The (Magic) Kingdom Of God: Christianity And Global Culture Industries

by Budde,Michael

• ISBN13: 9780813330761
• ISBN10: 0813330769
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-09-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

InThe (Magic) Kingdom of God,Michael Budde offers a multidisciplinary analysis of the "global culture industries"increasingly powerful, centralized corporate conglomerates in television, advertising, marketing, movies, and the likeand their impact on Christian churches in industrialized countries. Utilizing ideas from contemporary and classical schools of political economy, the author explains why the study of global culture industries is essential for understanding the current era of global capitalism.In suggesting that the cultural ecology shaped by these industries undermines many of the primary processes and structures through which people become committed Christians, Budde offers a novel utilization of linguistic-based theories of religious formation. Responses by churches to the new situationmore religious education or attempts to use the global culture industries for Christian purposesare explored and found lacking. For the subversive praxis of Jesus of Nazareth to endure in the cultural ecology of postmodernism, Budde argues, churches must come to embrace their role as radical and countercultural alternative communities in which lay formation becomes a central preoccupation.

Author Biography

Michael Budde is associate professor of political science at DePaul University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Following Jesus in a Distracted Age	1	(15)
Catholicism as a ``Discipleship Church''?	1	(5)
Catholic Ecclesiology and a Passion for Discipleship	6	(5)
Social Theory, Political Economy, Culture, and the Church	11	(5)
Why Culture Matters in the World Economy	16	(12)
A New Stage of Capitalism? Regulation Theory and Neostructuralism	18	(2)
Regulation Theory as a Neostructuralist Approach	20	(3)
The Crisis of Fordism	23	(1)
After Fordism?	24	(4)
The Power of Global Culture Industries	28	(25)
Advertising/Marketing as a Global Culture Industry	33	(1)
The Global Discourse of Marketing and Advertising	34	(1)
On the Need for a ``Postmodern'' Appraisal of Advertising	35	(3)
Power, Knowledge, and Advertising/Marketing	38	(6)
Exporting the Power Matrix	44	(3)
China: The Export Package Arrives	47	(6)
Learning the Language of Faith	53	(14)
How Global Culture Industries Undermine Christianity	67	(30)
Living in Television's World	70	(12)
Implications for Christian Formation	82	(12)
Conclusion	94	(3)
Church Barriers to Understanding Global Culture Industries	97	(28)
Sacramental Liberalism, the Interpretive Key	98	(3)
The Evangelization Fixation	101	(3)
Is the Church Becoming a ``Culture Industry''?	104	(11)
Religious Formation Amidst the Global Culture Industries	115	(10)
The Way from Here: Radical Gospel, Radical Church	125	(28)
Resisting the Culture Industries: A Workshop of Witnesses	130	(20)
Concluding Thoughts	150	(3)
References	153	(16)
About the Book and Author	169	(2)
Index	171