Media Theory, Religion and Theology

Author: David Morgan
ISBN: 9780415448635
Pages: 240
Summary: 'From "The Passion of the Christ" to the presumed 'clash of civilizations', religion's role in culture is increasingly contested and mediated. "Key Words in Religion, Media, and Culture" is a welcome and interdisciplinary contribution that maps the territory for those who aim to make sense of it all. Highlighting the important concepts guiding state-of-the-art research into religion, media, and culture, this book is bound to become an important and frequently consulted resource among scholars both seasoned and new to the field' - Lynn Schofield Clark, author of "From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural" and editor of "Religion, Media, and the Marketplace".'David Morgan has assembled here a fine team of scholars to prove beyond a doubt that the intersections of religion, media, and culture constitute one of the most stimulating fields of inquiry around today. Definitions of religion and culture require renewed and robust readings in light of newer forms of (mass) mediation, and the contributors deliver the goods. This highly useful and theoretically sophisticated text will likely assume 'ritual' status in this emergent field' - Rosalind I. J. Hackett, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee, USA. 'This volume is a major intervention in the literature on religion, media and culture. Drawing together leading international scholars, it offers a conceptual map of the field to which students, teachers and researchers will refer for many years to come. The publication of "Key Words in Religion, Media and Culture" is a significant moment in the formation of this area of study, and sets a standard for cross-disciplinary collaboration and theoretical and methodological sophistication for future work in this area to follow' -Gordon Lynch, Professor in the Sociology of Religion, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.'This book offers a range of refreshing essays on the relationships between media and religion. Its selected keywords open doors to understanding contemporary society. The cultural perspectives on mediation and religious practices give some illuminating and surprising analyses' - Knut Lundby, University of Oslo, Norway. David Morgan is Professor of Religion at Duke University. Author of several books, including "Visual Piety" (1998) and "The Lure of Images" (Routledge, 2007), Morgan is also co-editor of the journal "Material Religion".

Author: Michelle Goldberg
ISBN: 9780393329766
Pages: 256
Summary: "A potent wakeup call to pluralists in the coming showdown with Christian nationalists."—"Publishers Weekly", starred review

Michelle Goldberg, a senior political reporter for "Salon.com", has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. Before the 2004 election, and during the ensuing months when many Americans were trying to understand how an administration marked by cronyism, disregard for the national budget, and poorly disguised self-interest had been reinstated, Goldberg traveled through the heartland of a country in the grips of a fevered religious radicalism: the America of our time. From the classroom to the mega-church to the federal court, she saw how the growing influence of dominionism-the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers-is threatening the foundations of democracy.

In "Kingdom Coming", Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems.

With her trenchant interviews and the telling testimonies of the people behind this movement, Goldberg gains access into the hearts and minds of citizens who are striving to remake the secular Republic bequeathed by our founders into a Christian nation run according to their interpretation of scripture. In her examination of the ever-widening divide between believers and nonbelievers, Goldberg illustrates the subversive effect of this conservative stranglehold nationwide. In an age when faith rather than reason is heralded and the values of the Enlightenment are threatened by a mystical nationalism claiming divine sanction, "Kingdom Coming" brings us face to face with the irrational forces that are remaking much of America.