Processes of deep mediatization in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, use of digital media became necessary to maintain community continuity for numerous churches. Given their increasing “entanglement” with digital media, it is important to ask how to study the relationship between religious institutions and media. This paper advances a constructivist, actor-centric conception of mediatization, according to which media become an integral part of all spheres of social life, including religion. Based on a study of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Poland, it shows that during the pandemic intensified mediatization processes and related trends led on the one hand to a shift of media awareness manifesting in media practices and, on the other, to a transformation of the authority of pastors resulting from the necessity of sharing digital skills.