New Springer Book Series on Popular Culture, Religion and Society

Announcing the New Springer Book Series Popular Culture, Religion and Society 
A Social-Scientific Approach

What happens when popular culture not only amuses, entertains, instructs and relaxes, but also impacts on social interactions and perception in the field of religion? This series explores how religion, spirituality and popular culture co-exist intimately. Religion sometimes creates and regulates popular culture, religious actors who express themselves in popular culture are also engaged in shaping popular religion, and in doing so, both processes make some experiences possible for some, and deny access to others. The central theme of this series is thus on how religion affects and appropriates popular culture, and on how popular culture creates and/or re-enforces religion.

The interaction under scrutiny is not only between the imaginary and ‘real’ world but also between the online and off-line one, and this revitalises the study of popular religion through its involvement in popular culture and in new social media technologies such as Facebook and Twitter.

Works presented in this series move beyond text analysis and use new and ground-breaking theories in anthropology, communication, cultural studies, religious studies, social philosophy, and sociology to explore the interrelation between religion, popular culture, and contemporary society.

Call for Book Proposals

Book proposals are invited for research monographs and edited collections that fit within the series’ scope and themes. Please email your initial book proposals to the Series Editor.

Series Editor: Adam Possamai, University of Western Sydney (A.Possamai@uws.edu.au)

Editorial Board: Stef Aupers, Erasmus University of Rotterdam Netherlands
Roberto Blancarte, El Collegio de Mexico, Mexico
Douglas Cowan, Renison University College, Canada
Giuseppe Giordan, University of Padua, Italy Danielle Kirby, RMIT, Australia
Joseph Laycock, Texas State University, USA
Eloisa Martin, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
John W. Morehead, Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, USA
Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Heinz Scheifinger, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia
Vineeta Sinha, National University of Singapore, Singapore
James V. Spickard, University of Redlands, USA

Review of The Theology of Battlestar Galactica at Colloquium

My review of Kevin Wetmore's The Theology of Battlestar Galactica: American Christianity in the 2004-2009 Television Series (McFarland, 2012) has been accepted for publication in Colloquium: The Australian and New Zealand Theological Review. The review will be published in issue 45, no. 2 in November 2013. A copy is available on my Academia.edu page.

Driscoll Takes a Bite Out of Twilight: Porn for Girls?

In years past Evangelicals expressed fears about Harry Potter, alleging that the widespread interest in the literary and cinematic phenomenon opened the doors to Witchcraft and Paganism among children, youth, and adults alike. With Harry Potter now in the past, a new boogeyman has arisen.

The new threat comes in the form of vampires and the occult. This is the opinion of Mark Driscoll in his blog post titled "A Father's Fright of Twilight." The byline reads "Twilight is for teenage girls what porn is to teenage boys: sick, twisted, evil, dangerous, deceptive, and popular." Driscoll is an Evangelical and the founding pastor of Mars Hill church. This is something of a mismatch in that the name of the church is taken from the Apostle Paul's sermon at the Areopagus in Athens in Acts 17, and while Paul's message represents a great lesson in a Christian cross-cultural understanding and communication, Driscoll's latest blog post on Twilight is, by contrast, an example of poor theology and cultural interaction.

In his blog post, Driscoll connects the books and films to teenage acts of self-destruction, vampirism, and the occult. He writes:

"I have ranted on this garbage-tastic phenomenon before, and find the whole genre profoundly troubling. The popularity of supernatural soap operas has inspired some real-life demonic trends. Overreaction? Tell that to the kids biting, cutting, drinking blood – sometimes while having sex – and sinking deeper into the occult."

Driscoll then includes quotes from various sources with teens who describe their interest in cutting and blood drinking, as well as the "growing vampire subculture" as documentation and confirmation of his concerns. For Driscoll, this is all "entirely pagan," and opens the door to "demonic deception." He then concludes with his hopes by way of response that includes a biblical reference:

As a pastor and a father, I am particularly concerned for Christian parents who are naively allowing this filth into their children’s lives, buying these books and driving kids to see these movies. To such parents, “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment...

While I appreciate the concerns that a father and pastor has for children,  his congregation, and the broader Christian community, the irony for me is that Driscoll's analysis does not include the knowledge and discernment he wants to see in others. In fact, he exemplifies some of the worst sensationalism and alarmism that Evangelicals are unfortunately known for when it comes to minority religions such as paganism, social identities like vampires, and popular culture.

How is this the case? First, Driscoll has confused the literary and cinematic expressions of the horror vampire with real-world vampirism. The two are very different. One derives from folklore and horror, and in the case of Twilight, from teen paranormal romance, and the other is a social identity found in the real world. This is not to say that there may not be overlaps at times in certain cases, but Evangelicals all too readily make the worst kinds of assumptions and connections that many times aren't there.

