Yoda goes to the Vatican : youth spirituality and popular culture : the 2007 Charles Strong lecture

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[Popular Culture can no longer be exclusively seen as a source of escapism. It can amuse, entertain, instruct, and relax people, but what if it provides inspiration for religion? The Church of All Worlds, the Church of Satan and Jediism from the Star Wars series are but three examples of new religious groups that have been greatly inspired by popular culture to (re)create a religious message. These are hyper-real religions, that is a simulacrum of a religion partly created out of popular culture which provides inspiration for believers/consumers. These postmodern expressions of religion are likely to be consumed and individualised, and thus have more relevance to the self than to a community and/or congregation. On the other hand, religious fundamentalist groups tend, at times, to resist this synergy between popular culture and religion, and at other times, re-appropriate popular culture to promote their own religion. Although this phenomenon has existed since at least the 1960s, this lecture will discuss the changes that the Internet, with its participatory culture, has brought to hyper-real religions.]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Charles Strong Lectures
    PublisherCharles Strong Memorial Trust
    Number of pages1
    Publication statusPublished - 2007
    EventAustralian Association for the Study of Religions. Conference -
    Duration: 1 Jan 2007 → …

    Conference

    ConferenceAustralian Association for the Study of Religions. Conference
    Period1/01/07 → …

    Keywords

    • Internet
    • youth
    • hyper-real religions
    • popular culture
    • religious aspects

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