Communications and Cultural Analysis: A Religious View

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This text explores how culture functions and intersects with religious groups, particularly Christians. It explores the way electronic communications, especialy film and television, shape our world of meaning. Using the theories of British thinker Raymond Williams as his framework, Warren focuses on the actual process by which versions of reality are produced - the "signification". He also draws on the ideas of Paulo Freire pointing out that cultural agency happens when individuals decide to exercise some judgement and control over the kinds of cultural material they will accept or resist. If culture is a significant system, says Warren, then religion is too. Contrasting values from the wider culture create dilemmas for those trying to follow a religious life. Choices either mirror the wider culture or reflect a culture of resistance. Warren seeks to help the reader develop the skills of cultural analysis by paying attention to the images that support culture, examining the life structures that support culture, and paying attention to how any particular aspect of culture is produced. Beyond all this, however, the author calls for a stance of resistance to all that violates human dignity and unity - all the aspects of culture that a person with high religious ideals cannot accept.

Reviews

This book should be required reading for both educators and liturgists concerned with the influence of the media on the communication of a religious world view in late twentieth-century U.S. culture.-Worship
"This book should be required reading for both educators and liturgists concerned with the influence of the media on the communication of a religious world view in late twentieth-century U.S. culture."-Worship

Author Bio

MICHAEL WARREN has been Professor for Religious Education and Catechetical Ministry in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John's University, New York City, since 1975. He has written or edited eight books, the most recent of which is Faith, Culture and the Worshiping Community (1989).