Popular Religion And Popular Culture Religion Essay

general religion And pop purification Religion EssayPopular godliness and familiar polish in the of late(a) twentieth and early twenty-first centuries can bidwise be understood by the means in which individuals and aggroups belonging to the mainstream religion engage their assent. Expressions of e preciseday religion can often be at considerable variance from what is offici exclusivelyy supposed to be deemed as sacred. In this respect, popular religion absorbs m whatsoever an(prenominal) attributes of humane experience that might be looked d suffer on by purveyors of traditional religion. Amongst various aspects of American aliveness, contemporaneous popular religion can be outdo identified in regards of Hollywood fool a government agencys, pop medication, popular literature, humorous masss, and the Internet.The evolution of Hollywood fills involving ghostlike themes has been rooted largely in the biblical epic. As a popular genre during the 1950s and 1960s , key examples of these epic unearthly fritters include The scrubs (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), King of Kings(1961), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) among others. These films ordinarily had huge cinematic scale, massive take budgets and box-office celebrities much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, grievous bodily harm Von Sydow, Charlton Heston, Deborah Kerr, and Yul Brynner.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were numerous mutual exclusiveness films with sacred themes, around notably Rosemarys Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), and The prognosticate (1976). In Rosemarys Baby, a young, innocent Manhattan housewife is deceived by a coven of witches into giving giving birth to the eponymous child who is actually the son of Satan. The Exorcist was a plague film that dealt with a young girls demonic possession and her wealthy mothers dread(a) attempts to rescue her daughter through an exorcism by 2 Ca tholic priests. Serving as the pinnacle of the demon child movies of the era, The Omen is the tommyrot of a wealthy diplomats family unknowingly adopting a child who is actually the Antichrist foretold in the Book of Revelation. Representing an inte domiciliateing bl annul of story elements from twain Rosemarys Baby and The Exorcist, The Omen spawned several(prenominal) sequels as well as a remake.There atomic number 18 a great variety of deliveryman movies that throw off made their way to the silver screen. In 1961, MGMs release of King of Kings (a remake of Cecil B. DeMilles 1927 film of the equal title) was the first attempt by a major film studio apartment to produce a sacred epic in which the rescuer showcase was its main focus. That movie was followed years later other cinematic renditions of saviour such as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), The furthest come-on of Christ (1988), The hotness of the Christ (2004), and m ost recently The Color of the Cross (2006). By illustration, Martin Scorseses The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) portrays the last days of Jesus Christ as he is tempted by Satan by glimpses of what life might fuck off been like had Jesus not been crucified including marrying and making love with Mary Magdalene. Based on Nikos Kazantzakis 1960 novel of the same name, the movies main point is that Jesus, while free from human sin, might have still been vulnerable to all manners of come-on that humans face, including doubt, fearful reluctance, lustful yearning, and regret. By confronting and ultimately conquering all of humanitys weaknesses, Jesus struggled to do beau ideals will while never surrendering to earthly temptations. At the films end, Christ finally rejects all temptations and the film concludes with the crucifixion. As can be imagined, this film generated a considerable deal of controversy due to its humble matter.The Passion of the Christ (2004) is a film co-written, co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson. consort to Gibson, the films primary source material is derived from the Christs passion narratives order in the cardinal synoptic Gospels despite taking creative liberties of incorporating quotes and images from two the Hebraic Bible and spick-and-span Testament. charm deliberately mirroring traditional lay outations of the Passion in visual art, the film recounts depiction of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazargonth, particularly the arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion of Jesus. In spite of criticism regarding the constitutional violence, diachronical inaccuracy, and perceived anti-Semitic references, the overwhelming success of the studios marketing contract amongst Catholics and ev backerical Christians helped the film set numerous box-office records simultaneously. Having earned just about $ cd cardinal, The Passion of the Christ holds the record for the most pre-release ticket sales and the highest-grossing R -rated film in U.S. history as well as the highest-grossing religious film world broad(a). Further more(prenominal), because the films dialogue is entirely spoken in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew with English subtitles, The Passion of the Christ is overly the highest grossing non-English language film to date.While m whatsoever religious films since the 1950s were typically found on Christian stories, other films have been based in other religious traditions. For instance, The Message (Mohammed The Messenger of God) (1976) based upon Islamic history and stirred great controversy upon its release. The