficient; online forums serve as a spatial substitute. third, with regard to the distinction be- tween visibility and invisibility, she observes that whereas the fundamental vis- ibility of online exchange is beneficial for those users who want to spread their