What is Religion?

Religion is a term which evokes many ideas and images, meaning different things to different people. Based on our class discussion up to this point, how would you define the term "religion"? In 140 characters or less (ala a Twitter-esque response)  finish this sentence, "IMHO, Religion is...." Write your answer as a comment to this post.

Muslim Hip Hop, Pop & Nasheed

This week we will be looking at Religion and Music, and specifically at how contemporary Muslim artists are using music to communicate ideas about religious community and identity. We will draw on this week's reading, "A New Research Agenda: Exploring Transglobal Hip Hop Umma" by H. Samy Alim, which explores how hip Hop is being used to bring cohesion across cultures to Muslims around the world. For more information on Contemporary Muslim check out Muslim Hip-Hop which provides profiles and music samples from Muslim artist around the world who see their faith as a prime motivation for creating their music.

In class we will be looking at several examples of popular contemporary Muslim music including Sami Yusuf and the Danish Band Outlandish and the South African Band Iman and how they try to communicate issue of faith cross culturally through their music. Check out the following videos:

Sami Yusuf, is a rising star of contemporary Arabic Nasheed (traditional) music. His song Hasbi Rabbi is sung in English, Hindi, Turkish & Arabic and the video takes him to different parts of the world to engage with the Muslim Umma (community) in those places.


Outlandish, a Muslim Danish Trio mixes hip hop, folk, soul and pop to create music focusing on themes of racism, social justice and religion. as seen in their video " I Only Ask of God"

Youth, Media & "Funky Religion"

All being well technology wise we will have an opportunity to nest week to interact on Tuesday with the author of our assigned reading. Lynn Schofield Clark is an international expert in youth, media and spirituality. Her award winning book From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural explores intersection between the supernatural/paranormal and youth popular culture to see how it informs young people's religious beliefs and practices. Come prepared by reading her chapter "The 'Funky' Side of Religion: An Ethnographic Study of Adolescent Religious Identity and the Media" and be ready to ask her questions related to her work.

Doing Theology over Popcorn: The Matrix

In week 6 we will be exploring the interaction between Theology/Religion and film. For the case study we will be discussing the movie The Matrix (1999) The Matrix trilogy was a box office smash and teh first film quickly became pop cultural icon for its critique of technology, authority and its religious undertones. It has the subject of numerous books dealing with Philosophy, theology and popular religion.

The film's creator's, the Wachowski brothers, consciously set out to create a postmodern spiritual narrative in which they weave images, metaphors and themes from Christianity/ Western Spirituality, Buddhism /Eastern Spirituality and Myth/ Greek Mythology into a deep, reflective story illustrating their own pic-n-mix spirituality. It also offers interesting conglomeration of competing interpretations of ideas related to human identity, existence and transcendence/the afterlife.

Consider the different ways the Matirx has been interpreted by people from different faith traditions and metaphysical positions. What story about religion being told through the Matrix? What does the film show us about how media producers may construct or portray popular religion? What implications might this have for perceptions of religion in popular culture?

Simpsons and Religion

This week we will be looking at religion on TV in the context of The Simpsons, the longest running cartoon series on TV. Since it's inception The Simpsons has dealt with themes related to religion dedicating numerous episodes to issues of personal crisis of faith, science verse religion, the afterlife and organized religion. Notable character's whose faith plays an important part in their cartoon life include Rev Lovejoy-Pastor of a "American Reformed Presbylutheranism" church, Apu who is Hindu and manager of the Kwik-E-Mart, Krusty the "Jewish" clown and the terminally cheerful evangelical Ned Flanders.

The Simpsons have also been the topic of much religious debate and theological reflection. Notable is Marin Pinsky's book, The Gospel According the the Simpsons. Please read the Christian Century article from 2001, Simpsons have Soul and reflect on possibilities and challenges offered by the Simpson's narrative of religion.

In class we will be viewing the episode Bart Sells His Soul where Bart casually sells his soul to his friend Millhouse for $5 because he does not really believe the soul exist. This leads to a troubled journey and Bart's self-reflection of his own spiritual/eternal state. Come prepared to discuss the examples of religious imagery & narratives about religion that appear in this episode, as well as what this example might teach us about how popular media might view religion in larger society.