Resource person: Audra Bullard

Description:

This talk examines how the digital age has produced a profound crisis of religious authority across global Christian, Muslim, and other faith communities. Traditional institutions—church hierarchies, seminaries, and clerical leadership—are increasingly challenged by online influencers, decentralized networks, and algorithm-driven forms of spiritual engagement. Digital platforms allow individual believers to bypass established authorities, creating new forms of interpretation, identity, and community that operate outside institutional control. At the same time, states exploit the digital sphere to monitor, manipulate, or suppress religious expression, further destabilizing traditional authority structures. The talk explores how this shift reshapes theology, political activism, and the social role of religious institutions. Ultimately, it argues that the digital age has not secularized religion but has fragmented it, producing a new landscape in which authority is diffused, contested, and constantly renegotiated.

Eren Tasar is Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor in the History Department at UNC Chapel Hill, where he has taught since 2013. His interests are the religious and social history of Soviet Central Asia. Tasar’s first book, “Soviet and Muslim: the Institutionalism of Islam in Central Asia,” examined Soviet policies toward Islamic institutions. His 24 lecture video series about the history of Central Asia since ancient times for The Great Courses was released in January 2025. Tasar has two forthcoming books, “Muslim Atheism in Central Asia,” which is under review with the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, and “Central Asia from Antiquity to the Present,” which is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Notes: Cancellation Policy (Please Read) Please let us know immediately if you are unable to attend a class. There is no refund for cancellations within two (2) weeks prior to a scheduled class. Programs that include food, beverage or art materials must be canceled within three (3) weeks prior in order to receive a refund. CLE reserves the right to cancel a program if the minimum enrollment has not been met or for circumstances beyond our control, and participants will be notified, a complete refund will be issued. All classes are held in the CLE Lecture Hall at the Peggy Crosby Center unless otherwise noted. In the event information has changed from the published brochure, it will be posted on our website and in our e-blasts. Addresses for “private home” venues will be provided to registrants within 2 days of the program date.

More information: Please Note: a 3% processing fee will be added to all credit card transactions

Share this activity: