Religion and Popular Culture

Adam Possamai, (2005) Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament. Brussels:P.I.E.-Peter Lang.

By David A. Nock

A spectre is haunting the sociologists of Europe—the spectre of secularization. This spectre suggests with increasing reliance on science, empirical method and rationality that the need for belief in a supernatural supra-empirical realm will dissipate. This paradigm largely influenced the European founders of sociology in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. British sociology and British sociologists of religion have powerfully revived this perspective ( see Davie 1988 for a useful summary of the sociology of religion’s development, 483-488).. The patriarch of the British sociology of religion, Bryan Wilson (b. 1926) has been a powerful advocate of the secularization thesis (Gee 1998:558). Aberdeen’s Steve Bruce (b.1954) carries on as most energetic exponent of the secularization thesis with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of books and articles which provide further evidence (Davie 1998:485; see also Bruce 2002)). Little examined has been the conundrum posed by the secularization thesis: if its insights are correct, then the sociology of religion represents a dying specialty with little future. British sociologist Stephen J. Hunt (b. 1954) has noted this and comments that, “The decline of religion, as a social phenomenon, will mean the decline of the sociology of religion”(2002:214) and also “If religion continues to decline in Western societies then the sociology of religion will itself become increasingly marginalized”(2002:215). The irony is that the British sociology of religion tradition has been very active and lively, especially in a country where measures of religiosity have shown a regular and steady decline.

Perhaps sociologists of religion ought to shutter up the windows and put up the signs “Going out of business.” Arguably this ought to be the case, but then again, it may be premature. What specialty ever voluntarily puts out the lights? I wonder how long it took the supporters of the horse to realize that the roads were going to be the kingdom of the car and not the equine? Sociologists of religion have responded in various ways to revitalize their specialty. One has been to suggest that decline is limited to certain specific suppliers, that is, certain specific religious organizations, but that growth can be expected in new alternative suppliers. This is the viewpoint of the resurgence perspective(also dubbed the innovation or rational-choice perspective) backed by the prominent American Rodney Stark, b. 1934((Nauta 1998:493-495). and his various collaborators. Stark has predicted that Mormonism is on the road to become the first major world religion since Islam (Stark 1984), based on similar growth rates to early Christianity in its first 175 years (despite the difficulty in estimating such growth rates in the early centuries of the Christian Era, Stark has proven himself something of a magician in establishing them at 40 percent per decade over a period of three hundred years; see Stark 1996).

Lest one think that Mormonism is simply a variant of Christianity like Catholicism, Stark makes it clear that Mormonism has added such a great deal of new content that it is distinct from Christianity in much the same way that Christianity became to Judaism (that is to say, a distinctly new religious movement). Stark’s paradigm has become quite influential in the United States where both religion in general and Mormonism specifically remain quite strong. Secularization theory dominates in Britain where the established Church of England has declined like water washing away soil: slowly at first but with a persistence that picks up speed.

If one thing is clear it is that despite assertions and pretensions to the opposite, neither of these perspectives can claim to be universal. Perhaps only a Canadian can say that! Both British and American thinkers still tend to be mired in a kind of cognitive imperialism—the British see secularization everywhere. When the American evidence did not seem to support the perspective, Bryan Wilson explained away the recalcitrant data by stating that American religion was superficial and therefore just another example of secularization (1982: 152)! Similarly, Rodney Stark presents never-ending data sets showing that Mormons or other new religious movements have high growth rates in areas outside of the United States, even if the growth rates refer to teeny, tiny absolute numbers (a growth from 5 to 10 actual members provides a formidable growth rate!).

If sociology of religion is to survive it must go beyond these strategies. Secularization is a dismal prospect for devotees of the sub-discipline and prominent sociologists of religion should probably cease to be quite so eager in their endorsement of it. Perhaps the main thrust of its findings cannot be avoided in certain parts of the globe but large parts of the world seem unaffected by secularization—in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia (Lester 2002). The United States itself stands as a refutation of the notion that “advanced” countries characterized by science and technology shed religion as a kind of natural progression. Opposition to the resurgence theory is available and Eileen Barker has expressed doubt that any new religious movement is going to take up the slack of the declining Judeo-Christian organizations. In fact she points that many have lost ground since highpoints in the 1960s and 1970s.