Second, Driscoll draws a cause and effect relationship between reading books or watching films related to paranormal fantasy vampires and teens who cut themselves and identify in some way with blood letting and consumption. This relationship is assumed, not proven, and none of the sources he quotes in the post demonstrate what he thinks he is proving.

Third, Driscoll does not understand the vampire subculture he finds so objectionable. He paints a picture of sexual deviancy and blood drinking, likely without any attempt at engaging the diversity of self-identified vampires, or good resources on the subject like the Atlanta Vampire Alliance or Joseph Laycock's fine book Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism (Praeger, 2009). The result is a case of continued ignorance, misrepresentation, and bearing false witness about our neighbors.

Fourth, Driscoll connects all of this to paganism and the occult. Where is his evidence of this? He provides no evidence that contemporary pagans are somehow connected to the Twilight phenomenon, or that those who identify with esotericism are conspiring to consume the blood of young innocents. In the absence of evidence Driscoll argues by sheer assertion, and unfortunately perpetuates the ignorance and fears of the Western esoteric tradition, usually known by the more pejorative term "the occult" among Evangelicals, and associates it with forms of cultural deviancy such as blood drinking and sexual perversion. Not only is this inaccurate, but Driscoll might recall that the earliest Christians were also viewed with suspicion as the members of a Jewish cult who were said to engage in sexual deviancy, while also eating their founder's flesh and drinking his blood. Just as those in first century Palestine passed along the worst rumors and allegations about the Christian sect, so too has Driscoll, now a member of Christianity that has shifted from the margins to a position of power, passes along rumors about other minority groups. 

As an aside, perhaps Driscoll is unaware that the author of the Twilight series is a Mormon, and that the film incorporates aspects of the author's religious ethics, such as sexual chastity before marriage. (See my past review on the initial film in the series for more on this topic.) Why would a member of a religious group that values families write a series of books that allegedly incorporates "the occult" and leads to blood drinking? Regardless of such considerations, it is unlikely that such reflections would factor into a reappraisal of the Twilight material since Mormons remain high on the list of "dangerous cult groups" for many Evangelicals.

Remember at this juncture that Driscoll wants Evangelical parents to respond with knowledge and discernment. But the unfortunate end result of his problematic pop cultural and theological analysis is that Driscoll ends up passing along misinformation, perpetuating fears, and modeling poor cultural engagement for Christian parents, their children, and Evangelicals in congregations who take him as a credible voice on such matters. In addition, by focusing on staying away from or stamping out such pseudo-issues we waste valuable time and energy that could be spent on very real and important matters such as identifying with the poor and marginalized, world hunger, and religiously-fueled violence.

For those interested in a more fair, balanced, and sophisticated understanding of these topics I recommend the resources linked to above in the AVA and Laycock on vampires, the book Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue by Philip Johnson and Gus diZerega (Lion, 2008) for an example of a more helpful and responsible interaction between Christianity and paganism, and my chapter in The Undead and Theology (Pickwick, 2012) for an example of an informed and balanced theological interaction with horror in popular culture.

The Sacred, Celebrity and Theological Challenge

An excerpt from Gary Laderman's Sacred Matters: Celebrity Worship, Sexual Ecstasies, the Living Dead, and Other Signs of Religious Life in the United States (New York & London: The New Press, 2009), p. 81:

"For many Christians, the fear that Jesus Christ is not the only truly divine celebrity, the sole source for true sacrality for the modern world, is an ongoing challenge to contemporary theology which has found itself increasingly displaced by and ill-equipped to deal with an Oprah or a Valentino, let alone a Bruce, Marilyn, or Elvis. The confusion and fear over the commingling of sacred and secular, and the possibility that people have multiple religious identities and identifications, some of which do not require a monotheistic God, is expressed in public culture through diatribe and jeremiads, sermonizing and, in some cases, soul-searching reflection."

Laderman: Expanding Our Concept of the Sacred

I was recently looking through past articles posted at Religion Dispatches and found one I thought I'd draw attention to here. The article is by Gary Laderman, a scholar I have mentioned here previously. Laderman is Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Religion at Emory University, and the author of Sacred Matters, with the long but telling subtitle of Celebrity Worship, Sexual Ecstasies, the Living Dead, and Other Signs of Religious Life in the United States (The New Press, 2009). Laderman's work in religion dovetails with my own interest in spirituality and pop culture and much of what he has to say in Sacred Matters could likewise be applied to phenomenon I have researched such as Burning Man Festival and hyper-real spiritualities.

