This introductory text provides students with a 'toolbox' of approaches for analyzing religion and popular culture. It encourages readers to think critically about the ways in which popular cultural practices and products, especially those considered as forms of entertainment, are laden with religious ideas, themes, and values. The chapters feature lively and contemporary case study material and outline relevant theory and methods for analysis. Among the areas covered are religion and food, violence, music, television and videogames. Each entry is followed by a helpful summary, glossary, bibliography, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading/viewing. Understanding Religion and Popular Culture offers a valuable entry point into an exciting and rapidly evolving field of study.
Author(s): Terry Ray Clark, Dan W. Clanton Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2012
Cover
Understanding Religion and Popular Culture
Copyright
Contents
Notes on contributors
Introduction: What is religion? What is popular culture? How are they related?
1. Saved by satire? Learning to value popular culture’s critique of sacred traditions
2. Religion and ecology in popular culture
3. Religion in science fiction film and television
4. Religion and cinema horror
5. On the sacred power of violence in popular culture
6. On the job and among the elect: religion and the salvation of Sipowicz in NYPD Blue
7. “Unlearn what you have learned” (yoda): the critical study of the myth of Star Wars
8. Religion and video games: shooting aliens in cathedrals
9. The Coca-Cola brand and religion
10. What makes music Christian? Hipsters, contemporary Christian music and secularization
11. Lord of the Lembas: A study of what’s cooking in pop culture
12. Cursing then and now: Jeremiah’s Scroll and the Boston Red Sox Jersey (can the Bible shed light on pop culture practices?)
13. Postmodern prophecy: Bob Dylan and the practices of self-subversion
Index
