- Studying religion in everyday life
- Studying religion function on popular culture
- Missiological engagement with popular culture
- Using the texts and practices of popular culture as material for theological reflection
Im going to focus on how religion is viewed in everyday life. For starters lets use music as a form of popular culture, and its relationship with religion.
Here we have a picture of an artist(Kid Cudi), taking a picture of his "Jesus Piece"(vernacular term for a piece of jewelry that displays jesus's crucifixion). Numerous artist in the music industry have been seen with this item. This has both positive and negative implications for religion.
A disadvantage of this is that christianity has been essentially reduced to a mere symbolic item. More so, the symbol then becomes detached from its original meaning and inspiration, and other artist and fans now wear the logo as a cultural expression.
On the contrary a positive perspective of this artistic expression is that for the few mainstream artist who manage to keep religious content in their music(rare), this symbolic reference can influence and shape the beliefs of many of their followers.
I think that religion can never find a home in popular culture. Reason being that popular culture is an ever morphing entity, unlike religion which requires a strong sense of stability and who's fundamental principles often cannot be subject to adaptation without infringing on the lines of blasphemy
Religion requires a sort of attachment or connection. In order to survive, popular culture needs to be able to easily detach from any entity to stay relevant.
I can see many examples of religion adapting to changes in society. It may not be as fluid as popular culture but religion is always adapting to the direction of society.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, Christianity underwent great changes in the 20th century. Up until 1930 Protestant denominations held the same stance as the Catholic church on contraception, that it was sinful and wrong. The churches stance, however, changed with the Lambeth Conference of Bishops in 1930 when the Anglican church, followed by other Protestant denominations, caved to growing social pressure to condone the use of contraceptives. This change is consistent with an overall trend in the culture of western society which has become more open to the idea of contraception and 'the choice' for women to control their own pregnancy. The overarching cultural trend saw the invention of 'the pill” and the creation of Planned Parenthood all within two decades.
The Christian faith itself isn't static as there are over 30,000 denominations with a large variety of creeds and people. Unitarianism, for example is a much more liberal Christian denomination when compared to Catholicism and stands in stark contrast. Unitarians believe that Jesus was not God, that he represents an exemplar model for living one's own life, that original sin is not a part of human nature, and that the Bible was divinely inspired. Different denominations reflect a Christian culture which has changed over time responding to a change in culture and beliefs of people.
Within the popular culture and popular music context Christianity is very much at home. The Gospel music industry grossed approximately 750 million dollars in America in 1995 according to The Economist. In a nation where over 70% of the population identifies themselves as Christian, religion cannot be cleanly separated from politics, music, or societal values.