film depicts the historic moment when the prophet Mohammed receives the Word from Allah during the 7th century A.D. in the lay East still decreed by polytheism. After this fateful event, Mohammed begins move his messengers to proclaim the basic teachings and tenets of Islam throughout the Middle East. The films production was complicated by the fact that, according to the teachings of the Quran, neither any likenesses can be shown of the prophet Mohammed and his extended family nor the image and voice of God ever be pictured in any medium. To overcome this challenge, the lead role of Mohammed was as an absorbed protagonist while the reference point of Mohammeds uncle functiond as a replacement for Mohammed who alternately uttered lines and listened off-screen to a voice the audience never heard to repeal the heresy of limning images of either Allah or Mohammed.Filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen have wrestled with issues of Judaic film representations. Two of the Coen brothers films, Barton Fink (1991) and The Big Lebowski (1998), argon especially noteworthy for their assorted abundance of overtly albeit offbeat Judaic characters. The Coens brothers have been accused of depicting anti-Jewish ethnic stereotypes in their numerous films such as Bernie the Shmatte, a cravenly double-tongued hustler, in their third feature film, milling machines Crossing (19 90). However, their film A proficient Man (2009) is a remarkably provocative and poignant portrayal of Jewish American experience during the 1960s culled from their childhood memories of growing up in St. Louis Park, a suburban Jewish community south of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Drawing hard from the cultural tradition of Ashkenazic Judaism, the film centers on the Job-like professional and private plights of Larry Gopnik, a physics professor undergoing a crisis of faith. Struggling to make sense of his ruined life, Gopnik desperately seeking metaphysical advice and spiritual guidance from tierce rabbis to release a person of substance. Ultimately the film grapples with theological issues pertaining to the human abject in ways that strive to reconcile the spiritual and the absurd.Popular Religion and Popular MusicThe emergence of popular music is one of Americas sterling(prenominal) cultural achievements and since the mid-20th century has had several inspired practitioners whos e lives and recordings in the music fabrication that helped energize the American society by defining a unfermented outlook where the sacred and the secular coexisted in spite of appearance the mainstream. For example, Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee as one of five children belonging to Rev. C. L. Franklin, a famous Baptist minister, and Barbara Siggers Franklin, a vocalizer and pianist. Franklins parents had a troubled relations informed and separated for the final time when Aretha was six, going away her and her siblings to be increase by their paternal grandmother, Rachel Franklin. During her childhood, the home was regularly visited by many of her fathers famous friends including Clara Ward, Sam Cooke, and Mahalia Jackson. In the presence of such evangel singing music legends, Franklins talents both as a self-taught piano prodigy and a gifted singer with an extraordinary vocal range became apparent by the time she entered her teens. As noted in her autobiog raphy, Franklin stated that her early creed singing was patterned after Albertina Walker. Although early motherhood nearly derailed Franklins gospel career, once she decided to return to singing professionally as a pop musician rather than a gospel artist. When she signed a contract with Atlantic Records and began running(a) with legendary RB producer Jerry Wexler to hold a more gospel element into Franklins evolving musical sound. By the end of the 1960s, Franklins designation as the reining Queen of Soul was clearly established. Although most of her phonograph phonograph albums were best sellers during this era, the release of Amazing Grace (1972) in conclusion sold over two million copies in the United States and has been hailed as the best-selling gospel album of all time. Marking a triumphant return to her gospel roots, the songs on Amazing Grace were recorded live at New temple Missionary Baptist church service in Los Angeles, California alongside her father as well as gospel legend and family friend Rev. James Cleveland with relief vocals by the Southern California Community Choir in January 1972.In the late 1970s, Bob Dylan became a born-again Christian and released two albums of Christian gospel music Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980). When working on Slow Train Coming with Jerry Wexler, the veteran RB producer, Dylan had started to prophesy to him during the recording. Wexler replied Bob, youre dealing with a sixty-two-year old Jewish atheist. Lets just make an album. The album won Dylan a Grammy Award as Best Male vocalizer for the song Gotta Serve Somebody. When touring from the fall of 1979 through the spring of 1980, Dylan would not constitute any of his older, secular works. Realizing that there was considerably vocal backlash to his tweet of Christianity by some of his fans and fellow musicians, Dylan frequently delivered declarations of his faith from the stage.Another iconic figure in the realm of popular music that under went deep religious conversion was the country music legend Johnny currency.Rediscovering his Christian faith in the early 1970s, cash in recalled taking an altar call at Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snows Evangel Temple, a small church in