If the sociology of religion is going to survive as a specialty in sociology, then other strategies will have to be tried. One has been to widen the scope by changing the title and focus of the sub-discipline : religion and spirituality, implicit religion, alternative religions, quasi-religions, functional equivalents to religion as seen in sports, political movements etc. Stephen J. Hunt has pointed to this tendency in the discipline, “It is evident that the emerging paradigms in the sociology of religion continue to extend definitions of religion. The problem remains, however, that such a broad definition appears to include too much of what has not historically counted as religion…Today, practically anything can be regarded as religion by using a broad criterion….”(2002:214-215).

In general, the larger strategy is to envisage religion as an element of culture. In this approach, the emphasis hinges less on organizations and organized religions, and more on finding new religious and spiritual themes that are found in culture and popular culture. Although some organizations may emerge to support these forms of religion and spirituality, they are usually quite different, more recent, and less socially dominant from the traditional forms and houses of worship associated not only with Christianity but with the major world religions in general. Many of these new cultural expressions of religion and spirituality may seem facile or ephemeral to those who are used to the massive institutional expressions of the historic organized religions, but arguably if one is looking to the future of religion and spirituality, it is to these manifestations that one should look (rather than to a traditional organization such as Anglicanism in Canada about whom prominent religion and spirituality author and renegade priest Anglican Tom Harpur has predicted will see its last member leave by 2061!; Shackleton 2005). As I complete this article, word came to me of a new book by Stephen J. Hunt that discusses rational choice and postmodernist theories of religion as the main rivals to the secularization paradigm.

Adam Possamai’s Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament fits comfortably within such a postmodernist frame that rejects the rational-choice and secularization-as-demise alternatives.. His focus is on the intersection of religion and spirituality with the mass media and popular culture. As he says, “It will be the argument of this book that religious imagination is also present in popular culture, perhaps more now than ever”(p.17).

There follows a discussion of culture in general and the previous distinction between “Fine Art” or “high” culture often patronized by the “upper classes”(p.18) and “popular culture” often “part of the mass media and…consumed by the masses’(ibid.). Possamai appeals to postmodernism as destroying this formerly clear and easy distinction since this perspective argues against boundaries and hierarchies, and argues that nothing new can be invented, therefore that cultural innovation is more a matter of “promiscuous” mixing and matching of artistic styles. He points to rock groups that delve into the symphonic world, and classical composers who borrow from popular genre.

The emphasis on popular culture is important, says Possamai, because it accords with a new fluidity and freedom in determining self-expression. Formerly, he says,“we were the social reflection of our parents” in terms of religion, ethnicity, class, political affiliation, and cultural tastes and choices. This has disappeared and we live in a world where the individual increasingly “create[s] one’s own biographic/identity”, from what the author calls “this library of choices” available.(20-21). Possamai recognizes that traditional institutions, including organized religion, are on the defensive in modern society, and this pervades the realm of the religious and the spiritual. Instead of looking for insights of transcendence at the buildings and facilities of mainstream churches, there is a move to “draw on a vast range of religious resources through consumerism” associated with the mass media and popular culture (p.21). Spirituality is increasingly built up by what is on offer through popular culture, and popular culture is an important facet of today’s marketplace. Possamai asserts that in today’s society “we can know people by what they consume,” perhaps a sad replacement for “cogito, ergo sum” (p.22).
Theoretically, this book aims to incorporate the influence of postmodernism (Baudrillard and Lipovetsky) and critical theorists such as the Frankfurt school and Jameson. However the author avows that he is a disciple of neither approach. His work, he says, “does not follow a postmodernist approach”(p.21). He distances himself from the Frankfurt school by criticizing their tendency to view “social actors as dupes”(p.22) So in the end, the author views himself as a Weberian. However when it comes to Weber, one must always ask, which Weber? Is it the Weber who is the Parsonian idealist emphasizing cultural values as causative, the materialist Weber who emphasized the importance of economic and political factors, or the Weber who developed verstehen and who may be cited as a pioneer of symbolic interaction, or indeed, some other Weber? For Possamai, Weber’s attraction is that he did Not view social actors as dupes but as “agents”, or actors but still carried by some socio/cultural forces”(p.22). The Weber summoned by Possamai is the verstehen Weber who calls for analysis of “the meaning social actors give to their action” but a Weber who is neither completely idealist in simply asserting that what actors state determines their world nor a positivist or determinist who would suggest that actors are simply pre-programmed by external forces.