The article is titled "ARIS Survey Gets 'Religion,' Misses Boat." It's point of departure is the American Religious Identification Survey . Laderman notes how various segments of American culture presented certain features of the survey, but in the process missed a significant facet of how Americans construct their religious identity and engage in a spiritual quest. Survey takers tend to think of religion in certain traditional categories related to God, Scripture, and participation in institutional worship settings. But Laderman suggests this misses a large part of the picture:

What if there were more to religious life in America than belief in God? More holy possibilities than those outlined in the so-called “Great Religions of the Book”—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—or other sacred texts like the Upanishads in Hinduism or the Tibetan Book of the Dead in Buddhism?

What if religion is better understood as a ubiquitous feature of cultural life, expressed through and inspired by basic, universal facts of life and fundamentally biological phenomena in human experience: suffering and ecstasy, reproduction and aging, family and conflict, health and death.

If traditional ways of thinking about religion miss an essential part of religious practice today what then might contemporary spirituality look like? Laderman continues:

So what if the sacred is not only, or even primarily, tied to theology or religious identity labels like more, less, and not religious? We might see how religious practices and commitments emanate from unlikely sources today: science and the pursuit of truth; music and the social ecstasy of concerts; violence and the glorification of warfare; celebrity worship and technological wonders; heroic doctors and evil villains; funereal spectacles and sexual compulsions; the Super Bowl and sacrificed soldiers; Elvis and drugs, both legal and illegal.

Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Laderman's suggestion it is worth considering. Perhaps we are missing out on understanding a significant part of America's spiritual quest because we're asking the wrong questions. And we're asking the wrong questions because we're not thinking about the sacred in the ways that increasing numbers of people are doing so. Perhaps the church needs to start asking new questions and think more holistically about what the sacred encompasses.

Joseph Laycock - Modern Vampires: Your Neighbors and Spouses

As regular readers of this blog are aware, one of the continued areas of interest and research for me is the intersection between popular culture, spirituality, and theology. A recent interview at religion dispatches with Joseph Laycock, a doctoral candidate at Boston University, touches on these areas and dovetails with some of my own interests as Laycock touched on his research into the issues surrounding modern vampirism.

Several aspects of Laycock's research are worth noting. First, he approaches this topic not as a new religious movement, but instead from the broader way in which people in late modernity are constructing their senses of identity. From this perspective Laycock sees contemporary vampires as undergoing a process of self-discovery.

Laycock also attempts to set the record straight in terms of misconceptions about the vampire community, usually construed as "a subversive religious group and that anyone who identifies as a vampire is a dangerous social pariah." Rather than these stereotype Laycock's research confirms that he sees "self-identified vampires more or less as ordinary people."

Interestingly, toward the conclusion of the interview Laycock is asked which book he wished he had written. He refers to Christopher Partridge's excellent book The Re-Enchantment of the West, Volumes I & II, and his development of the idea of "re-enchantment" theory in the West in late modernity as a significant concept in the study of new religions and the Western quest for spirituality. Laycock's research into modern vampires fits will with the idea of people seeking re-enchantment, as well as seeking inspiration for identity and spirituality through aspects of popular culture such as literature, film, and television, resulting in the creation of what Partridge labels "popular occulture."

Rethinking the Sacred and Profane

Yet another article from religion dispatches was of interest, this one touching on the concepts of and boundaries between the sacred and profane. In "Sacred & Profane: From Bono to to the Jedi Police - Who Needs God?", Gary Laderman looks at a recent opinion piece written by Bono, and recent affiliations with the spirituality of Jediism, as he rethinks not only the concepts of sacred and profane, but also the new ways in which the spiritual quest is being understood in the church and outside of it.

Laderman's article begins with consideration of Bono's recent opinion piece wherein he praises the charitable works of those who are not Christians, a work which Bono describes as "soul music." The article continues with a description of how this is defined by Bono as a "way to capture, metaphorically, a sacred stance and engagement in the world emanating not from the usual, institutional sites, but from prison cells and investment firms."

The second part of the article addresses a phenomenon of great interest to me, that of hyper-real spiritualities, those new expressions of the spiritual quest that draw from the well of popular culture, particularly from the fantastic in literature, film, and television in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Laderman describes a BBC news story that describes the hyper-real spirituality of Jediism shaped by the Star Wars films:

"In the largest police force in Scotland, eight police officers recently listed their religion as 'Jedi' on the voluntary diversity forms they were required to fill out. In the words of one reviewer: 'Far from living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, some members of the noble Jedi order have now chosen Glasgow and its surrounding streets as their home.'

"The BBC reports the rather astronomical-sounding numbers from a recent census of England and Wales indicating that 390,000 identify themselves with the Jedi religion, and nearly 14,000 who claim allegiance to the Jedi Force in Wales. But even more tellingly, we learn that the Office of National Statistics there does not recognize the religion separately, so followers were bunched under the 'atheist' category (which is, after all, fitting since there is no deity in the Star Wars cosmology)."

Two aspects of the story on Jediism are of special interest to me as a theologian and missiologist specializing in popular culture and practical theology. First, popular culture must be recognzed as a significant source and reservoir for the formation of the spiritual quest of increasing numbers of people. Second, our religious survey work and the interpretation thereof needs to be done carefully so that the broad categories of surveys as well as respondent self-definitions are properly understood. A recent ARIS survey indicated an increase in the number of those who claim atheism or affiliation with no religion, but this may not necessarily mean an increase in the number of atheists or agnostics. As the rise of those expressing an interest in Jediism who were put under the category of atheism indicates, surveys may be more accurately interpreted as indicating the decline of traditional and institutional religions which still form the backdrop and assumptions of many surveys, and a shift to non-traditional expressions of spirituality such as Jediism where no appropriate categories currently exist in surveys for proper classification.

In the conclusion of his article Laderman states:

"I can hear my New Testament and Systematic Theologian colleagues reading this with skepticism if not disgust—and indeed I’ve encountered these kinds of reactions in public forums. 'Surely anyone identifying their religion as Jedi is just being silly,' they say. Or 'How do you know this is genuine religion and not just some passing fancy?' I imagine after the death of Christ members of the early Christian community may have faced the same kind of incredulity and disdain.

"My response: Welcome to the twenty-first century, when sacred matters are not limited to the monotheists, or confined by conventional religious traditions. Bono and Warren Buffet, Master Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi are legitimate guiding religious lights whose words and actions stir the imagination and rally the faithful in ways those of us who study religion are only beginning to understand."

To these concluding thoughts of Laderman I add my hearty agreement. One person's "fringe religion" is another person's sacred pathway, and these new forms of spirituality must be taken just as seriously by theologians as more mainstream, traditional, and familiar forms of religion and spirituality. Welcome to the twenty-first century Western world and its new forms of the sacred.

Barry Taylor: Entertainment Theology and New-Edge Spirituality

At the end of last year I enjoyed reading A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture by Craig Detweiler and Bary Taylor (Baker Academic, 2003) that is part of Baker's "engaging culture" series of volumes. This volume was very well done, and I looked forward to the efforts of both of these gentlemen as they built on this foundation with further books. The first to come out was Barry Taylor's Entertainment Theology: New-Edge Spirituality in a Digital Democracy (Baker Academic, 2008). As the back of this book describes, Barry "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."

Earlier today Barry made some time to discuss aspects of his new book with me.

Morehead's Musings: Barry, thanks for being part of this interview. I have enjoyed your collaborative work in the past with Craig and I looked forward to your building upon the foundation you put down. To begin, can you provide a little background as to your personal interests and involvement in the arts and theology?

Barry Taylor: I think like most of us I grew up immersed in pop culture in one form or another, particularly music. So I've lived in a world that is informed and shaped by pop culture most of my life, and I think I've always had a kind of deeper interest in various aspects of it. This led me into more professional engagements. So for a while I worked in the music business, I worked with bands and progressed to doing music of my own, and I still do a little bit of film composition and writing now. I think for me it's always been of interest. I've traveled quite a bit and have been struck by the ways in which the culture manifests itself and how our pop culture shows up around the world. That's the real genesis. And along the way I got more involved in a practicing faith and then moved into the academics of the study of theology. I was always interested in the ways in which culture and pop culture reconfigures the way people think about faith and belief and stuff like that. I started thinking about the academic side of things, but there really wasn't very much engagement with popular culture, it was still the prodigal part of the culture in that people were talking quite happily about high culture, but pop culture got short shrift. I felt that given its pervasiveness it was an important dynamic among people I know. So I really tried to find ways from the outset of thinking theologically about popular culture and trying to get at some of its larger meanings, influences, and stuff like that.

Morehead's Musings: What kind of educational background do you have that you have applied to this personal interest in the subject matter?

Barry Taylor: I have an M.A. and a Ph.D., both of which dealt with various aspects of it. My masters thesis was on popular theology and pop music, and I spent a lot of time exploring Nick Cave and U2 at the time, sort of mining their theological work and trying to place that within the cultural grid and trying to see how theology is done outside of church. My masters thesis was titled "Out of Egypt" and it came from a thing in Hosea where he says "Out of Egypt have I called my son," and it's this kind of idea that sometimes we get gifted with things that come from the last place we'd least expect. Popular culture has been one of those surprising places where gifts in theology emerge. In my doctoral dissertation I dealt more along the lines of the new book, more academic, trying to think about the ways in which ideas of faith and spirituality can permeate popular culture, what they look like if you put them all together, a broader picture of if we live in a digital democracy or a democratizing digital culture with these streams and strands of faith, spirituality, and the sacred, are there ways of grouping them together to see a bigger theological picture. I was really trying to think more theologically and missiologically. I think personally pop culture is reshaping the way people both practice and think about religion. What do traditional faiths do in light of that? That's what I was trying to grapple with.

Morehead's Musings: In your book you stat that you want to "locate the missional-theological reflection of the Christian faith in this new world" of what you refer to as "techno-spirituality" or "postsecular spirituality." What do you mean by these terms as to what you're interacting with?

Barry Taylor: I think that these are both flawed terms, but I was trying to get at something. I'll start with the post-secular. What I was really trying to say is that we've moved beyond the secular society that the church often thinks we're engaging with. You hear people talking about the secular world and society, and I understand the distinction, but I think if you pay attention to what is going on in this supposedly secular society, a surprising amount of non-secular sacred activity shows up. Even in the recent political campaigns, there's a renewed conversation about the role of religion in society in the last ten years through the course of the last couple of presidential elections. Even Britain, where I'm from, this has come up. So what I wanted to say was that we live in a post-secular society, not in the sense that it's over, but that we've just moved beyond the traditional understanding of that, and we're a place where the spiritual is open to discussion in pretty much all aspects of life, which it wasn't twenty years ago. By the same token, and I think this is where it gets a little technical, at the same time we're exploring there is a return to God but it's not a return to the time of religion before secularity so that people can just pick up where they left off. It's a trajectory that has gone through and out the other side where people are now having a new conversation about spirituality, faith, belief, and God that prevents opportunities and challenges to traditional spirituality on a whole bunch of levels, whether ecclesiology or missiology or theology or whatever "ology" you want to pick. There are some opportunities but also challenges because the world is moving forward not backward, and so this renewal in spirituality is in a sense both an old and new phenomenon, so it is the new aspects that come principally through the technological world, through the media, whether it's books or online, that's where the challenge lies because the technology creates different ways of processing and disseminating information, people do different stuff with different technologies. So to refer to techno-spirituality is a way of trying to say there is a distinctly, contemporary aspect to spirituality that in some ways is technologically shaped and defined.

Morehead's Musings: One of the things I appreciated in your book was that early on in it you are very transparent with readers as you acknowledge that your own relationship with Christianity is "in a state of flux," and that you are uncomfortable with the direction of the church. Can you share a little more on these aspects of your personal perspective?

Barry Taylor: In saying those things I'm also actively involved in the life of the church which I think gives me permission to say them. What it boils down to for me is a couple of things. One, I just think that sometimes we live in a vacuum about what's really going on. To say we're naive is too harsh a word, but just a kind of lack of awareness of what is really going on, and sometimes I think that we settle for spin and platitudes rather than digging away at the heart of what's really emerging all around us. I think especially when it comes to popular culture there are still debates about this and that and quite often it seems fairly shallow and surface level in terms of asking "Is this good?" or "Is this bad?", but there are broader questions to ask when you are dealing with cultural artifacts, like "What is this saying?," "What does this mean?," "What does this imply?," "What are the implications for us?." On a general level there is a frustration that we live inside little bubbles and make pronouncements about the world that really we don't like any more. The other side of it is personally and experientially being involved in pastoral ministry in the general work of the church and seminary I feel like we're just focusing on and talking about the wrong thing and that shades the landscape and creates false impressions of reality. Sometimes I think Christians feel really embattled but I'm not so sure that's true, although I sometimes think we don't help that when it is true in places by a kind of less than benevolent openness to conversation. I sometimes think, in broad generalizations, our idea of dialogue is all too often let's go and tell others what the right way is rather than thinking that their might be something that might instruct and enlighten us in our own attempts to understand and engage. So my level of flux is linked to lots of things, how we mediate tradition, how we approach Scripture, the way we "do church," all of this and other things. Like many of my peers there is a general sense that commitment to a life formed by Christian faith and spirituality, but at the same time something of a frustration of being forced to fit our conversation into a particular mold once we get in church life.

Morehead's Musings: One of the aspects of your book that intrigued me was your discussion of the increasing significance of sexual/bodily experience to the self and the sacred today, and the importance of personalized ritual and adornment in this context. I have noticed this myself most strongly in connection with my experience and research at Burning Man Festival and in the Neo-Pagan community. Can you talk a little about the significance of body theology to practical theological reflection today?

