Religion and Popular Culture in America / Edition 2

by Bruce David Forbes, Jeffrey H. Mahan

Overview

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"A solid introduction to the dialogue between the disciplines of cultural studies and religion. . .. A substantive foundation for subsequent exploration."—Religious Studies Review

"A splendid collection of lively essays by fourteen scholars dealing with religion and popular culture on the contemporary American scene."—Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520246898
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/17/2005
Edition description:	First Edition, Revised Edition
Pages:	339
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

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

	Preface	ix
	Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places	1
Part 1	Religion In Popular Culture	21
1	The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture	25
2	Consecrating Consumer Culture: Christmas Television Specials	44
3	From American Dream to American Horizon: The Religious Dimension in Louis L'Amour and Cormac McCarthy	56
4	Like a Sermon: Popular Religion in Madonna Videos	77
Part 2	Popular Culture In Religion	101
5	Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry	105
6	The Electronic Golden Calf: Transforming Ritual and Icon	125
7	The Cross at Willow Creek: Seeker Religion and the Contemporary Marketplace	145
Part 3	Popular Culture As Religion	161
8	It's about Faith in Our Future: Star Trek Fandom as Cultural Religion	165
9	Losing Their Way to Salvation: Women, Weight Loss, and the Salvation Myth of Culture Lite	180
10	An American Apotheosis: Sports as Popular Religion	201
11	The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlatch of Rock 'n' Roll	219
Part 4	Religion and Popular Culture in Dialogue	239
12	The Disguise of Vengeance in Pale Rider	243
13	Rap Music and Its Message: On Interpreting the Contact between Religion and Popular Culture	258
14	Lost in Cyberspace?: Gender, Difference, and the Internet "Utopia"	276
	Conclusion: Establishing a Dialogue about Religion and Popular Culture	292
	Contributors	301
	Selected Bibliography	305
	Index	311

Editorial Reviews

This is an uninspired and uninspiring hodgepodge of 14 unrelated essays of uneven quality. Forbes and Thompson, professors at Morningside College and Iliff School of Theology, respectively, offer four classifications for understanding the relationship between religion and popular culture: various essays examine explicitly religious themes in television and mass market novels, ways that popular culture affects traditional evangelical Christianity, how popular culture promulgates its own myths and traditions, and ways that religion and popular culture can inform each other. None of these classifications seems particularly helpful. There are a few interesting articles here, a number of which have been published before, on such subjects as Madonna, Cormac McCarthy, Star Trek fandom, weight loss books, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and gangsta rap. But these are paired with essays on topics whose novelty has long worn out--on television as an "electronic golden calf," on sports as a form of religion and on the megachurch as a spiritual marketplace. This is a case in which the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. There are flashes of insight scattered throughout the volume, but overall the project is woefully undertheorized (indeed, setting up religion and popular culture as opposing categories in the first place seems unsophisticated). In the end, the editors offer no conclusions on religion or popular culture--and no clear direction for thinking about either subject. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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