Such a theoretical perspective carries methodological implications. The author specifically endorses “a more impressionistic than positivistic approach”(p.22) and he cites the examples of Simmel and Weber himself in this regard. In working on a doctoral dissertation on New Age Spirituality, Possamai conducted various interviews. He has extended this with published texts and also surfing Internet sites and chat-rooms. Possamai comments he aims “to produce a type of anthropological/sociological ‘thick’ description”” through development of such “a reflexive ethnography”(p.26).

The chapters that follow elaborate these ideas and strategies. Chapter 1 on “Religion and Spirituality: From Modernity to Postmodernity” underlines the vicissitudes that religion has undergone with the transition from a modern to a postmodern world. Possamai presents evidence that religion is on decline, especially among the young. Yet as religion declines, interest in spirituality survives, even thrives. The author recapitulates some of the theoretical debates entered into by sociologists of religion (secularization, resurgence) and suggests the emergence of a “tertium quid” (“some third thing”, p.34). This relates to a spiritualities increasingly individualized and divorced from organized religions but significant enough to constitute an important trend, He cites recent Australian research than on any given day ten percent of households report participating in religious/spiritual activities and are similar in incidence to “sporting and cultural activities”(p.40) Watching TV remains a more frequent activity but Possamai reminds us that in this new era, even the spiritual dimensions of watching TV cannot be dismissed as “some of the shows and movies can provided a source of spiritual inspiration”(p.40).

Chapter 2 is titled Consumer Religions. It starts by emphasizing the importance of consumer marketing in a world where individuals are not so much citizens as consumers. In this spiritual marketplace, groups and movements which do not pay close attention to the wants of the consumer will be facing empty pews (or theatre seats as in the New Paradigm churches discussed by the author). Possamai starts by recounting a scene from the movie Dogma in which an innovative Catholic priest tries to woo believers back with a re-imaged Christ—gone is the suffering crucifixion victim, in is a smiling “Buddy Christ” with a cheerful thumbs-up gesture. Possamai asserts that in our postmodern times, religion “is definitely part of consumer culture”(p.47). He recognizes that “some groups are more involved than others” but the overall trend is toward this incorporation of religion into consumer culture and that “what is new is religion’s full immersion into it”(ibid.). Since Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ appeared after the substance of this book was finished, it seems that even a suffering Messiah can sell at the box office if a cultural commodity has enough Hollywood charisma behind it!
The chapter then goes on to discuss what the author terms Hyper-Consumer Religions which in his view are especially in tune with consumer products. Specifically these turn out to be New Age groups and individuals. However the author finds that many such interviewees dislike the New Age designation, and he utilizes a new terminology for the movements, in particular “presentist perennism”, meaning alternative spiritualities looking neither to the future nor to the past for their inspiration but to general “deep cultural changes occurring…[within] post-industrial societies”(p.51) such as declining belief in progress, radical individualism, and fluidity between sub-cultures.

Possamai interviewed 35 respondents from Melbourne who belong to such alternative spiritualities. Topics discussed include the Cultural Appropriation of Indigenous Cultures and also the tendency for perennists not to expect or demand objective historicity in their “reconstructing[ing] history into myths”. These interviews may provide some insights into this alternative spirituality but it seems to me to lose the thrust of the chapter since no real evidence is presented to support the claim that New Age perennism is the hyper-consumer religion par excellence. While mention is made of its “products for gaining and enhancing sensations” (p.49), my own visits to St. Francis Cathedral in Sante Fe, New Mexico and the Catholic Marian shrine at Knock, Ireland provide evidence that hyper-consumer religions may have had ample precedents before the perennists (Note to Possamai: I doubt “presentist perennism” is going to replace a catchy label such as “New Age.” Perhaps he should go back to the graphic novels that he loves so much for new (if not new age) inspiration!)

Chapter 3, “Subjective Myths” takes its cue from Jean Baudrillard with his suggestion that “the real and the unreal have imploded”, that we live in a society of “signs”, and that a “de-materialised concept of reality” is sustained in existence by “media generated images”(p.24). For persistent empiricists such as myself (no positivist however!), this chapter resonates with interest as it delves into various specific groups and movements using the empiric of Internet sites. The chapter further extends the assumption of the previous chapter that it is “perennists” who in particular “find inspiration from popular culture” in addition to “an array of diverse religions for the source of their spirituality”(o.c) .

A variety of groups and movements are discussed in this light, starting with the influence of science fiction on the creation of new religious movements. These include the Church of All Worlds which took its inspiration from Robert Heinlein, Scientology “another movement clearly inspired by science fiction”(o.c.), the Star Wars Appreciation Society which been operating in Australia to establish the Jedi as an officially recognized religion, and the Heaven’s Gate group inspired as they were by the X-Files and Star Trek. More generally, Posada refers to such aforementioned movies and t.v. series, and others previously unmentioned such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer as having “opened, or even popularized the doors of extraordinary perception and appeal to these spiritual consumers”(p.59).

The author then discusses further examples of popular culture on alternative spiritualities from other genres. These include the influence of writer H.P. Lovecraft on new religious movements such as the Church of Satan and various others or on relatively unorganized individuals such as Teenage Satanism. Another set of influences is that of vampire-inspired groups that “base their religiosity on vampire fictions”(p.60) Yet another substantial genre is that of “fantasy” and here the author lists various examples (can hobbits be far behind?) which “are all parts of a cultural reservoir which contribute to neo-pagan thinking”(p.61).

Not only does popular culture contribute to the creation of sustained narratives and myths but also to the creation of “pop icons” who neo-pagans often utilize in their practice of magic “instead of more traditional gods”(p.62). When an example of this is given, invoking the image of Jared from the submarine sandwich ads to help the believer achieve success on a diet, one starts to wonder if Bryan Wilson was on to something with his musings about the facile nature of religion in the United States!

The rest of this chapter turns to more theoretical considerations about these changes in postmodern society which have led from Yahweh to Jared! Attention is paid to Lipovetsky, Featherstone and others. Lipovestsky suggests that in “advanced ‘modern’ societies,” the hold of roles, norms, and class have waned as the autonomous individual “constructs who he or she is…part of the great adventure of the self”(p.65). This construction of the self unencumbered by traditionally ascriptive criteria is accomplished in large part by the process of consumption, “If before we inherited our social characteristics from our family and kept them as part of our identity for the rest of our life, today, it can be argued that we make ourselves who we want to be”(p.65).
Chapter 4 on Hyper-Real Religions carries on exploring religions(spiritualities) which have been created or heavily influenced by constructed stories and fiction from popular culture. Possamai concentrates on the Jedi religion as an extended case study. He cites 2001 censuses in Australia and the United Kingdom showing large numbers of devotees, refers to his interview with one such devotee-“Christina”, also to various websites of the movement, and ends with interviews with George Lucas. He makes clear that some of the allure has to do with the disillusionment felt by many in this postmodern era with the traditional churches and with the political sector(p. 73).