Barry Taylor: It's interesting I've been doing quite a lot of work with students in independent study at Fuller where I teach, and this seems to be the big topic, "What do I do with the body?." It could be argued that Christianity, for the most part, a religion based on embodiment, really doesn't know what to do with the body. It seems that we're very reluctant to hold meaningful discussion about it. I don't know if it's a fear of opening a can of worms, but I've found increasingly that as we move into a more technologically-dependent era that our relationship to time and space -- because I think technology changes our relationship to time and space, whether its the invention of digital technologies or cyberspace, when you go online where do you go? What is cyberspace? It kind of exists in a time-free zone. As we grow increasingly technological we become more aware of the role of our body and all of life, and as life becomes more transitory as more of the older institutional support structures crumble or at least fall away in terms of influence, the body becomes a sort of place of inscribing identity. So someone at Burning Man where half the populace may be tattooed and pierced, and if you talk to these people they will tell you that rather than just getting drunk and getting tattooed there was some serious reflection as to why, when, and how these inscriptions are made upon their bodies, usually marking moments of importance like rites of passage. You talk to people who have body piercings and there is this whole connection between pain and physicality and marking the self for particular moments and self-awareness. For me, the body becomes a very important thing.

Also, I think as our ideas about the world and may be concepts like heaven and hell, that sweeping generalization, but maybe a lot of Christianity in the twentieth century was characterized by making sure people knew they were saved from their sins and going to heaven. A problem a lot of people have with Christianity is that it externalizes the spiritual experience that basically de-emphasizes the importance of this life and the real importance is where you go after this life. So you want to be ready for heaven. But there is very little advice about what to do with your body while you're waiting for that experience: don't do anything wrong, don't be bad, accept the decay. For a lot of people their spirituality is embedded in the here and now, in the present, and their body plays a role. How you understand physicality, sexuality (which is in a complete state of flux in every area in biology and sociology), and what this body means, and yet when you turn to the church and here we are in one of the most material spiritualities out there where we celebrate that God puts on flesh and lived as one of us, yet it seems to me we don't have much to say beyond don't have sex until you're married, your body is a temple, don't drink, don't smoke, and at times we'll talk about liturgical dance. I think there are more challenging conversations to be had about the body, whether it's sexuality or physicality or human identity, the nature of the soul, how we understand the whole person in the twenty-first century such as does the idea of spirit-soul-body hold up or are they conceptual ideas that we need new language and grammar for. So those are the kinds of things I'm trying to think about and bring into the conversation.

Morehead's Musings: I think this is tremendously important to talk about, but it is also so difficult, as you know, to talk about this in theological circles. One of the aspects of reflection at Burning Man that I had getting evangelical Christians to consider was that it's ok to be in an environment where people are thinking outside of traditional Christian boundaries on those types of topics. And perhaps it's not just something we need to oppose, but to say what kinds of questions are they asking, how does this play into their spirituality and sense of identity, and what might this say back to us in terms of our own theological reflection beyond critique in this area.

Barry Taylor: In the front of the book there is a kind acknowledgement, but I was trying to acknowledge that I am a sponge who has absorbed a lot from a lot of people, and one was Graham Ward who is part of this kind of this radical orthodoxy theological movement, and now a lot of radical orthodoxy is not my cup of tea, but one thing that I really, really grasped from Graham was his talk about radical orthodoxy as a theology that attempts to reclaim the world. And for him that's not to reclaim the world in an evangelical missiological sense, but in his sense it is bringing back into conversation with Christian faith all of the things we left in the hands of secular society many years ago when the church withdrew or was withdrawn from the center of cultural life. So the challenge of today is to be open to the conversation that already exists. This comes back to one of my frustrations in that I get the sense sometimes that Christians don't think there is a conversation going until they show up and start it, but I think there are conversations already going on but we need to be involved in but won't for a whole host of reasons, most of which are related to power, control, and shallow moral opinions that preclude the opportunity of hearing what can be really rich, but sometimes challenging. Burning Man is a prime example, it's not just all running around in the desert for the heck of it, there are other things going on if you're open to observe and listen.

Morehead's Musings: In your book you refer to today's "new-edge spirituality" as post-creedal, post-orthodox, and post-specialist. What do you mean by those elements?

Barry Taylor: In general, there's a shift toward a more praxis or practice-based faith, having a hold of belief in place is less important than living out certain things. So think there is a general shift away from intellectual conceptualizing ideas about God to a more practice-based approach to life as a spiritual and divine gift to us. Is orthodoxy right belief or believing the right way which is not always believing the supposedly right things? Back to my earlier thing about my frustration with Christianity is that I think we get held to pseudo-orthodoxies all the time, a kind of catalog of supposedly orthodox ideas that are basically modernist responses that are presented as the final word when in fact they are just one more word in the conversation.

Morehead's Musings: One last question. With western culture engaged in a process of re-enchantment in the wake of secularism and modernity, as the culture seeks mystery, magic, and imagination, how important will it be to draw upon theologians, or find, train, and nurture theologians who bring their knowledge of Scripture into constant dialogue with the arts and pop culture?

