“The book is a guided tour of the pop culture wars in the last decade,” says Mattingly. “In my work, I’m not that interested in religious media at all. I’m interested in where and how the mainstream entertainment media started dealing with religious subjects.”
In the book’s introduction, he writes, “The bottom line: If you study the statistics, the typical modern American is much more likely to be exposed to a new religious insight or doctrine at the mall or the movie multiplex than in a traditional sanctuary. This is how modern Americans spend their time, spend their money and make their decisions. Day by day, they have evolved into mass-media disciples.” Pop Goes Religion, then, explores the “spirituality” dished out by the mass media, and how it compares to biblical truth.
The columns in Pop Goes Religion originally appeared in Mattingly’s nationally-syndicated “On Religion” column which he wrote for Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. In the book, however, he frames these timely columns in a broader, more timeless context with fresh essays. Sprinkled throughout are stories of his encounters with major players in popular culture (i.e. Peter Jackson, Robert Duvall, Norman Vincent Peale).
“Terry Mattingly is arguably this country’s most judicious commentator on the interface between religion and popular culture; and in Pop Goes Religion, he gives us the best of his best,” says Phyllis Tickle, retired editor of Publishers Weekly and compiler of The Divine Hours. “In equal parts entertaining and informative, these pieces and Mattingly’s running commentary about the context of each celebrate America’s deep, if sometimes idiosyncratic, absorption with all things religious.”
The Washington Journalism Center, scheduled to launch in fall 2006, will be one of twelve student programs offered by the CCCU. Along with the American Studies Program (Washington, D.C.), Contemporary Music Center (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.) and Los Angeles Film Studies Center (L.A., Calif.), the Washington Journalism Center will be categorized as a culture-shaping program. Included in the culture-crossing programs are: China Studies Program; Latin American Studies Program; Middle East Studies Program; Programmes in Oxford; and Russian Studies Program. The CCCU’s two International Partner Programs, the Australia Studies Centre and Uganda Studies Program, feature day-to-day management by the host institution and a director co-appointed by the CCCU. All programs undergo regular site visit evaluations by the Student Academic Programs Commission (SAPC).
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of more than 170 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 105 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 71 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Council’s mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.
