Long, Jessica E. The #Exvangelical Reformation: American Evangelical #deconstruction. 2023. Radford University, Thesis. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
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Abstract
America is experiencing a crisis of both identity and faith. People are leaving the Evangelical church through a process called deconstruction. Who they are, what they say, and how they build their online experiences, can tell us a great deal about this phenomenon. Social media analysis was used in this project to explore the public discourses on Twitter regarding deconstruction. Tweets shared from November 25 to December 31, 2022 were collected through NodeXL Pro (cloud version). The research identified main voices of this social movement on Twitter. It also found that deconstructionists primarily shared their experiences by talking about their reasons of leaving the church, such as systematic/institutional sexual abuse, gay rights, and religious abuse/questions about teachings. Empty pews can signal those unresolved problems within the church. There is no one clear path for deconstruction, but the aggregated stories on Twitter provide insight into the deeply personal and often painful process of shedding the Evangelical identity. While these conversations are currently small compared to larger social movements such as BLM, examining the public discourses on deconstruction has implications for understanding the Evangelical voting block, the church's future revenue stream, and potentially the social rhythms of American communities. Keywords: deconstruction, Christianity, Evangelicalism, social media analysis, Social Identity Theory
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | deconstruction, Evangelical church, religious trauma, Twitter, social media, American Christianity |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > School of Communication |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2023 14:19 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2023 14:19 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/1010 |
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