Understanding Theology and Popular Culture [Paperback]

Gordon Lynch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1405117486 | ISBN-13: 978-1405117487

Understanding Theology and Popular Culture is one of the first books to give an overview of the key issues and methods in this field of study.

Provides a detailed introduction to key theories and debates in popular cultural studies

Presents a reasoned argument about the distinctive contribution that theology can make to the study of popular culture

Illustrated through a range of original case studies, from Eminem to The Simpsons

Suitable for both beginning students and more advanced researchers.

The author has created the Theology and Popular Culture Gateway which is one of the first academic Internet gateways for the study of theology and contemporary culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It offers an engaging and well-informed synthesis of contemporary theological reflection in the context of today’s popular culture … An excellent volume that will serve the discussion of theology and popular culture well.”
Jeff Keuss, Northwest Graduate School

"Lynch has written an excellent introduction for dialogue between theology and popular culture. . . This book is useful in undergraduate or graduate courses in religion and popular culture, media studies or individuals interest in critical reflection on theology and popular culture."
Religious Studies Review

"What is 'popular' about popular culture? What is the relationship between religion and popular culture? Why would a theologian, or anyone involved in the study of religion, give attention to popular culture? The work of theologians and others related to popular culture often begs such questions. Lynch's book is important in that it puts such questions in perspective. This book clarifies the exchange between religion and popular culture and what scholars have made of the interconnections. Understanding Theology and Popular Culture is an intriguing and insightful study. I highly recommend it."
Anthony B. Pinn, Rice University

"This is an excellent introduction to the field of cultural studies as a whole, as well as providing a clear map of the ways in which theology and religious studies have sought to engage with popular culture."
Third Way

“Lynch’s discussion of the definitions of popular culture provides an excellent introduction to the topic, and his rationale for theology joining other academic disciplines in the serious study of popular is convincing… Informed throughout by a wide reading in the literature of popular culture, this book deserves careful consideration for any course focusing on the understanding of theology and popular culture.”
Choice

"Those of us who have plunged deeply (and boldly, if somewhat unpreparedly) into the murky interdisciplinary waters of studying theology and popular culture will no doubt be grateful to have Gordon Lynch as a lifeguard, throwing us a lifeline of method and theory for which we were desparately searching."
Gaye Williams Ortiz, Augusta State University, Journal of Contemporary Religion

"Understanding Theology and Popular Culture is a well-structured volume which competently deals with the work of a wide range of theologians, philosophers and cultural researchers. This will, therefore, be an extremely valuable book for students and other readers."
Crucible, July-Sept 2006

Book Description

Understanding Theology and Popular Culture is one of the first books to give readers a complete overview of the key issues and methods in this field of study. It provides a clear introduction to key theories and debates for those new to the subject, as well as developing a useful discussion for more advanced researchers. Drawing on original case studies ranging from Eminem to The Simpsons, the text examines the nature and role of popular culture and presents a reasoned argument about the distinctive contribution that theology can make to popular culture studies.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (January 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405117486
• ISBN-13: 978-1405117487
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,079 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introduction to Theology and Popular Culture, May 9, 2008

By 

Daniel J. Paszak "Diogenes" (Duluth, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Theology and Popular Culture (Paperback)

This is a preferred book on theology and popular culture. Gordon Lynch gives a fair account of the relevant issues, well written and concise. He notes how media and technology relates to capitalism and social organization, and he is cautious of the danger of putting too much explanatory weight on technology and media.

He reviews theories on the proper Christian engagement with culture as well as interpretive approaches to media. He also affirms the need to be critical of how technology and media sustain oppressive systems and distorts values. Hence Lynch brings in view a healthy interdisciplinary awareness involved in understanding the integration of theology and popular culture.

To get a sense of the author's perspective, he prefers what he refers to as the revised conversational model, which "envisions theology as a mutual critical dialogue between interpretations of the Christian message and interpretations of contemporary cultural experiences and practices."(130) This method is preferred because "it recognizes that truth and goodness are not the sole positions of one particular religious tradition or world-view."(105) Then he states that his model needs to be informed by another model called the praxis model. "What distinguishes the praxis model...is its commitment to critiquing religious and cultural beliefs on the basis of their promotion of liberation and well being."(104) This model "is invaluable in reminding us that appropriate theological reflection should ultimately inspire ways of living and acting that are liberating and transformative."(106)

If you have to read only one book on theology and popular culture, I would recommend this one as having a nice balance of perspective. However no book is comprehensive and I would encourage other resources.

Other authors on the subject, include Kelton Cobb, Detweiler & Taylor, Shane Hipps, Robert Johnston, and William Romanski. Also some articles in the Routledge Companion to Postmodernism (Such as "Postmodernism and Popular Culture) are helpful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, methodological, May 10, 2010

By 

Stephen P. Hale (Southern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Theology and Popular Culture (Hardcover)

There are many books about the intersection of Theology & Culture. Most of them are just a collection of interesting musings. Some are a bit more organized than others, but most lack a clear, coherent thesis. Most lack a clear method of analysis. This keeps them from being more useful than they might be.

In this book, Lynch provides a method. To be precise, Lynch identifies a small collection of (4) methods used to compare theology and culture. He identifies questions largely asked in this interdisciplinary topic. Mostly, he just provides a useful introduction, a useful MAP to this topic.

It is difficult to overestimate how useful this is. It's very, very useful. I used the text for a class I took on a related topic, and this was by far the most helpful book. After reading this, reading other books became more...easy to assimilate. I began to take away more from OTHER books after reading THIS book.

Very, very highly recommended. Also, if you're interested in a book that uses a method somewhat consistently from an evangelical (in the American sense of the word) perspective, see a book called "Everyday Apocalypse." I recommend Lynch's book more than that, but it's good as well.

-Stephen

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Creative and Helpful Overview of the Field, November 25, 2005

By 

T. Beaudoin - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Theology and Popular Culture (Paperback)

Many theologians write about "popular culture," either directly or indirectly, but theology has been lacking a text that would help situate the larger field of studies in religion and popular culture. Lynch has written such a text: a map for theologians interested in the contemporary debates, as well as a proposal for a theological development of the key questions.

This book makes some very important contributions: foregrounding the importance of theological debates in the correlational tradition for pop culture/theology work; holding out the dignity of the experimental moment in which the "field" finds itself, mirrored in the trifecta of readings of pop culture artifacts in the latter part of the book; introducing the significance of judgment for pop culture/theology work; and strongly joining theological analysis of pop culture to the problematic of the everyday. That's a lot of boulders moved forward in about 200 pages.

I have some questions about whether and how the problem of "normativity" is the best way to describe the ethical impasse Lynch narrates in the field today. Still, this is an excellent book for helping theologians catch up to where the current debates are, or as a text for students to help them see how a seemingly simple task--asking how God and culture relate--is so complicated.

Tom Beaudoin

Santa Clara University