Abstract:
The research addresses the need for a theology, within the context of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), that dialogues with the hyperconnected reality of contemporary society as a consequence of a context in which religion has moved beyond the scope of institutions and thus manifests itself in communication and media culture. The research method used is bibliographic, which allows the collection of information from published materials found in books and scientific articles. In this sense, references are sought that address the proposed subjects such as media, communication, church and cybertheology. At the same time, the research has a documentary character, as it analyzes materials published within the scope of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) and which have not undergone any previous analysis. This proposal is reflected within the IECLB as a possibility for a more attractive, inclusive and missionary church. The methodological development takes place within the scope of Practical Theology based on the hermeneutics of lived religion, which traces the sacred beyond the ecclesiastical scope and manifests itself implicitly and explicitly. In the face of social and cultural transformations, recognizing the role of the media as part of a set of processes that drive such changes is necessary as the media are part of everyday life and thus place us in a mediatized society. At the same time, within a mediatized society, religion also goes through the process of mediatization and, more recently, immersion in the internet. It is this new media, with its effects and new possibilities of experience and living, that provokes us to think about a theology that contemplates this new experiential and communicational environment. Alongside this, based on a documentary survey, it is demonstrated how the IECLB articulates itself in the media and what its communication guidelines are. Based on the documentary analysis and other questions raised in the bibliographical research, it is clear that there is a need to update its guiding communication principles, so that it takes into account new forms of living and online experience and, at the same time, proposes a Lutheran cybertheology, when thinking about a hyperconnected context.