Nashville, TN because, unconnected many larger churches, he said that the pastor and congregation tough like just a regular parishioner and not a celebrity. His intimacy with famed Christian minister Billy Graham led to the production of The Gospel Road, a film roughly the life of Jesus, that Cash both co-wrote and narrated. The ten saw his religious conviction deepening, and he made many evangelical appearances on Billy Graham Crusades around the world. In 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a reserve about Sauls conversion into the Apostle Paul. In 1990, Cash also recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament.Matisyahu is an American Hasidic Jewish reggae musician far-famed blending traditional Jewish themes within reggae, alternative brandish, electronica, and pelvic arch pass over sounds. Matisyahu was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania as Matthew Paul Miller on June 30, 1979. His family eventually relocated to White Plains, New York where he was raised as a Reconstructionist Jew. While Matisyahu was an ardent music lover, he be Hebrew school at Bet Am Shalom, a synagogue located in White Plains. At the age of sixteen, Matisyahu participated in a semester-long immersion program at the Alexander Muss High indoctrinate in Hod Hasharon, Israel that allowed him deeper exploration of his Jewish heritage. This overall experience affected his feelings towards Judaism so greatly that he eventually adopted Orthodox Jewish modus vivendi by becoming a Baal Teshuva by 2001. Initially he found his way to the Carlebach Shul on the West Side of Manhattan. Matisyahu then found his way to Chabad of Washington Square. From 2001 until 2007, Matisyahu was affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after his embrace of hasidism, Matisyahu began studying Torah at Hadar Hatorah, a yeshiva for returnees to Judaism As one example of his devotion, he will not set in concert on Friday nights in faithful observance of the Jewish Sabbath. He later recounted such diverse influences as Phish, Bob Marley and the Wailers, God Street Wine and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach among his musical inspirations.There is a proliferation of musical genres that represent a variety of religious backgrounds from Stryper (a Christian dangerous metallic element band) to gospel singing (a Christian alternative / hard shiver band) to the Kominas (a Punjabi taqwacore-Islamic hardcore punk carry-group) to A Tribe Called Quest (an African American hip- hop group predominantly composed of Sunni Muslim converts). In the 1980s,Stryper was a Christian heavy metal band from Orange County, California, USA. The name Stryper derives from Isaiah 535 (KJV)But he was wounded fo r our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. The biblical reference is also part of Strypers logo on most of their releases. (They also incorporate stripes into most of their outfits and their logo.) Once the band embraced the name of Stryper, drummer Robert afters created a acronym which is Salvation Through Redemption, Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness. Not only did Stryper please great mainstream success during the latter half of the 1980s, they are pioneers in the mainstream vulgarization of Christian metal music and even achieved a Grammy Award nomination. Stryper eventually broke up in 1992, which also marked the waning popularity of heavy metal as a musical genre.In the late nineties and early 2000s, Creed was a popular, multi-platinum selling American alternative / post-grunge rock band from Tallahassee, Florida often identified as a Christian rock band. The band was never signed to a contemporary Christian music label, did not perform in Christian music venues and never got any widespread regular play on Christian radio, Creeds first iii albums focused on themes of Christian faith and spirituality. Themes within their song titles such as Higher, My Sacrifice, Whats This Life For, My Own Prison, With Arms Wide Open, and virtuoso Last Breath the bands lyrics allude to Christian theology although they frequently refuted the Christian label. identical to the Christian rock movement, The Kominas (whose name means bastards in Punjabi) are a Taqwacore punk band hailing from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The Muslim punk trio consisting of Basim Usmani, Shahjehan Khan, and Adam Brierly rock out with songs titles of Dishoom, Baby or Sharia Law in the USA. hotshot of the Kominas best cognise songs, Rumi was a Homo, a protest song against homophobia within the American Muslim community, was featured in Skidmore Colleges Music Against Hatred co ncert. indite mainly by Usmani, the bands lyrics are clever, sometimes thought-provoking commentaries on racial profiling, foreign policy, and religious faith. The Kominas critically acclaimed debut album, Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay, was released in March 2008.As a fusion of punk, metal, and Bhangra folk music The band uses the landmark Bollywood Muslim punk in order to describe their sound. The music and resourcefulness typically draws from anti-colonial movements, Moghul art, American related to Islam, such as Moresque Science Temple, Five Percenters (an offshoot of the Nation of Islam), and Desi culture, Punjabi folklore, Sufi saints from Punjab, Hinduism, and Bollywood cinema.Formed in the late 1980s, A Tribe Called Quest was an African American hip hop group consisting of detractor/producer Q-Tip (Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, formerly Jonathan Davis), rapper Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor), and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad that explored Sunni Islam. They released five albums i n ten years, the first three of which were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. By 1996, lead rapper Q-Tip underwent a deepy religious awakening and, upon spiritual guidance from his friend, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, soon converted to Islam. While on tour, Q-Tips friend introduced him to a talented young producer from Detroit named Jay Dee (also known as J Dilla). Immediately taking the newcomer under his wing, Q-tip and the rest of Tribe agreed to form a production unit with Jay Dee. The group named their production company The Ummah (meaning community, nation, or brotherhood in Arabic) because Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad were devout Muslims. In addition to producing A Tribe Called Quests final two studio albums, the Ummah served as a music production collective that provided backing tracks for a wide array of RB and hip hop artists. Although the group officially disbanded in 1998 and Jay Dee death in 2006of a blood disease, their innovative blend of hip hop and ja zz has left an indelible imprint upon hip hop music.Popular Religion in Popular LiteratureIn the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins novel Left shadow A new(a) of the Earths Last Days officially launched a best-selling fictional series of 18 Christian-themed thrillers. It was narrative form to a specific apocalyptic adaptation of the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation. This novel has received largely favorable reactions from the late Jerry Falwell and other leading figures in the Evangelical Christian community who broadly speaking approved of how the authors represented the millennial / apocalyptic themes within Christian theology in a worldly language that was also commercially executable within the entertainment industry. The interpretation of Revelation, as presented in the Left Behind series, also encourages a largely individualistic approach to eschatology and salvation that eschews any responsibility for performing good deeds or evangeliz ing. Regardless of such criticism, the overall sales for Left Behind series has surpassed 65 million copies and has also inspired several movies, graphic novels, CDs, a video punt and a Left Behind series for teenagers.Similarly, author Dan Browns best-selling novels also include historical themes and Christianity as recurring motifs, and as a result, have generated controversy. Browns first novel, Angels Demons (2000) is bestselling mystery-thriller novel focused on fictional Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdons quest to bring on the mysteries of the Illuminati and to unravel a plot to destroy Vatican City by detonating antimatter. The book portrays a historical conflict between the Illuminati and the Roman Catholic Church as a contest between science and religion. Browns subsequent novel, The Da Vinci Code (2003) also examines ancient history, conspiracy theories of secret societies, religious symbolism, and important architecture. Combining the detective, thriller, and conspiracy fiction genres, The Da Vinci Code provoked popular interest in speculation concerning the historic roots of Christianity. Despite world flatly denounced by many Christian denominations as a corruptible attack on the Roman Catholic Church rife with historical and scientific inaccuracy, The Da Vinci Code is a worldwide bestseller that had sold roughly 80 million copies that has been translated into 44 languages.Popular Religion in jovial BooksThere are numerous examples of popular religion being utilised in the world of suspect books and graphic novels. For instance, the DC Vertigo ludicrous book series Preacher chronicled the fictional exploits of Jesse Custer, a small town pastor in Annville, Texas who is experiencing an extraordinary crisis of faith. After Genesis, a creature depict as the supernatural spawn of the inexplicable coupling between an angel and a demon, accidentally takes possession of him, Custer becomes a hybrid human-divine being that potentia lly wields enough power to ultimately rival even God. Inhabited by this spiritual force composed of both sharp goodness and pure evil, the jolly book portrays the title character of the comic book arguably becomes the most powerful being in existence. Tragically, this realization results in a disaster that turns his church to rubble and killed his entire congregation. Spurred by his highly positive sense of morality and a strong sense of purpose, the comic book illustrates Custers paranormal adventures as he treks across the United States in a quest to find God for himself both figuratively and literally. Following a trend within American comic books during the 1960s and 1970s very much akin to the Death of God theological movement, Preacher alludes to a God that has abandoned creation and thus has left humanity to its own devices for better or worse. During its publication from 1995 to 2000, Preacher was a controversial comic book series renowned by some and reviled by others fo r both its dark and frequently violent humor as well as its unabashed treatment of religious and supernatural themes.Since the 1970s, there have been several characters that accentuate various dimensions of spiritual practices prevalent throughout the African diaspora. A particularly notable example of an African American supernatural superhero named familiar Voodoo who appeared in a variety of comic books published by Marvel Comics during the 1970s. Returning to his native Port-au-Prince, Haiti after more than a decade of