Mediatization, Online Spaces, and the Field of Science. The Case of Biblical Studies and YouTube

Drawing on the theory of mediatization and the Bourdieusian interpretation of the field of science, the paper seeks to examine the structure of the field of biblical studies and to assess whether the growing online presence of this research area leads to an internal transformation of the field. This question has serious implications to the autonomy of this segment of the scientific field. After outlining the theoretical framework, the paper discusses how the field of biblical studies is roughly structured: what types of capital do contribute to its structuring, and where the researchers who are active on YouTube are located in the field. This will be followed by an analysis of a few selected biblical studies-focused YouTube channels, which are either run by scholars or interested non-scholars. The paper argues that the online space of YouTube has an ambivalent impact on the scholarly field of biblical studies. It provides a greater spotlight on the one hand to those scholars who do not have the highest scholarly prestige, on the other hand to some scholars on the periphery of the scholarly field, and thirdly to outsiders who represent fringe science views. The analysis shows that these developments have so far had a limited impact on the field of biblical studies. Also, it cannot be said that YouTube channels have only had a negative impact, as learning processes can be observed among the interested youtubers who run them. Keywords: biblical studies, YouTube, field of science, online spaces, mediatization, Bourdieu