Christopher Helland

Education

• BA Hons, MA, Concordia University
• PhD, University of Toronto

Research interests

Christopher Helland’s research focuses upon religion in contemporary culture from a sociological perspective. His primary work examines the impact of digital technology on religious traditions and practices in relation to issues of religious authority and power, religious information seeking behavior, ritual practices, and even changing belief systems. He has also done extensive research on videogames and digital gaming, contemporary apocalyptic movements and he has studied a variety of UFO based religious groups. His current work is exploring the developing role of AI within contemporary religious activities and also within other societal and social systems.

Selected publications

• Helland, C. (2024). Video Games Beyond Play: Decolonizing Gamevironments. Gamevironments, 10, 144–165.
• Helland, C., & Kienzl, L. (2022). Ritual. In H. Campbell & R. Tsuria (Eds.), Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds (2nd ed., pp. 40– 55). Routledge.
• Helland, C., & Michels, D. (2021). Religion in the news on an ordinary day: Diversity and change in English Canada. Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 10, 249–270.
• Helland, C. (2016). Digital Religion. In: David Yamane (Ed.) Handbook of Religion and Social Institutions (pp. 177-196). Springer: Switzerland.
• Helland, C. (2015). Virtual Religion: A Case Study of Virtual Tibet. Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford University Press: New York.
• Helland, C. (2012). Online religion in Canada: From hype to hyperlink. In L. Beaman (Ed.), Religion and Canadian society: Contents, identities, and strategies (pp. 375–390). Canadian Scholar’s Press.
• Helland, C. (2007). Diaspora on the electronic frontier: Developing virtual connections with sacred homelands. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 12(3) 956-976.