Consumerism within Popular Culture & Religion (Group 1 Religion)

In order to explore the question "What is popular or "lived" religion
and how is it framed in popular culture?", we are looking into how
popular culture has influenced the consumption of religious products.
We will examine how religion is shaped by the constant need to keep up
with culture and how popular culture has been influenced by religion.
We will look at different celebrities and products in regards to the
engagement of religion within culture.


Scharen, C. (2008). Imagination, pop culture and ministry with youth
and young adults. Dialog, 47(4), 339-347. Retrieved from ATLA Religion
Database database.

This article basically assesses whether or not Christians have a constricted imagination within society due to how they relate to cultural objects and their view of popular culture. This article outlines how popular culture has been put into categories of good or bad by many Christians or religious groups, but it also says that we need to change the context by which we examine things in popular culture. Instead of placing a cultural object in the good or bad category, people should be asking who they are becoming by engaging with those cultural objects.


Kirn, Walter. God's Country. The New York Times Magazine, (May 2 2004) p. 17-18, 0028-7822. OmniFile FT Mega (Wilson)Database.

In short, this article reviews how Christian pop culture, on television and radio, is reaching wider audiences while making millions doing so. It also explains how the production values of such Christian pop culture items are controlled by the media-savvy.


PARK, J., & BAKER, J. (2007). What Would Jesus Buy: American Consumption of Religious and Spiritual Material Goods. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 501-517. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00374.x.

This article studies the consumption of religious material. The authors examine different aspects and influences on religious consumption. They find that it is a combination of religous practice and cultural consumption.