education and practice as a psychologist in the United States, Jericho Drumm assumes the alter ego of Brother Voodoo possesses numerous superhuman and unavowed powers such as easily entering into a trance-like state in which his hide becomes impervious to burning and other forms of pain as well as being able to control flame and lower life forms these are all power that the comic book creators attribute to the characters mastery of mystical rituals derived from the loa, the spirit-gods of Haitian vodou. As an attempt to introduce a character with a very unique ethnic, cultural, and religious background, Brother Voodoo was later followed by other figures in the Marvel pantheon of characters such as the female skipper Marvel whose alter ego, Monica Rambeau, hailed from the Creole religiosity of contemporary New siege of Orleans or the character of Storm (aka Ororo Monroe) from the X-Men series whose backstory harkens to being an East African hailed as a demi-goddess because of her mutant ability to control the weather. While these are certainly not the first or only comic book characters of African descent to be introduced, these creations were attempts to merge issues of race and religion in interesting ways.Moving in a considerable different vein, the primordial figure in DC Vertigo Comics series Hellblazer is a character named John Constantine who pursues a mysterious life as a streetwise detective who frequently crosses the supernatu ral boundaries between heaven and hell on earth in order to confronting various dangers of an occult nature in the ordinary world. As a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, hedonistic cynic arguably working for the greater good, Constantine usually triumphs through guile, deceit and misdirection. At the end of his exploits, he typically makes more enemies in the process of resolving a particular conflict than the opponents he originally intends to defeat. Even though depicted as a fraudulent individual, the narrative shows Constantine to be a well-connected person who is supremely esthesis at making friends and has a wide array of otherworldly contacts and immoral allies at his disposal. Consequently, the overarching narrative reveals Constantine to be a compassionate and now and again heroic figure struggling to overcome the influence of heaven and hell upon an otherwise unsuspecting humanity. In other words, the protagonist of Hellblazer serves as a fictional incarnation of the humani st anti-hero as a trickster of sorts. As such, this book is highly indicative of a trend in mainstream comic books that has been quite popular amongst comic book creators and fans alike wherein the mortal characters such as Constantine are imbued with an agnostic spiritual worldview over and above a sense of moral ambiguity as they unapologetically grapple with seemingly unsurmountable hazards both mundane and arcane. On the whole, while there is no paucity of evidence of popular religion at work in comic books and graphic novels, there is presently a shortage dearth of donnish research and discussion on the matter.Popular Religion and the InternetOne of the most exceptional transformations in the emergence of popular religion in the latter half of the twentieth century has been the burgeoning presence of religion coming into court on the Internet. From the mid-1990s to present, an exponential number of churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have a firm ground within cybersp ace. Towards this end, there are numerous websites such as be adrift Faith.com and Beliefnet.com connect innumerable Christian communities nationally and internationally via the Internet with the change magnitude prospect of connecting with other religious groups in a virtual fashion. Since the creation and widespread use of the Internet in the 1990s, online Christian resources have tended to dominate religious themed content to date. This has been of particular importance given the presumption that most Internet users hailed from North America or Western Europe, regions deemed predominantly Christian. This assume dominance has shifted due to the increasing level of Internet access and literacy by populations in the developing nations of the global South, most notably in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Even though it is highly unlikely that the worlds religions ever will be fully and equally represented in cyberspace, the democratic impulse of the founding Wide Web will cause the demographics to begin reflecting the religious renewal among a growing array of internet users worldwide. Moreover, for those members of faith communities that are comparatively small and geographically isolated from a traditional house of worship, the introduction Wide Web provides these practitioners an alternate means of interaction and connection. By sexual morality of having Internet access, adherents of such faith traditions can receive update schooling about their religion, obtain latest spiritual resources, and engage in communication theory with other faithful believers. There are a variety of religious websites such as Torah Net (www.torah.net), Allaahuakbar Net (www.allaahuakbar.net), Gospel Communications meshwork (www.gospel.com), Gateways to Buddhism (www.dharmanet.org) and The Witches Voice (www.witchvox.org) are religious oriented news and networking web resources that serve as lively examples of popular religion.See also Celebrity Culture Electronic Church Internet Literature Contemporary Lived Religion Pluralism Popular Religion and Popular Culture entries Radio Spirituality Contemporary Trends television Visual Culture entries.Juan Floyd-Thomas