Ironically, Lucas seems less than blissful about a “completely secular world where entertainment [is] passing for some kind of religious experience”(p.75). This however is the tendency that Possamai suggests “might be growing in the near future”(p.75).

He outlines his own ideal-typology based on spiritual growth involving illuminational development, instrumental development, and entertainment arguing that hyper-real religions are in a position to contribute to all three forms of spiritual growth. Specifically each type of spiritual development can be realized with the Jedi religion, such as meditation, the use of yoga, socializing, having fun, etc.

Possamai then draws upon the work of Ulrich Beck on the risk society (especially in the incarnation of terrorism since 2001) to suggest that increased perception of risk enhances the prospects of hyper-real religions.(p.81). He speculates (his own word) on why hyper-real religions may appeal in the post-9-11 risk society. Traditional religions may represent violence and confrontation while hyper-real religions may offer forms of escapism from an unedifying present; unreal religion may bring comfort in that as in stories like Lord of the Rings, it is the weakling hobbits who eventually overcome the evil wizards. Possamai also draws upon Latin America where hyper-real religions may serve the disempowered (“the marginalized the modern, the demonized and the dominated”) with “a form of protest against mainstream culture”(p.82).
Chapter 5, New Forms of Religious Identification Carried by Popular Culture, for my money, is one of the most interesting in the book. It focuses on the human potential ethic, that is, “a belief in the spiritual development of the self and its latent abilities”(p.88). Increasingly people look to alternative spiritualities not just to worship the divine but to discover it within themselves. This may be on a reflective level but it is also conceptualized as the development of higher powers normally denied to mundane mortals. To quote from one website, “A Jedi strives to excel physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and can put these in motion instantly”(p.100). An interviewee, ‘Julian’ reports how he attempted to develop telepathy and the powers to read minds and to send messages through the use of such powers(p.98). Possamai points to the ubiquitous slogan found in the New Age movement, “You are god and can do anything”(p.89).

Much of the chapter is expended on the interrelationship of this human potential ethic with the development of comic book superheroes from 1938 on (the advent of Superman). Possamai points out that earlier superheroes had often been imagined as having divine or semi-divine provenance or, mortals who had to work assiduously and ascetically at their special gifts. Also such heroes often had an “official” status with religious, governmental or military hierarchies. The new superheroes, in contrast, often gained their powers as the result of accidents, were originally rather ordinary and gained their powers quickly and without special ascetic efforts. In other words, potentially they were the democratic “Everyman(woman)”. They were assuredly not charismatic religious leaders, or commanding generals, warriors or political leaders. They seemed quite ordinary as reporters or students. Finally, superhero has few pretensions of launching grand new narratives relating to grandiose plans for society. Instead, despite their superpowers, they seemed to restrict their vision to sweeping crime off the streets. In Possamai words, “they support the status quo and are not interested in changing society”(p.96). The author also expends some words on how the human potential ethic including its spirituality component has pervaded the discourse of self-help experts such as Oprah Winfrey, Suze Orman, John Gray and others.

He finishes off this fascinating chapter with some musing about trends which may argue against Weber’s grim prediction of disenchantment and “the over-rationalisation of everyday life.” One of these is precisely the human potential ethic and the inspiration it has received from popular culture and the superheroes. Through such mechanisms, e.g. “a reconnection with nature”, Possamai sees us as “at the heart of a re-enchantment process”(p.103).

Chapter 6, Esoteric Knowledge(s) and Popular Culture, zeroes in on the secret systems of knowledge often reserved for elites of cognoscenti. Over long periods of history such systems of thought have often had a great appeal as knowledge denied to the less advanced common herd. Just as I write this in Spring, 2006, we have witnessed a major media blitz dealing with the long-lost Gospel of Judas produced in the third century by the Gnostics [followers of wisdom], suppressed by Catholic Christianity. Sure enough on p. 107 there is a reference to “the concept of esotericism—and also that of occultism and Gnosticism”(p.107).

