Reviews for Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion

The average rating for Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-17 00:00:00 James Dunham Abrams argues that fundamentalist had great ambivalence towards modernity, and that they selectively sorted through the challenges to their values. He says fundamentalism was rife with contradictions and tensions, reflecting both innovation and traditionalism. Because consumption blended well with the evangelical sprit, they embraced advertising and marketing with little resistance. Evangelism, like advertising, involves persuasion and making choices, ending with emotional satisfaction. Advertising's images, imagination, passion, and exotic, idealized qualities worked in similar ways to evangelizing. Popular culture created tension between being separate and non-worldy, but also wanting to gain the benefits from its use. Typically, they adopted an ends-justifies-the-means mentality where as long as souls were being saved the use of popular culture was worth it. "Fundamentalists did not originate this flair for consumption, but they built on an evangelical affinity for it dating back to the eighteenth century." (23) Because they decided evangelicalism was compatible with capitalism, they became a "faith captive to culture." (60) Print helped market Christianity, but also created newspapers, which became competition for the attention of people on Sunday mornings. Another tension was women's issues. Feminism and "flappers" created concern among fundamentalists, however their ambivalence continued as they encouraged women's involvement and even leadership within the church.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-05-31 00:00:00 Patricia Britton Even as a historian of Fundamentalism, I found a great deal in this volume to be eye-opening and informative. The wealth of underlying source material mined for this book is impressive, and the candor with which Dr. Abrams acknowledged the ambiguous relationship of Fundamentalists to mass culture was refreshing. It raises questions about our use of and repudiation of culture that are still quite relevant.