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Academic Year 2004/2005
Theology of Popular Culture
RELI 498 SP
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.
MAJOR READINGS
Martha Bayles, HOLE IN OUR SOUL
Douglas Coupland, LIFE AFTER GOD
Mircea Eliade, MYTH AND REALITY
Thomas Hibbs, SHOWS ABOUT NOTHING
Dominic Strinati, AN INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES OF POPULAR CULTURE
Paul
Tillich, DYNAMICS OF FAITH
James
Twitchell, LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION: THE TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN MATERIALISM
Theodor Adorno, "On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening"
Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction"
John Fiske,
"Commodities and Culture"
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Weekly readings; two shorter essays on readings; one research paper.
COURSE FORMAT:
Lecture/Discussion
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): Cobb,Kelton A.
- Times: ....R.. 07:00PM-09:50PM; Location: FISK305;
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 20)
- SR. major: 3 Jr. major: 3
- SR. non-major: 4 Jr. non-major: 4 SO: 4 FR: 2
Special Attributes:
- Curricular Renewal: Ethical Reasoning, Writing
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-21-2005
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459