Just as the Gospel of Judas is no longer reserved for an inner circle of adepts but has been instantly diffused in books, media reports, and the internet so a major point of this chapter is that such esoteric and secret knowledge can no longer remain so in the postmodern era, “Within perennism, esoteric knowledge is no longer secret…and even appears to have become a public commodity”(p. 107). One occult website warns, “Don’t count on having ‘secrets’ revealed to you. Ninety-nine percent of them are already published in some form, somewhere”(p.108).
However working on this topic and explaining its appeal over the ages allows Possamai to explore such classical sociologists as G. Simmel who wrote extensively on the topic. Other insights are provided by Baudrillard and others not involved in the social sciences extending from the occultist Gurdjieff to the poet Baudelaire.

The case studies provided may be more familiar to sociologists of religion than many others in Possamai’s book:. These include material on the development of American and French, and Brazilian Spiritualism and its eventual outcome in Theosophy. There is also a further discussion of modern Occultism as developed by Levi and Papus.

Allied to the theme that secret knowledge systems preserved by elite groups is an anachronism in cybersociety, the author emphasizes that material which used to be available only in difficult- to- understand texts, now gets simplified into “a kind of do-it-yourself” exercise…it is quicker and easier”(pp. 110-111). Possamai inevitably draws from the work of George Ritzer in referring to this as “the McDonaldisation of Occult Culture”(p.117). He relates back to earlier themes in referring to several interviews with “Anne” and “Steve,” and concludes that this process of simplification contributes to a world in which “spiritual actor[s] live in a world of choice, which is part of the consumer society. In this world, the individual becomes his or her own authority” and this process has been furthered by the development of “esotericism simplified” in which all knowledge(s) are “now so easily accessible and not controlled by some ‘intellectual of the esoteric’”(p.117).

Chapter 7, The Logic of Late Capitalism and the Stasis of Religion, is a theoretical discourse relating the author’s insights about postmodern religion and spirituality with F. Jameson’s well-known analysis about the nature of late capitalism. Possamai essays something which I have discussed in my various classes and hinted at in several articles: that there is a conjuncture between the nature of religion and spirituality in any society and its economic system of production. As such, Possamai summarizes some key points of Jameson’s thinking on how capitalism has advanced through three stages culminating in late capitalism. This last stage is characterized by such features as partaking in pastiche and in the collapse of well-defined standards. Another feature is the omnipresence of stasis., “Everything in art and culture has already been invented; all one can do is to re-invent”(p.128). When it comes to religion and spirituality, Jameson claims that “postmodern culture is thoroughly secularized.” Possamai instead points to the contrasting view of McClure who argues that American postmodern culture can be characterized “in terms of a resurgence of spiritual energies, discourses and commitments” and that postmodern texts “make room in the worlds they project for magic, miracle, metaphysical systems of retribution and restoration”(p.125).

Possamai agrees with McClure that postmodern culture is not secularized but he agrees with Jameson’s general depiction of capitalism’s development and suggests that “perennism is part of the logic of late capitalism…as a new spiritual way of being in this phase of late capitalism….”(p. 126). Possamai also agrees with the notion of stasis as characterizing both religion and spirituality in addition to the wider culture and economy. Whereas Jameson refers to the writers and artists of today as constrained by “’no longer being able to invent new styles and worlds—they’ve already been invented,” Possamai insists that the “last act of religious creativity in terms of content” may have been the UFO religions(dating to the 1950s) or perhaps “the booming of New Religious Movements in the 1960s-1970s”(pp. 130-131).The author ends by celebrating “the religious vitality of our time period.” Even if nothing new is being invented when it comes to the ideational content this vitality relates to the de-institutionalization of religion and the development of “individualized religions.” The nature of postmodern late capitalism fosters standardization and hybridization and the cultural re-combining of older elements into new syntheses. The modern menu partakes more of such features than striking innovation. In this sense religion is like other parts of culture and “might be argue[d] to be part of this logic of purely capitalist consumption”(133).

