Synopses & Reviews
The connections between American popular culture and religion is the subject of this multifaceted and innovative collection. Ranging from religious themes in cowboy fiction to Madonna's "Like a Prayer," from televangelism to the world of sports, the book's contributors offer fascinating insights into what popular culture reveals about the nature of American religion today.
Bruce David Forbes provides an introductory essay that states the book's organizing principles. The first group of essays examines the appearance of explicit religious content or implicit religious themes in popular culture, focusing on such particulars as Christmas television specials and the fiction of Louis L'Amour and Cormac McCarthy. The second group of essays considers ways that popular culture influences traditional religions, especially evangelical Christianity. A third group illustrates how aspects of popular culture develop their own myths, symbol systems, and ritual patterns; included are discussions of Star Trek fandom, women's weight loss rituals, and sports. The fourth group offers examples of ways that religion and popular culture might critique each another: the disguise of vengeance in Pale Rider, rap music's take on African-American Christian theology, and a Christian feminist perspective on the role of gender in cyberspace. Jeffrey H. Mahan's concluding essay looks at the academic and general audiences engaged in discussions of social and cultural reform.
Synopsis
An edited volume looking at the intersection of Religion and Popular Culture in America.
Synopsis
The connection between American popular culture and religion is the subject of this multifaceted and innovative collection. In fourteen lively essays whose topics range from the divine feminine in The Da Vinci Code to Madonna's "Like a Prayer," and from the world of sports to the ways in which cyberculture has influenced traditional religions, this book offers fascinating insights into what popular culture reveals about the nature of American religion today. Revised throughout, this new edition features three new essays--including a fascinating look at the role of women in apocalyptic fiction such as the Left Behind series--and editor Bruce David Forbes has written a new introduction. In addition to the new textual material, each chapter concludes with a set of suggested discussion questions.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-310) and index.
About the Author
Bruce David Forbes is Professor of Religious Studies at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. Jeffrey H. Mahan is Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado and coauthor of Shared Wisdom: A Guide to Case Study Reflection in Ministry (1993).
Table of Contents
The Oriental monk in American popular culture / Jane Naomi Iwamura -- Consecrating consumer culture: Christmas television specials / Robert J. Thompson -- From American dream to American horizon: the religious dimensions in Louis L'Amour and Cormac McCarthy / Terry C. Muck -- Like a sermon: popular religion in Madonna videos / Mark D. Hulsether -- Evangelicals and popular music: the contemporary Christian music industry / William D. Romanowski -- The electronic golden calf: transforming ritual and icon / Gregor Goethals -- The cross at Willow Creek: seeker religion and the contemporary marketplace / Stewart M. Hoover -- It's about faith in our future: Star trek famdom as cultural religion / Michael Jindra -- Losing their way to salvation: women, weight loss, and the salvation myth of culture lite / Michelle M. Lelwica -- An American apotheosis: sports as popular religion / Joseph L. Price -- The church of baseball, the fetish of Coca-Cola, and the potlatch of rock 'n' roll / David Chidester -- The disguise of vengeance in Pale rider / Robert Jewett -- Rap music and its message: on interpreting the contact between religion and popular culture / Anthony Pinn -- Lost in Cyberspace? Gender, difference, and the Internet "utopia" / Meredith Underwood -- Conclusion: establishing a dialogue about religion and popular culture / Jeffrey H. Mahan.