Neumaier, Anna. "Christian Online Communities: Insights from Qualitative and Quantitative Data." Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 14 (2019): 20-40.

This research explores the dynamics between traditional religious communities and new media, focusing on how believers engage with online platforms as extensions or alternatives to offline religious practices. Through a quantitative survey and qualitative research among Christian Internet users, particularly on discussion boards, the study identifies the formation of personal relationships and perceives the existence of actual online communities. It categorizes these communities into three types and compares them with classical and contemporary theories of community by scholars like Weber, Tönnies, Anderson, Hitzler, and Hepp. The findings suggest that the nature of online religious communities is not solely determined by social media's characteristics but also by users' needs and their offline religious affiliations, resulting in a diverse range of community forms from traditional to imagined and posttraditional.