Jeffrey H. Mahan & Bruce David Forbes 
Religion and Popular Culture in America, Third Edition [EPUB ebook] 

The connection between popular culture and religion is an enduring part of American life. With seventy-five percent new content, the third edition of this multifaceted and popular collection has been revised and updated throughout to provide greater religious diversity in its topics and address critical developments in the study of religion and popular culture.

 

Ideal for classroom use, this expanded volume

• gives increased attention to the implications of digital culture and the increasingly interactive quality of popular culture


• provides a framework to help students understand and appreciate the work in diverse fields, methods, and perspectives


• contains an updated introduction, discussion questions, and other instructional tools

 

Table of Content

Preface to the Third Edition


Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places

Bruce David Forbes


PART I. RELIGION IN POPULAR CULTURE


1. The Origin(s) of Superman: Reimagining Religion in the Man of Steel

Dan W. Clanton Jr.


2. The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture

Jane Naomi Iwamura


3. Adventure Time and Sacred History: Myth and Reality in Children’s Animated Cartoons

Elijah Siegler


4. Monstrous Muslims: Historical Anxieties and Future Trends

Sophia Rose Arjana


5. The Weight of the World: Religion and Heavy Metal Music in Four Cases

Jason C. Bivins


PART II. POPULAR CULTURE IN RELIGION


6. Christmas Is Like a Snowball

Bruce David Forbes


7. Mipsterz: Hip, American, and Muslim

Kristin M. Peterson Nabil Echchaibi


8. Megachurches, Celebrity Pastors, and the Evangelical Industrial Complex

Jessica Johnson


9. People of the Picture Book: PJ Library and American Jewish Religion

Rachel B. Gross


10. Meditation on the Go: Buddhist Smartphone Apps as Video Game Play

Gregory Price Grieve


PART III. POPULAR CULTURE AS RELIGION

11. It’s About Faith in Our Future: Star Trek Fandom as Cultural Religion

Michael Jindra


12. Shopping, Religion, and the Sacred “Buyosphere”

Sarah Mc Farland Taylor


13. Losing Their Way to Salvation: Women, Weight Loss, and the Religion of Thinness

Michelle M. Lelwica


14. The “Godding Up” of American Sports

Joseph L. Price


15. Celebrity Worship as Parareligion: Bieber and the Beliebers

Pete Ward


PART IV. RELIGION AND POPULAR CULTURE IN DIALOGUE


16. Yoga in Popular Culture: Controversies and Conflicts

Shreena Niketa Gandhi


17. Mirror, Mirror on Ourselves: Disney as a Site of Religio-Cultural Dialogue

Stephanie Brehm and Myev Rees


18. Can Watching a Movie Be a Spiritual Experience?

Robert K. Johnston


19. Rap Music and Its Message: On Interpreting the Contact between Religion and Popular Culture

Anthony B. Pinn


20. Broadswords and Face Paint: Why Braveheart Still Matters

Curtis D. Coats and Stewart M. Hoover


Contributors

Index

About the author

Bruce David Forbes is Professor of Religious Studies at Morningside College. He is the author of Christmas: A Candid History and America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories.  Jeffrey H. Mahan holds the Ralph E. and Norma E. Peck Chair in Religion and Public Communication at the Iliff School of Theology. His books include Religion, Media, and Culture: An Introduction, Shared Wisdom, and American Television Genres.