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Academic Programs
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Theology
of Popular Culture
(TH-550-2)
Winter/Spring
2003 |
An
exploration of what kind of leverage theology can provide for
interpreting cultural phenomena that are not ordinarily
thought of as religious. We will read “theologians of
culture” (Paul Tillich, Ernst Troeltsch, Margaret Miles),
and examine popular culture (fiction, movies, journalism,
television, tourism, music, public spaces), with the intent of
developing ways to discern longings, anxieties, and visions of
good and evil that operate below the surface of our common
cultural life.
Meeting
Day, Time and Dates:
Tuesdays
from 7 p.m. to 9:20 p.m.
Location: Room205
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 Professor
Kelton
CobbContact
Information:
phone:(860)
509-9513
email:
kcobb@hartsem.edu
Dr. Cobb's web site
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Course
Syllabus
Class web site
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PURPOSE
OF COURSE:
This course will
explore various theological and religious meanings that are carried in popular
culture, and specifically in phenomena that are not ordinarily thought of as
religious. Through reading several
"theologians of culture," we will examine contemporary novels, films,
music, television, and tourism with the intent of developing ways to discern
transcendent longings, anxieties, and visions of good and evil that operate
below the surface of our common cultural life in the U.S.
AIMS OF COURSE:
- to inventory key theological and religious concepts that are
useful in interpreting culture
- to consider the revelatory and the iconographic powers of popular
culture from a theological perspective
- to become familiar with several current theories about the role of
popular culture in a society
- to engage in theological reflection on several fronts of popular
culture (novels, film, music, TV, and tourism)
- to reflect on the ways in which religious identities are
constructed in our culture
- to begin to develop habits of analysis with which one might read
cultural events and phenomena theologically
COURSE TEXTS:
Required
Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul
Broughton Coburn, Aama
in America
Douglas Coupland, Life
after God
Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality
Eric Mazur and Kate McCarthy, God
in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture
Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith
James Twitchell, Lead
Us into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism
Electronic articles:
John
Fiske, "Commodities and Culture" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR2/fiske.pd
Recommended:
Dominic
Strinati,
An
Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS:
Due:
1) One 3-page essay
40 points 2/25
2)
One 3-page film review
40
3/18
3)
Book review (4 pages)
40
4/8
4)
Research paper (12 pages)
100
5/16
5)
Attendance and participation 30
250 points
EXPLANATION
OF REQUIREMENTS:
1)
Write a 3-page (typed and double-spaced) reflection paper on Douglas
Coupland’s Life after God, in which
you make use of Paul Tillich’s concept of “ultimate concern” as a lens
through which to make sense of the story and musings in Life
after God. It is due on
February 25.
2)
Write a 3 page review (typed and double-spaced) of either the
movie, Fight Club OR the movie, Chocolat.
Both are relatively new releases available at any video rental store.
Watch the movie with themes and arguments from James Twitchell’s book, Lead
Us into Temptation, in mind, and
make sure the content of your review reflects this.
This is due March 18.
3) Read one of the books listed on the bibliography that will be
distributed in class and respond to it in the form of a 4 page (typed and
double-spaced) book review. The review should outline the material presented in the book,
recap the author’s central argument, and isolate some feature of the book
where, using your own powers of analysis, theology and popular culture
intersect, and explain why. This is
due on April 8. It is recommended
that you review a book that will be relevant to the topic of your final paper.
Note: Not all of these books are in
the library. Plan ahead, using the
bookstore, library, or Inter-library loan.
4) For your final paper (12 pages) you are to put to work the theological
“tools” surveyed in class to interpret some phenomenon within popular
culture. There will be more about
this later. This is due by May 16.
5)
Students are expected to be present at each class, to read the assigned texts by
the scheduled dates, and to participate actively in class discussions.
Artifacts from popular culture (ads, commercials, movie or TV show clips,
music CDs, postcards of tourist attractions, etc.) that manifest themes from the
weekly readings and topics and can be displayed to the class are welcome.
GRADING:
The grading formula used in this class follows an
unconventional pattern. The
interval between letter grades is 20%. This
scale allows for more room to move within each grade level, and thus more
careful distinctions within each level. Within
letter grades, there will be +’s and -’s.
Every assignment and the course grade will follow this scale:
250pts
| 100pts | 40pts | 30pts
A=
250-200 100-80
40-32
30-24
B=
199-150
79-60
31-24
23-18
C=
149-100 59-40
23-16
17-12
F=
99-0 39-0
15-0 11-0
SCHEDULE
OF TOPICS AND READINGS:
Note: The readings indicated for each class date are to be read for that
class.
FIRST
SEGMENT: THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
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January 28:
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Overview: Interpreting the
Theological Content in Popular Culture
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February 4:
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Theological Tools:
Myth, Cosmogony, and Millennialism
Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp.1-74, 139-145, 162-193
Eric Mazur, “The Happiest Place on Earth,” in Mazur, pp.299-315
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February 11:
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Theological Tools: Ultimate Concern and the Holy
Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, pp.1-83
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February
18:
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Theological Tools: Religious Symbols and Types of
Faith
Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, pp.85-147
Wade Clark Roof, “Blood in the Barbeque,” in Mazur, pp.109-121
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February
25:
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Theological Tools:
Truth and Mystery
Douglas
Coupland, Life after God, pp.1-360
Assignment
due:
3pp essay:
Comment on how the concept of ultimate concern manifests itself in
the reflections found in Life after God.
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SECOND SEGMENT: CULTURAL STUDIES
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March 4:
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Schools of Cultural Studies
John Fiske, "Commodities and Culture" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR2/fiske.pdf
Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul, chps 3, 5
James Twitchell, Lead Us into Temptation, pp.1-49
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March 11:
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The Culture Industry and
Market Populism
James
Twitchell, Lead Us into Temptation, pp.50-89, 123-158, 197-232
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THIRD
SEGMENT:
CULTURAL ANALYSIS
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March 18:
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Materialism, Fashion, and
Identity
James
Twitchell, Lead Us into Temptation,
pp.233-286
Assignment due:
3pp
analysis of either Fight Club or Chocolat in terms of
Twitchell’s argument.
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March 25:
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The Religious Archaeology of
Rock and Roll
Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul, chps 1,7,8,10-13
Kate McCarthy, “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” in Mazur, pp.23-45
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April 1:
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The Religious Trajectories
of Rock and Roll
Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul, chps 14-21
Robin Sylvan, “Rap Music, Hip-Hop
Culture,” in Mazur, pp.281-297
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April 8:
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Television
Elijah
Siegler, “God in the Box,” in Mazur, pp.199-215
Jon Stone, “A Fire in the Sky,” in Mazur, pp.65-82
Suzanne Holland, “Our Ladies of the Airwaves,” in Mazur,
pp.217-230
Lisle Dalton, et.al., “Homer the Heretic,” in Mazur, pp.231-247
Assignment due: 4pp
book review
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April 22:
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Sacred Sites and Tourist
Destinations
Broughton
Coburn, Aama in America, pp.1-137
Assignment
due: Typed preview of
final paper, with bibliography (1p)
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April 29:
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Sacred Sites and the Great
American Road Trip
Broughton Coburn, Aama in America, pp.139-272
Sarah Pike, “Desert Goddesses,” in Mazur, pp.155-176
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May 16:
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Assignment due: Final
paper due
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