Chapter 8, Popular Culture and Hypo-Consumer Religious Groups, takes us to what may be more familiar ground for many sociologists of religion-conservative religious groups and their objections to the mainstream use of popular culture as well as to specific occult, and perennist groups. Possamai focuses on several strands of “monotheistic fundamentalism”(using the modern and recent “extended” definition rather than the original and specific definition which dates back to 1910 and a series of pamphlets defending traditional Christian doctrine entitled The Fundamentals). By focusing on this extended definition, Possamai is empowered to put under his lens traditions taken from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism and their resistance both to popular culture and to the perennists so comfortable with popular culture both of which “are part of the logic of late capitalism”(p.138). That conjuncture includes the values of late capitalism which include elements of secularism, pluralism, relativism, permissive morality and liberal individualism”(pp.138-139).

If we needed reminding, Possamai draws attention in the phrase” late capitalism” to capitalism’s continuing emphasis still on profit(no matter how much changes in the evolution of capitalism, some things do remain constant!). He points out the effects that can have on cultural product even when it comes encapsulated in a religious package. Thus The Prince of Egypt’s narrative on Moses “finishes on a Hollywood happy/selling ending” and does not deal with “the real/not-selling ending about the punishment by God of the Jewish tribe”(p.141).

There follows discussion of the resistance of conservative and fundamentalist religious groups to the products of popular culture. Noteworthy to many readers might be the discussions of Pokemon, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Dungeon and Dragons, Digimon, and heavy metal music. Possamai knows that The Lord of the Rings was written by a devout Roman Catholic adherent and in fact it appears that Tolkien has caught a more favourable shake than J.K. Rowling. A Southern Baptist theologian writes about Gandalf as “a kind of archangel sent from God who has special abilities to help people…while the Potter wizard…performs magic that can be used for selfish or evil purposes”(p.146) Also discussed is the response of various Christians who are intrigued by some of the popular culture products and who still retain hopes that their Christianity will not be compromised. Thus there is actually a website for Christian Goths! Another such site even castigates Christians for having “too long allowed non-Christians to dominate the imaginary world of role-playing, which was originally inspired by Christian men like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis”(p.155).

One strategy of such conservative groups is a “re-appropriation of popular culture” through the creation of cultural product for use internally by their own adherents. Here the author lists various Christian comics, games, and rock and heavy metal music suitably cleansed. He might have expanded this list to include movies intended mainly for committed believers, some of which have been major box office hits although most often ignored by the mainstream media(see ,however, Houpt 2001 and his claim “There’s a growing demand for movies aimed at Christians who feel ignored by Hollywood.”)). However readers will no doubt be stimulated to know of cultural heroes such as Captain Bible or The Cardinal (the latter being a university student who can fly but “has no other superpowers and must rely on his faith in Jesus to get him through!”, p.151).

According to Possamai’s analysis if perennists are hyper-consumer religions that emphasize the values of late capitalism such as relativism and the rest, the hypo-consumer religions “tend to be absolutist and exclusivist”(p.155). This raises several problems. Firstly if relativism and the aforementioned values suited to late capitalism are peculiar to perennism, then the logical deduction is that conservative Christianity ought to be declining as it confronts a late capitalism with which it is not in conjuncture. One could argue at length about that scenario but most sociologists of religion would now agree that such conservative groups have showed surprising resilience. Even though in the 1960s and early 1970s it was widely predicted that religions which did not “modernize” would suffer, it has been the more liberal Christians seeking to keep up with modern values who have declined. One thinks of the United Church of Canada with its acceptance of homosexuals as candidates for ordination. It used to be Anglophone Canada’s leading Protestant denomination and had considerable social influence. Or one might think of the Anglican Church of Canada, traditionally the second largest Protestant denomination but one often accorded a semi-official recognition,, which took a decidedly liberal turn starting in the 1960s. The reward for these efforts over these last four decades has been a pronounced flight from the pews and the recent prediction by noted author and journalist Tom Harpur (and former Anglican priest) that the last Anglican will be leaving by 2061!

