Christianity And The Culture Machine
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Author | : Vincent F. Rocchio |
Publisher | : Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Total Pages | : 283 |
Release | : 2016-08-05 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1498209807 |
Christianity and the Culture Machine is a precedent-shattering approach to combining theories of media and culture with theology. In this intensive examination of Christianity's role in the cultural marketplace, the author argues that Christianity's inability to effectively contest the ideology of secular humanism is not a theological shortcoming, but rather a communications problem: the institutional church is too wedded to an outmoded aesthetic of Christianity to communicate effectively. Privileging authority and obedience over the egalitarian and transformative goal of Christianity, the church fails to recognize how it undermines the vitality of the Christian narrative and message. In the absence of a more compelling vision offered by the official church, a new aesthetic can be found forming within the margins of popular culture texts. Despite its past failures in representing the Bible in mainstream film and television, the culture industry now offers more compelling versions of core Christian theology without even realizing it--within the margins of the main storylines. This book analyzes the aesthetic principles employed by these appropriations and articulations of Christian discourse as a means of theorizing what a new aesthetic of Christianity might look like.
Author | : Vincent F. Rocchio |
Publisher | : Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Total Pages | : 329 |
Release | : 2016-08-05 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1498209793 |
Christianity and the Culture Machine is a precedent-shattering approach to combining theories of media and culture with theology. In this intensive examination of Christianity's role in the cultural marketplace, the author argues that Christianity's inability to effectively contest the ideology of secular humanism is not a theological shortcoming, but rather a communications problem: the institutional church is too wedded to an outmoded aesthetic of Christianity to communicate effectively. Privileging authority and obedience over the egalitarian and transformative goal of Christianity, the church fails to recognize how it undermines the vitality of the Christian narrative and message. In the absence of a more compelling vision offered by the official church, a new aesthetic can be found forming within the margins of popular culture texts. Despite its past failures in representing the Bible in mainstream film and television, the culture industry now offers more compelling versions of core Christian theology without even realizing it--within the margins of the main storylines. This book analyzes the aesthetic principles employed by these appropriations and articulations of Christian discourse as a means of theorizing what a new aesthetic of Christianity might look like.
Author | : Dan Gilgoff |
Publisher | : Macmillan + ORM |
Total Pages | : 356 |
Release | : 2007-03-06 |
Genre | : Political Science |
ISBN | : 1429917091 |
*The crucial Ohio get-out-the-vote effort that lifted Bush over Kerry. *The Terri Schiavo controversy. *The push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. *Attacks on Roe v. Wade. *"Intelligent design" in our science curriculum. The evangelical right has pushed all of these initiatives, led by the immense behind-the-scenes influence of Dr. James Dobson, the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family: an organization that has grown from its roots as a local parenting advice center to a powerful ministry that broadcasts Dr. Dobson each day on more than 3,000 radio and 80 television stations in the U.S. alone. Dobson has supplanted Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Ralph Reed as the spokesman for tens of millions of American evangelical Christians--even though Dobson is not a minister, but a family therapist with a doctorate in child development. Dobson maintains that the American political and social spectrums are firmly rooted in a centuries-old Christian tradition--one that has come under siege beginning in the 1960s, spear-headed by court rulings that have undermined the necessity of religion in public life. With the support of evangelical followers, Dobson has garnered more and support than many ever thought possible and has harnessed this power to wage a crusade in support of strengthening abortion restrictions and establishing anti-gay rights litigation. The Jesus Machine is the first book to examine Focus on the Family as the cutting edge of the larger evangelical movement, backing what many view to be goals in common with the current political agenda of the Bush administration, as it works to become the voice of mainstream America. Through exhaustive research, Dan Gilgoff, a Senior Reporter for US News & World Report, exposes the intricacies of the Focus on the Family's rallying cry and the drastic implications they hold for the future of America's political system.
Author | : William A. Stahl |
Publisher | : Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press |
Total Pages | : 199 |
Release | : 2009-08-03 |
Genre | : Social Science |
ISBN | : 155458793X |
Our ancestors saw the material world as alive, and they often personified nature. Today we claim to be realists. But in reality we are not paying attention to the symbols and myths hidden in technology. Beneath much of our talk about computers and the Internet, claims William A. Stahl, is an unacknowledged mysticism, an implicit religion. By not acknowledging this mysticism, we have become critically short of ethical and intellectual resources with which to understand and confront changes brought on by technology.
Author | : David A. Hoekema |
Publisher | : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |
Total Pages | : 216 |
Release | : 1997 |
Genre | : Philosophy |
ISBN | : |
Eleven eminent scholars examine how Christian commitment illuminates the issues of relativism, feminism, cultural diversity, and postmodernism that occupe center stage in higher education today.
