Online Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, May 18, 2015
In this article, I analyze the emergence of a new hybrid practice within American Judaism: “Jewis... more In this article, I analyze the emergence of a new hybrid practice within American Judaism: “Jewish mindfulness”. Jewish mindfulness is a new meditation practice inspired from “mindfulness meditation”, a westernized form of Buddhist meditation. I look at the role played in the Internet in the rapid success and in the geographical unfolding of this new practice within the transnational English speaking Jewish religious networks. First, I retrace the emergence of the practice of Jewish mindfulness and the role played by Internet in this process. Second, I focus on the genealogical and geographical structure of today’s Jewish mindfulness networks. Finally, through focusing comparatively on two groups offering the practice of “Jewish mindfulness”, I show how the Internet becomes the surface of expression of hybrid discourses that are not necessarily expressed as such. In conclusion I suggest that electronic networks can be used to support, rather than to replace “offline” religious connections.
Online Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, May 18, 2015
In this article, I analyze the emergence of a new hybrid practice within American Judaism: “Jewis... more In this article, I analyze the emergence of a new hybrid practice within American Judaism: “Jewish mindfulness”. Jewish mindfulness is a new meditation practice inspired from “mindfulness meditation”, a westernized form of Buddhist meditation. I look at the role played in the Internet in the rapid success and in the geographical unfolding of this new practice within the transnational English speaking Jewish religious networks. First, I retrace the emergence of the practice of Jewish mindfulness and the role played by Internet in this process. Second, I focus on the genealogical and geographical structure of today’s Jewish mindfulness networks. Finally, through focusing comparatively on two groups offering the practice of “Jewish mindfulness”, I show how the Internet becomes the surface of expression of hybrid discourses that are not necessarily expressed as such. In conclusion I suggest that electronic networks can be used to support, rather than to replace “offline” religious connections.
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Papers by Mira Niculescu