COMM4443 · Communication

Seeing God and Hearing Ghosts: Spirituality in US Media

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

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4.1 / 5Course rating

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Across 1 instructor

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Who teaches this? 1

Both ratings are out of 5, for each instructor’s sections of COMM4443.

Kristin Peterson

Associate Professor, Communication Department

5 evaluations for this course

Instructor: 4.4
Course: 4.1

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1 of 1 instructors

Kristin Peterson

Associate Professor, Communication Department

5 evaluations for this course

Instructor: 4.4
Course: 4.1

About this course

Satisfies one of two writing intensive courses required within the Communication major. Restricted to Juniors and Seniors. This writing intensive course will explore the intimate connections between the development of media technologies and the emergence of religious movements in the U.S. Emphasizing the unique relationship of religion and media in American public life, this course will focus on how the disestablishment of religion creates a competitive marketplace in which religions engage with new media technologies to make meaning, maintain community connections, and reach new members. Students will examine how the development of new media technologies presents both opportunities and challenges to various religious groups in the U.S. Cases to be discussed in the class include: how access to mass printing technologies enables publications and sacred texts from emerging religious groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Nation of Islam, and the Jehovah's Witnesses; how radio waves and photography influenced the popularity of spiritualism after the Civil War; how cable networks provided the opportunity for Evangelical Christians to ascend to the center of American public life; or how social media create space for young Muslim Americans to express their faith in contrast to mainstream media stereotypes.

All evaluation ratings

Averages use numerical 1–5 ratings, including the ratings submitted with new anonymous reviews.

OrganizationHow well the course was organized: 4.67 / 5
ChallengeHow intellectually challenging students found it: 4.53 / 5
AttendanceHow necessary attendance was: 4.47 / 5
AssignmentsHow helpful assignments were: 4.51 / 5

Weekly effort: ~5 hours

Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.

Evaluation history Browse all evaluations

Evaluation history 5 terms

All available terms for COMM4443. Numerical averages use the five-point scale.
Term	Evaluations	Course rating	Instructor rating
Spring 2025	1	3.9	4.2
Fall 2023	1	3.8	4.3
Spring 2022	1	4.5	4.6
Spring 2021	1	4.2	4.3
Spring 2020	1	4.4	4.7