Gods Behaving Badly: Media, Religion, and Celebrity Culture

Author:   Pete Ward
Publisher:   Baylor University Press
ISBN:  

9781602581500


Pages:   169
Publication Date:   28 February 2011
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Gods Behaving Badly: Media, Religion, and Celebrity Culture


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Overview

From Britney and Brangelina to Tiger Woods and Michael Jackson, Western society is obsessed with its American idols and gods of the red carpet. We worship their triumphs, judge their sins, and maintain vigil at their deaths. Can our fixation on and devotion to celebrity culture itself be considered a religion? If not, why do we use religious terminology to describe these stars and our actions towards them? Gods Behaving Badly examines the blurred boundary between popular culture and religion—one that has given way to an often confounding fusion of the sacred and the profane. Flipping through pages of tabloid media and looking underneath the veil of Hollywood's glamour, Pete Ward exposes how, in its consumer life, Western society elevates celebrity to the theological and, in so doing, creates a new para-religion. Inevitably, whether despised or extolled, individual celebrities evoke public moral judgment, creating fertile ground for theological innovation. Plucked straight from the headlines, the narratives in Gods Behaving Badly give concrete evidence of how the religious themes of incarnation, revelation, sin, judgment, and redemption are all woven into narratives we construct about our most cherished—and most villainized—personalities.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pete Ward
Publisher:   Baylor University Press
Imprint:   Baylor University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 21.60cm
ISBN:  

9781602581500


ISBN 10:   1602581509
Pages:   169
Publication Date:   28 February 2011
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Celebrity Worship 2. Representation 3. Para-religion 4. What Kind of Gods? 5. Themes

Reviews

Ward admirably identifies various ways that people negotiate identity in and through celebrities and celebrity culture. -- Brad Stoddard, Florida State University -- The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture


Author Information

Pete Ward is Senior Lecturer in Youth Ministry and Theological Education at King's College, London. His previous books include Liquid Church and God at the Mall. He lives in Oxford, England.

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