"God has become one of Time magazine's favorite cover boys and spirituality has become a fashion accessory," writes Barry Taylor. Entertainment Theology exhorts Christians to embrace new vehicles to communicate gospel truth--or face extinction."In the hands of a musician, poet, and artist, theology is not delivered prepackaged and labeled but is, rather, God-talk that is creative and evocative. Barry Taylor leads us out of our studies and our pews to do our theology in the street, in response to the media bombardment and the many voices and images around us. Great entertainment stimulates our imagination and invites our participation, and Taylor does both. Entertainment Theology is not the last word, but a work in progress."--Eddie Gibbs, Fuller Theological Seminary"Barry Taylor has a remarkable ability to bring together perspectives on contemporary culture that other commentators often miss. His wide-ranging understanding of both culture and practical theology come together in a conversation that is accessible as well as provocative. No serious scholar can afford to ignore Taylor's insights on the interaction of culture and spirituality."--John Drane, author, The McDonaldization of the Church"A powerful and provocative summons to renewed attentiveness to the strange new world rising up around us. Against the tendency to defensively dismiss emerging spiritualities as either uselessly nebulous or somehow demeaning to religious tradition, Taylor articulates the more excellent way of critical affirmation, celebrating what he sees as a democratization of spirit and a shift toward a more globally minded, yet communal, conversation about the meaning of God. Entertainment Theology is the place where Donnie Darko, Buddhism, the Lorax, Tom Waits, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights interface. It announces the end of the tired, old world where these conversations were thought to be beyond the pale and challenges us to see the postmodern world (on the way and already here) as an ever-emerging opportunity for redemptive and redeeming reassessment. Intensely recommended."--David Dark, author, Everyday Apocalypse

__Barry Taylor__ (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is artist in residence for the Brehm Center and an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches a series of spiritually innovative classes on music, film, and contemporary theology. In addition, he is an associate rector at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. He has coauthored two books, A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture and A Heretic's Guide to Eternity.

It's the end of the church as we know it. In a digitally connected world, people are seeking spiritual answers through pop culture. Instead of retreating, Christians must "rethink the sacred" and enter global conversations about God--in film, literature, TV, and music--or face extinction, argues Barry Taylor in Entertainment Theology.   
  
Taking snapshots from theology, cultural studies, sociology, and pop culture, Taylor explores a myriad of factors affecting religious life since the 1970s, including technology, fashion, celebrity, and global communications. He exhorts a move away from traditional Christian religion, proposing instead a manifestation of Christianity as a religion not of the past but of the present and the future.   
  
For scholars, seminary students, culture watchers, and emerging-church readers, Entertainment Theology offers thought-provoking hope for Christianity's future.

An entertainment expert offers a broad understanding of religion in a postsecular age and explores the factors that have contributed to fashioning religious life in the twenty-first century.

Preface  
Introduction  
1\. New Horizons  
\- Magical, Mystical Polish: The Reenchantment of Western Culture  
\- The Implosion of Modernity and the Rise of the Postsecular  
\- Timeless Time  
\- Space--The Final Frontier?  
\- Corporeality: The Body Politic  
\- Authority  
\- Evolution Not Revolution  
\- The Decline and Rise of God: The Emergence of the Spiritual Society  
\- Everything Is Everything  
\- Emerging Global Culture and the Symbolic Universe of the Media Generation  
\- A Postmodern Ethic  
\- New Edge Spirituality  
2\. New Edges  
\- Surface as Depth: Faith as Fetish  
\- Shopping for God: Commodifying Faith  
\- Entertainment Theology: Religion Goes Pop  
\- Postsecular Soul Space  
\- Zen Culture: The Tao of Postmodernity  
\- The Next Enlightenment: Rational Mystics  
\- Retrolution: Postmodern Gothic  
\- Celebrating Celebrity  
\- Capturing Cool  
\- Strong-Arming the World: The Rise of Resistant Communities  
3\. New Orthodoxies  
\- Playing the Future  
\- After Christianity  
\- Identity Shifting  
\- God-Talk in the Postsecular: Missional Theology for a Radically Different World  
\- Attitudes  
\- Theological Containers  
\- Participatory Theology  
\- Prophetic Theology  
\- Practical Theology  
\- Making Signs: Encoding the Message  
\- A Final Thought

Taylor, Barry

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1: New Horizons 

Magical, Mystical Polish: The Reenchantment of Western Culture

The Implosion of Modernity and the Rise of the Postsecular

Evolution Not Revolution

Emerging Global Culture and the Symbolic Universe of the Media Generation

Part 2: New Edges 

Surface as Depth: Faith as Fetishization

Shopping for God: Commodifying Faith

Entertainment Theology: Religion Goes Pop

Postsecular Soul Space

Part 3: New Orthodoxies 

Playing the Future

After Christianity

Theological Containers

Making Signs: Encoding the Message

A Final Thought

Notes

Bibliography

It's the end of the church as we know it. In a digitally connected world, people are seeking spiritual answers through pop culture. Instead of retreating, Christians must"rethink the sacred" and enter global conversations about God--in film, literature, TV, and music--or face extinction, argues Barry Taylor inEntertainment Theology.  
  
Taking snapshots from theology, cultural studies, sociology, and pop culture, Taylor explores a myriad of factors affecting religious life since the 1970s, including technology, fashion, celebrity, and global communications. He exhorts a move away from traditional Christian religion, proposing instead a manifestation of Christianity as a religion not of the past but of the presentandthe future.  
  
For scholars, seminary students, culture watchers, and emerging-church readers,Entertainment Theologyoffers thought-provoking hope for Christianity's future.

Drawing on a variety of fields of study - theology, cultural studies, popular culture theory, and sociology - this book offers an understanding of religion in a post-secular age and explores the factors that have contributed to fashioning religious life.

It's the end of the church as we know it. In a digitally connected world, people are seeking spiritual answers through pop culture. Instead of retreating, Christians must "rethink the sacred" and enter global conversations about God--in film, literature, TV, and music--or face extinction, argues Barry Taylor in Entertainment Theology. Taking snapshots from theology, cultural studies, sociology, and pop culture, Taylor explores a myriad of factors affecting religious life since the 1970s, including technology, fashion, celebrity, and global communications. He exhorts a move away from traditional Christian religion, proposing instead a manifestation of Christianity as a religion not of the past but of the present and the future. For scholars, seminary students, culture watchers, and emerging-church readers, Entertainment Theology offers thought-provoking hope for Christianity's future.

Barry Taylor (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is artist in residence for the Brehm Center and an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches a series of spiritually innovative classes on music, film, and contemporary theology. In addition, he is an associate rector at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. He has coauthored two books, A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture and A Heretic's Guide to Eternity.

Entertainment Theology (Cultural Exegesis) [eBook]

Navigation Bar

Header Default

Download the Christian360 App to read eBooks and listen to Audiobooks bought at Christian360

Entertainment Theology (Cultural Exegesis) [eBook]

Description

Need support?

Customer reviews

Download the App

Download the App