Barry Taylor: I think it will be hopeless if we don't do this. I can't imagine, if we're really serious about the vibrancy and vitality of Christian faith and spirituality that that wouldn't be a primary missional objective for anyone who's alive in the twenty-first century. The location of the theological enterprise has shifted dramatically. We have to relocate where the action is, if you like, when it comes to the theological enterprise. It's certainly retains some philosophical and high cultural ideas, but increasingly the action takes place on the ground in the world of digital and pop culture. Things may trickle down from the ivory towers, but for most people the influences are from the creators of cultural artifacts in pop culture. There is a quote from something I read that says the greatest tragedy of the last three hundred years is the separation of the theologian from the artist, the painter, the poet, the dancer. The idea being that the divide between theology and culture is a tragedy and is a bridge that needs to be crossed.

Morehead's Musings: It sounds like you, Craig Detweiler, and others at the Brehm Center are trying to bridge this gulf, and I think you for your work and your willingness to talk about aspects of your book, Barry.

Interview with Clive Marsh: Theology Goes to the Movies

Clive Marsh studied at the Universities of Wales (Bangor), Tubingen, and Oxford. His doctoral studies, on the theology of Albrecht Ritschl, included three months at the Lutheran School at Chicago. He now lives in Leicester (UK).

After three years in chaplaincy and youth work, he became a lecturer in Christian theology, first (1989-1995) at the Wilson Carlile College (Sheffield, England), then (1995-2000) at the College of Ripon and York (England). He spent seven years as Secretary of the Faith and Order Committee of the Methodist Church in Great Britain and is now Principal of the East Midlands Ministry Training Course, based at the University of Nottingham (UK).

He has a particular interest in Christology, having undertaken much study of the Historical Jesus early in his academic career. His main concern is to explore how Christian theology works, given its complex place within many different cultures. His interest in theology and film has grown out of this.

He has published a number of books including Albrecht Ritschl and the Problem of the Historical Jesus (Edwin Mellen, 1992), Explorations in Theology and Film (Blackwell, 1997, co-edited with Gaye Ortiz), Jesus and the Gospels (2nd edn., Continuum 2006, co-written with Steve Moyise), Cinema and Sentiment: Film's Challenge to Theology (Paternoster, 2004), Christ in Focus: Radical Christocentrism in Christian Theology (SCM Press 2005), Christ in Practice: A Christology of Everyday Life (DLT 2006) and his most recent volume Theology Goes to the Movies (Routledge, 2007). He is also a contributor to the new volume edited by Robert K. Johnston, Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline (Baker Academic, 2007).

Dr. Marsh has agreed to share some of this thoughts about our mutual interest in theology and film.

Morehead's Musings: Dr. Marsh, thank you making some time to discuss theology and film. As a theologian, can you tell us how you can to be interested and involved in theology and film studies?

Clive Marsh: It was simply a matter of responding to students in a context where I had to teach Christian theology. I needed to enable people who wanted to study theology critically to do so in both an interesting and engaged fashion. The first students I taught knew the Bible pretty well, and had a basic grasp of themes from the history of Christian thought. But even Christian students often found texts from Christian history rather 'dry'. Meanwhile, they were watching films and listening to songs, and there was a constant interplay between these and the beliefs they espoused. So it was a rich basis for theological exploration.

Morehead's Musings: Everyone brings a certain theology of culture and cultural engagement to their interaction with film (or lack thereof). What type of theology of culture serves as the foundation for your interaction with film?

Clive Marsh: If you mean 'what particular theological convictions make the enterprise possible', then it's the doctrines of creation, incarnation and Holy Spirit which are especially important. God is tangled up in the process of creation, and is working with creation all the time. A strong doctrine of incarnation prevents references to 'creativity', 'spirit', 'inspiration' and 'spirituality' becoming too diffuse and divorced from embodied reality. If your question is about which particular theological traditions have helped me get to where I have, then I must admit I owe much first to Liberal Protestantism (Schleiermacher through to Tillich), for helping me see the complexity of how church and world interrelate (and how the former is not always good and positive, and the latter not always bad). From there I have been able to draw on many other movements and traditions in putting together a 'theology of creativity' - using classical texts from early Christianity about incarnation and iconography, and, more recently, the insights of post-liberalism and narrative theology to help me see the importance of community and story in how meaning is discovered or made. The real challenge to contemporary Christian theologies of culture is to explore how such meaning-making happens in contemporary society in a way which respects 'church' as a concept and social reality, without resorting to some stifling form of ecclesiocentrism.

Morehead's Musings: In your recent book, Theology Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to Critical Christian Thinking, one of the areas you discuss is the role that cinema plays in late modern Western culture. Can you touch on this for us?

