Reviews for Religious faith and world culture

The average rating for Religious faith and world culture based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-21 00:00:00 Joshua T Cowan This was the first book I read when starting research for my Honours Project examining the evolution of the Christian publishing industry in North America. Although not every chapter focused on Christianity in relation to media and and the marketplace, it's still a fascinating book. I skim-read the chapters that weren't particularly relevant to my project, but when I have more time, I'd definitely like to go back and read them in more depth. The chapters that I found particularly useful were: * Introduction: Identity, Belonging, and Religious Lifestyle Branding (Fashion Bibles, Bhangra Parties, and Muslim Pop) by Lynn Schofield Clark * Free Grace, Free Books, Free Riders: The Economics of Religious Publishing in Early Nineteenth-Century America by David Nord * Making Money, Saving Souls: Christian Bookstores and the Commodification of Christianity by Ann L. Borden The afterword by Stewart M. Hoover was also pretty interesting, as was Phyllis E. Alsdurf's chapter on evangelicalism and the election of 1960, and Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu's article on Pentecostalism and Ghanian/Nigerian films. The last two weren't terribly relevant to my project, but they were still enlightening. Definitely worth a read if you're interesting in the ways that religion (particularly Christianity) has become a prominent part of the modern marketplace. My only complaint would probably be that the afterword, while excellent at summing up many points made in previous chapters, didn't make a lot of conclusions.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-13 00:00:00 Brian Grace As a collection of essays, this book offers a pluralistic view of the marketing of religion with chapters on Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Overall the material seems to repeat many of the themes found in other books about marketing and religion, but the inclusion of more neglected traditions gives this book a distinct value. Explores "religious lifestyle branding" (e.g. "Revolve Bible") within context of religion and material culture, sociology of religion, and religion and marketing. Asks the reader to consider the dominance of the oncsumer marketplace itself and its relationship to both religion and the political or economic organization of society.