Author | : Josiah Vencel |
Publisher | : Xulon Press |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2008-03 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 160477651X |
God did not call Christians to sit on the sidelines of society. But that is precisely what has happened for nearly a century as believers have forgotten about their divinely appointed role in the world. Yet history testifies to the remarkable salt-and-light influence of Bible-believing saints who have applied their faith in all areas of life, not just within the walls of a church. Christ came to transform you into an agent of reconciliation ... not just to save souls, but to redeem entire cultures for his glory. If you¿ve ever wondered how to apply your faith consistently, to think about life christianly or to engage the world for Christ, Culture Makers will not let you down. Culture Makers will answer questions such as: Is there a biblical way to see all of life? What is Christianity¿s role in society? How do my personal beliefs shape culture? How do I respond to unbiblical points of view? How can the biblical worldview revitalize my faith? And so much more. Discover your place in the world. Fulfill your calling. Become a culture maker.
Author | : Christianity Today Intl., |
Publisher | : HarperChristian Resources |
Total Pages | : 177 |
Release | : 2008-10-05 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1418588326 |
The Christian Today Study Series delves into today's vital cultural issues to get to the heart of what these topics mean to you. Each 8-week study is based on articles written by some of today's leading Christian authors and published by the Christianity Today magazines. These remarkable studies will foster deep, authentic, and relevant discussion that will challenge and grow any small group. Engaging the Culture will take on a variety of topics, such as: Culture . . . Love It? Leave It? Or Transform It? Kingdom-Minded Living in the Kingdom of This World Engaging the Skeptics Cultural Stereotypes and Misconceptions of Christianity Based on articles by a variety of authors, such as: Philip Yancey Mark Galli Michael Horton
Author | : Russell D. Moore |
Publisher | : B&H Publishing Group |
Total Pages | : 240 |
Release | : 2015-08-01 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 143368618X |
Christianity Today "Beautiful Orthodoxy" Book of the Year in 2016. Keep Christianity Strange. As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that we are a Moral Majority. That may be bad news for America, but it can be good news for the church. What's needed now, in shifting times, is neither a doubling-down on the status quo nor a pullback into isolation. Instead, we need a church that speaks to social and political issues with a bigger vision in mind: that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christianity seems increasingly strange, and even subversive, to our culture, we have the opportunity to reclaim the freakishness of the gospel, which is what gives it its power in the first place. We seek the kingdom of God, before everything else. We connect that kingdom agenda to the culture around us, both by speaking it to the world and by showing it in our churches. As we do so, we remember our mission to oppose demons, not to demonize opponents. As we advocate for human dignity, for religious liberty, for family stability, let's do so as those with a prophetic word that turns everything upside down. The signs of the times tell us we are in for days our parents and grandparents never knew. But that's no call for panic or surrender or outrage. Jesus is alive. Let's act like it. Let's follow him, onward to the future.
Author | : Vincent J. Miller |
Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Total Pages | : 265 |
Release | : 2005-08-18 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1623562384 |
Contemporary theology, argues Miller, is silent on what is unquestionably one of the most important cultural issues it faces: consumerism or "consumer culture." While there is no shortage of expressions of concern about the corrosive effects of consumerism from the standpoint of economic justice or environmental ethics, there is a surprising paucity of theoretically sophisticated works on the topic, for consumerism, argues Miller, is not just about behavioral "excesses"; rather, it is a pervasive worldview that affects our construction as persons-what motivates us, how we relate to others, to culture, and to religion. Consuming Religion surveys almost a century of scholarly literature on consumerism and the commodification of culture and charts the ways in which religious belief and practice have been transformed by the dominant consumer culture of the West. It demonstrates the significance of this seismic cultural shift for theological method, doctrine, belief, community, and theological anthropology. Like more popular texts, the book takes a critical stand against the deleterious effects of consumerism. However, its analytical complexity provides the basis for developing more sophisticated tactics for addressing these problems.
Author | : Dick Staub |
Publisher | : John Wiley & Sons |
Total Pages | : 258 |
Release | : 2008-09-09 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 0470344032 |
In The Culturally Savvy Christian—his incisive critique of contemporary culture and religion—Dick Staub concludes that though it is influential, American popular culture is generally superficial (diversionary, mindless, and celebrity-driven) spiritually delusional (moralistic, therapeutic, and deistic) and soulless (sustained not by art, craft, and ideas, but by the mad pursuit of profit—propped up by marketing and technology). Similarly American Christianity has devolved into its own mindless, diversionary, and celebrity-driven superficiality. Because humans are created in God's image with spiritual, intellectual, creative, moral, and relational capacities, we long for more, yet the true seeker faces the lose-lose alternatives of a soul-numbing culture and a vacuous Christianity-lite. The renaissance we need in both faith and culture will originate in a deep spiritual renewal that restores God's image in us and creates a new breed of culturally savvy, thoughtful creatives who rekindle the spiritual, intellectual, and creative legacy of Christians as enrichers of culture.