Religion and Popular Culture in America

by Forbes, Bruce David; Mahan, Jeffrey H.

• ISBN13: 9780520213241
• ISBN10: 0520213246
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

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 Trekfandom, 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.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places	1	(20)
Bruce David Forbes
Part One RELIGION IN POPULAR CULTURE	21	(80)
The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture	25	(19)
Jane Naomi Iwamura
Consecrating Consumer Culture: Christmas Television Specials	44	(12)
Robert J. Thompson
From American Dream to American Horizon: The Religious Dimension in Louis L'Amour and Cormac McCarthy	56	(21)
Terry C. Muck
Like a Sermon: Popular Religion in Madonna Videos	77	(24)
Mark D. Hulsether
Part Two POPULAR CULTURE IN RELIGION	101	(60)
Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry	105	(20)
William D. Romanowski
The Electronic Golden Calf: Transforming Ritual and Icon	125	(20)
Gregor Goethals
The Cross at Willow Creek: Seeker Religion and the Contemporary Marketplace	145	(16)
Stewart M. Hoover
Part Three POPULAR CULTURE AS RELIGION	161	(78)
It's about Faith in Our Future: Star Trek Fandom as Cultural Religion	165	(15)
Michael Jindra
Losing Their Way to Salvation: Women, Weight Loss, and the Salvation Myth of Culture Lite	180	(21)
Michelle M. Lelwica
An American Apotheosis: Sports as Popular Religion	201	(18)
Joseph L. Price
The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlatch of Rock 'n' Roll	219	(20)
David Chidester
Part Four RELIGION AND POPULAR CULTURE IN DIALOGUE	239	(62)
The Disguise of Vengeance in Pale Rider	243	(15)
Robert Jewett
Rap Music and Its Message: On Interpreting the Contact between Religion and Popular Culture	258	(18)
Anthony Pinn
Lost in Cyberspace?: Gender, Difference, and the Internet ``Utopia''	276	(25)
Meredith Underwood
Conclusions: Establishing a Dialogue about Religion and Popular Culture	292	(9)
Jeffrey H. Mahan
Contributors	301	(4)
Selected Bibliography	305	(6)
Index	311