GOD, MEDIA, AND CULTURE

• Senior Class
• One semester class taken after having taken a semester of World Religions
• Courses are taught in cycles - 1 devoted lecture period followed by 4 seminars

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LANGUAGE AND PERSPECTIVE

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

• H. Richard Niebuhr defined culture as comprised of language
• Language is what creates the relationship between Theology and Culture
• Ex: Mary says yes to the angel Gabriel’s pronouncement
• Culture matters because our language is inseparable from our culture
• When speaking about theological or philosophical ideas, we depend on language to share and defend our positions

LINGUISTIC TURN

• Assumption that stubborn questions in theology cannot be solved without an examination of the language used to describe them
• Examples of such questions:
• Is there a God?
• What is true, good, and/or beautiful?
• What does it mean “to be”?
• We may never all agree on the answers to these questions, we may come to agreement on the language we use to speak about these matters

LANGUAGE AND THEOLOGY

• Theology is always done in and through language and that makes it specific to a culture
• Language has been one of the main means to portray a religion
• In order for religion to survive for future generations, it has to be communicated

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ENCODING

• How the creator of a message presents information to their audience
• This can be done purposefully or instinctively
• Always uses the knowledge and experiences that a person has accumulated

DECODING

• How the receiver of a message understands and interprets the message they are being given
• Like encoding, this process is accomplished at times with intention, but at other times is done instinctively
• Uses the experiences and knowledge we have accumulated, but also must try to work through the sender’s intentions and sift through the “noise”

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PERSPECTIVES

• One important part of understanding language is looking at issues/media through a variety of lenses
• Viewing things through multiple angles also gives media consumers the ability to create a more fully formed opinion and perspective

Issue: Should recess be eliminated from elementary schools?

MAD GAB

Canoe Key Pace He Grit

CODE NAMES

QUESTION TO CONSIDER:

• To whom (or what) do we refer to when we use the term God?
• If our understanding is mediated through language and culture, and cultures and languages differ, do the world’s cultures and language groups share different understandings of the world?
• Can we speak intelligibly of anything outside our culture and language?

CLOTHING AND FASHION

CONSUMPTION’S�IMPACT ON SOCIETY

• “What has the cultural impact of shopping and consumption been on the experience of everyday life, though?” (60)
• Consumption is not just about meeting basic needs …
• …It serves a more sophisticated range of cultural functions.
• Consumption is a way that people express their personal and social identities

CONSUMPTION’S�IMPACT ON SOCIETY

• This is use of consumption to express identity is “Consumption as a language” (Thorstein Veblen)
• Social marker for status and identity
• By buying certain things, people are “saying” something about themselves
• Commodities are no longer bought for their practical uses as much as the meanings they convey (62)

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APPROPRIATION

• Appropriation – Taking something for one’s own use, usually without the permission of the person(s) it is being taken from
• Cultural/Religious Appropriation – Taking a culture’s/religion’s symbols, rituals, behaviors, etc. without the permission of the religion it is being taken from
• Relate this to our conversations about religions not owning their symbol systems

COMMODIFICATION

• Commodification – Transforming anything into a commodity (something that can be bought and sold)
• **Think: Bottled Water
• Religious Commodification – Transforming religious symbols or ideas into something that can be bought and sold
• Example?
• Why might this be problematic?
• What are positive aspects of commodification?

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CATHOLICISM

CLERICAL VESTMENTS

Look up what each of these is and why they are worn. Write answers in your notes and we will go over them.

• Alb
• Cincture
• Stole
• Chasuble
• Cope
• Miter
• Crozier
• Zucchetto
• Dalmatic
• Cassock
• Surplice
• Biretta
• Habit

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CLERICAL VESTMENTS

ALB

CINCTURE

STOLE

CHASUBLE

COPE

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DALMATIC (Deacons)

MITER

CROZIER

ZUCCHETTO

CLERICAL VESTMENTS

CASSOCK

SURPLICE

BIRETTA

HABIT

 "HOW CLOTHING BECAME THE THREAD THAT TIES CATHOLICS TOGETHER"

Questions to answer:

�1) What/who influences the habit for nuns? What message were they trying to communicate? When does the church decide a habit is not necessarily required? Why do some choose to maintain the habit?

�2) How did Catholic uniforms evolve over time? According to the article, how do uniforms evolve, "to symbolize educational values more than theological ones?“

�3) What were the typical uniforms for girls? for boys? The article states, ..."there were also dress codes for Catholic schoolboys, although they were much less strict..." Why do you believe this was?

HEAVENLY BODIES: CATHOLIC IMAGINATION

HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION

• Exhibit is meant to “raise deeper – even more provocative – contemplations about the role dress plays within the Roman Catholic Church and the role the Roman Catholic Church plays within the fashionable imagination.”
• The Catholic aesthetic is composed of religious art, music, architecture, and writings – often done by artists and writers whose faith was central to the themes of their work

WHAT IS THE “CATHOLIC IMAGINATION”?

• General descriptions:
• Highly stylized and elaborate
• Characterized by grandeur, pomp, and pageantry
• Often very sensual and visual
• “Catholics live in, an enchanted world, a world of statues and holy water, stained glass and votive candles, saints, and religious medals, rosary beads and holy pictures.” – Andrew Greeley
• Deeply rooted in the idea that every part of reality reveals something about God

QUESTIONS

• How do you think the Catholic Church felt about this exhibit?
• What do you think about this exhibit? Gala?
• Would you consider this religious appropriation?

ISLAMIC CLOTHING

JEWISH CLOTHING

VISUAL ARTS

SYMBOLS

• Symbols were absolutely key to understanding religion
• They were their own language
• They are a form of narrative and thus can be read
• Religion needs to be approached as a symbol system

SYMBOLS, CONT.

• Any subject, act, event, quality or relation which serves as a vehicle for a conception (esp. a conception related to matters of “meaning”)
• Meaning of symbols might change if the context in which they are used changes

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HOMELESS JESUS BY TIMOTHY SCHMALZ, 2013

LAMENTATION�� BY WILLIAM JOHNSON

VISUAL ARTS

Judaism

Islam

• Calligraphy