God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture

by Mazur; Eric M.

• ISBN13: 9780415485371
• ISBN10: 0415485371
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Exploring the blurred boundary between religion and pop culture, God in the Details offers a provocative look at the breadth and persistence of religious themes in the American consciousness. This new edition reflects the explosion of online activity since the first edition, including chapters on the spiritual implications of social networking sites, and the hazy line between real and virtual religious life in the online community Second Life . Also new to this edition are chapters on the migration of black male expression from churches to athletic stadiums, new configurations of the sacred and the commercial, and post 9/11 spirituality and religious redemption through an analysis of vampire drama, True Blood . Popular chapters on media, sports, and other pop culture experiences have been revised and updated, making this an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike.

Author Biography

Eric Michael Mazur is the Gloria David Furman Chair of Judaic Studies at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is also the author of several works in church-state studies, and the editor of Art The Religious Impulse (2001) and The Encyclopedia of Religion Film (2011). Kate McCarthy is Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Chico. She is also the author of Interfaith Encounters in America (2007).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. x
Notes on contributors	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Preface	p. xvi
Introduction: Finding Religion in American Popular Culture	p. 1
Popular myth and symbol	p. 15
Deliver Me from Nowhere: Bruce Springsteen and the Myth of the American Promised Land	p. 20
ôI Wanna Do Bad Things With Youö: Fantasia on Themes of American Religion from the Title Sequence of HBO's True Blood	p. 41
A Fire in the Sky: ôApocalypticö Themes on the Silver Screen	p. 62
Sexuality, Blasphemy, and Iconoclasm in the Media Age: The Strange Case of the Buddha Bikini	p. 80
Popular ritual	p. 103
Blood in the Barbecue? Food and Faith in the American South	p. 108
Rituals of the African American Domus: Church, Community, Sport, and LeBron James	p. 120
Dropping in for the Holidays: Christmas as Commercial Ritual at the Precious Moments Chapel	p. 140
Desert Goddesses and Apocalyptic Art: Making Sacred Space at the Burning Man Festival	p. 154
Popular spirituality and morality	p. 175
Is God Still in the Box? Religion in Television Cop Shows Ten Years Later	p. 179
Don't Act Now! Selling Christian Abstinence in the Religious Marketplace	p. 197
When ôFriendö Becomes a Verb: Religion on the Social Web	p. 219
Homer the Heretic and Charlie Church: Parody, Piety, and Pluralism in The Simpsons	p. 237
Popular ôChurchesö	p. 255
The Thin Line between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning: Meaning and Community among Jimmy Buffett's Parrotheads	p. 258
Our Lady of Persistent Liminality: Virtual Church, Cyberspace, and Second Life	p. 271
Rap Music, Hip-Hop Culture, and ôThe Future Religion of the Worldö	p. 291
The Happiest Place on Earth: Disney's America and the Commodification of Religion	p. 307
Index	p. 322
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