Summer 2007

FTX - Houston

TC509

Rabey

TC509: THEOLOGY AND POP CULTURE. Steve Rabey.

DESCRIPTION:

This multi-disciplinary course will strengthen students’ cultural literacy by helping them understand the ways pop culture is created, marketed, consumed, received and critiqued. The course will examine pop culture artifacts as works/texts, consumer products, and pervasive agents of spiritual formation. Students will develop biblical/theological, historical, and economic understandings of music, film, TV, radio, periodicals, books, advertising, and the Internet.

COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Pop culture is pervasive and influential. This course will help students:

1. Develop a theology of culture and pop culture that helps them analyze their own culture consumption, prepare them for meaningful and effective ministry in a media-saturated age, and address culture’s role in their own spiritual growth and that of those for whom they care;

2. Understand how pop culture products are created, disseminated, used and abused;

3. Evaluate the varied economic, social and spiritual impacts of mass media and products;

4. Assess evangelicals’ historic responses to popular culture in order to develop more effective ways of impacting and engaging both culture and those who create it.

5. Develop strategies and activities for teaching cultural literacy to others.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:

In this course students will reassess pop culture’s relevance to their lives, their ministry, and the church’s engagement with mainstream culture.

COURSE FORMAT:

Lectures, learning activities, and discussion. The course meets as a 9-day intensive for a total of 30 contact hours.

REQUIRED READING:

Beaujon, Andrew. Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock. (DeCapo Press, 2006), 291 pp.

Lewerenz, Spencer and Nicolosi, Barbara, eds. Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film and Culture. (Baker Books, 2005), 216 pp. (selected chapters)

Lynch, Gordon. Understanding Theology and Popular Culture. Blackwell Publishing, Inc., 2004, 195 pp.

Overstreet, Jeffrey. Through a Screen Darkly. Regal Books, 2007. (selected portions)

Romanowski, William. Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture. (Brazos, 2001), 121 pp.

Schaeffer, Francis. Art and the Bible (InterVarsity Press, 1973), 63 pp.

Vanhoozer, Kevin, Charles Anderson, and Michael Sleasman (editors). Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends. Baker Academic, 2007. Introduction and two case studies.

A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine (purchased and brought to class by students)

Selected articles, videos, audio recordings, and other materials to be distributed in class.

ASSIGNMENTS:

The course grade will be based on:

1. Class attendance, class participation, and quizzes and/or reading notes on assigned readings (10%);

2. Two in-class presentations (TV commercial and “spiritual” song) selected by student (20%);

3. A written 750 word critical review of a current pop culture product to be determined in class (20%);

4. Two post-class essays (1250 words each) on “Pop Culture Autobiography” and “Theology of Pop Culture” (25%);

5. Students must also design, present, and submit a written description and critique of a dedicated Pop Culture Teaching Activity (minimum 1500 words) that will be presented to a group after class but before quarter’s end (25%).

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:

M.Div.: Elective; M.A. in Theology: meets requirement in Theology/History area; M.A.C.L: Fulfills concentration option for Ministry of Laity or Adolescent Ministries concentration.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None. (04/07)