Clive Marsh: Cinemas are significant because they are one place where people 'step outside' the routines of life to engage in an experience which is life-enhancing. I stress that it is one place, and one habit. I am not saying it is somehow especially privileged. Music, theatre, sport are other examples of similar practices and need similar theological (and not just sociological or psychological) attention. It can, of course, easily be claimed that cinema is 'escape' and that people go to the cinema for some light relief, a good night out, some family fun, or whatever. Indeed, that's what lots of cinema-goers say they are doing. But the empirical data being gathered about the place that the cinema plays in many people's lives is starting to show just how significant the practice proves for people. People do 'escape'. But it helps them reflect on life, experience a good emotional shake-up, helps them to focus on something and be attentive in a way they may not be anywhere else, outside of work, during the week. Cinema is, in other words, not simply 'escapism' is a negative sense. This means that it often has some of the functions of religious practice, whether or not people are explicit about the philosophical or theological frameworks within which they do their cinema-going, or consciously 'process' what the film does for and to them.

Morehead's Musings: Is there an increasing need for theologians and pastors to interact with film?

Clive Marsh: Well if what I've just said is true - that cinema is almost a "religion-like" activity - then theologians and pastors cannot but be interested in films and in popular culture generally. Analysts of culture who are unsympathetic to religion are not going to want to come to the conclusion that sociologists of religion are reaching. It is a scary thought for hardened secularists or opponents of religion to consider that popular culture might be having a religious function. But if it is true then it matters hugely what popular culture is doing - whether or not it is religiously inspired or intending to evoke any kind of theological or religious response. One problem is that for me as a Christian theologian to say this is that it may sound as if I'm saying our task is therefore to enable lots of 'good', or 'Christian-friendly' popular culture. That's not what I am saying at all. Popular culture is not to be labelled 'good 'or 'bad' by any simple test of whether it's 'Christian' or not. Yes, there are ways of teasing out good and bad features of all culture (highbrow and lowbrow) - though it's not an easy task, and will always provoke dispute. And it's not best done on theological grounds alone. Theological conversation happens around all culture, Christian or not (and what is 'Christian culture' anyway?). So theologians and pastors simply need to be better equipped to know how to do this, and to help people they relate to in their communities (academic and religious) to do this.

Morehead's Musings: Can you share a few examples with us as to how film is touching on, as you say in your book, "a systematic theology through film," as film touches on God, human beings, and redemption?

Clive Marsh: I naturally simply want to people to read Theology Goes to the Movies! But The Truman Show and Bruce Almighty are two obvious contemporary 'ways in' to discussions about what and who God is. Touching the Void provokes questions about 'spirit', and what a human being is, as does Amadeus. Crimes and Misdemeanors and 21 Grams are great films through which to explore the notion of redemption. The Piano invites reflection about baptism and the sacraments more generally. Will that do for starters? I don't, though, want to leave readers with the impression that I think it's just the theme of a film that makes them theologically interesting. I also want to stress that it's the viewing experience that makes films theologically important and stimulating. Theology is, after all, more than just words.

Morehead's Musings: How might Christian engagement with film be more theologically, culturally, and cinematically informed?

Clive Marsh: If people get excited about film, then I'd expect them to want to know (and therefore investigate) more about the films they watch. That goes for Christian cinema-goers too. Don't be satisfied with just watching a film once. Watch it again. Watch the DVD with all the 'add ons'. Read the reviews (before and after). And then let your believing and theological thinking interact with the way you process the film watching experience. But to do that means probably knowing more about Christian theological traditions than many churchgoers often do. So it means exploring the history of Christian theology a bit. How many churches have classes through which people can dig around in the history of doctrine, to let doctrine come alive as a contemporary framework of thought within which people live their lives? Or how many churches encourage (and financially support) its lay people to take basic theology courses at college or university? Yet that's what the Church as a whole needs. And that's what informed cinema-going needs, in order to be theologically rich.

Morehead's Musings: Dr. Marsh, once again, thanks for sharing your insights. I hope that readers seek out copies of your new book and your previous volumes as well.

Post on Pan's Labryinth on TheoFantastique

I have posted some thoughts on the film Pan's Labyrinth on my other blog, TheoFantastique, in an article titled "Pan's Labyrinth: A Grand Fairytale and a Key to the World of Wonder." Those who do not normally read my other other, particularly my Neo-Pagan readers, might find this article of interest.

First Burning Man Essay on TheOoze.com

My first essay on Burning Man, "Burn, Baby, Burn, Christendom Inferno: Burning Man and the Festive Immolation of Christendom Culture and Modernity," can now be found at the emerging church site TheOoze.com. It is listed on the main page and in two installments with the first found here. It has received an initial comment, and a positive one. I hope that this exposure for the article can impact the emerging church, as well as the traditional and contemporary expressions of church as well.