This reminds me that what is under-discussed in this book is precisely the still considerable, if diminishing, numbers of liberal Christians and how they fit into Possamai’s analysis. Typically they tend to put up far fewer barriers to popular culture.

This is not the place, and it it not my task, to provide an extended analysis on this topic. However surely the current analysis (which focuses on perennists and fundamentalists) needs to be extended to other religious and spiritual groups if a full understanding of the trends of late capitalism is ever to be fulfilled. In Canada, at least, the numbers of perennists and fundamentalists are fairly small. No doubt the influence of the former group is growing if considered as a cultural resource rather than card-carrying members of organized groups (notice the sections of any big box bookstore on New Age, wiccanism, etc). Reginald Bibby(. 1943), Canada’s best-known sociologist of religion, has repeatedly pooh-poohed any suggestion that perennists are making a break-through in Canada (1993;2002:63-65).. As far as fundamentalism is concerned, it has made few gains in Canada over an extended period and remains much, much less influential than in the United States. What has happened, to use the fortuitous phrase of Bibby and Brinkerhoff, is the circulation of the saints (Beyer 1998:55). Specifically, Canadian evangelicals who are charismatic (e.g. Pentecostals) have been gaining at the expense of non-charismatic Evangelicals (e.g. Baptists). Also relevant here are the insights of the late George Rawlyk (1996) and Sam Reimer (2003) that Canadian Evangelicalism tends to be less doctrinally fixated , less contentious, and less politically affiliated to the political right than is the case in the United States. Canada’s largest religious groups include Roman Catholics, liberal and moderate Protestants, and “nones” (the religious non-affiliates) and these groups are largely ignored in Possamai’s association of religion and spirituality with late capitalism. In Canada, at least, many Catholics are not as conservative as the two recent popes would like (Nock 1993:52-53). In the 2001 census they counted just over 43% of the population. Mainline Protestants numbered 20%, the “nones” 16.5%. Conservative Protestants, despite the “buzz” produced by them are at 5.5%, actually down from previous estimates in 1961 and 1991 (Bowen 2004:24) “Perennists” in Canada as members of organizations have always counted less than 1%(discussed as “New Age” by Bibby 1993:51;2002)

There follows a brief conclusion. Possamai does acknowledge that he has focused on two extremes (the hyper-consumer perennists on the one hand, and the hypo-consumer fundamentalist religions on the other). He acknowledges, “In between these two ideal-types of consumption, many other types of consumption that were just touched upon are to be found”(p.158).

Although briefly raised, Possamai clearly expects hyper-consumer religions to be a focus of growth. Although he allows that they may be “just a fashion created by the logic of late capitalism” he clearly expects more of them. Thus he writes “This hyper-real testament reflects contemporary practices in the religious field that cannot be left unstudied. These religious practices might become dominant in the near future…hyper-real is here with us and is more likely to grow as it becomes more mainstream”(pp.158-59). Stephen J. Hunt is less sanguine when he comments, “nonetheless, if it is the case that fresh forms of religiosity are replacing the old, this may not effectively reverse the processes of the long-term decline of religion. It may well be that from a historical perspective the evidence still points towards an overall demise. The new religiosity, so it may be argued, does not make up for the decline of traditional Christianity….” (2002:213).
Whether that is true or not seems to me to depend on the correspondence of postmodernist and late capitalist theory to reality. As I understand postmodernism, however, correspondence to external reality is rarely this paradigm’s strong suit. The Canadian political scientist Pauline Rosenau (1992:110) upon whom Possamai relies in part, discusses at length the skeptical postmodernists who deny such an external reality whatsoever, or at least the ability of human cognition to uncover it. The analysis of late capitalism, with its reliance on Marxist political economy as interpreted by Ernest Mandel and Fredric Jameson, may have more prospects of uncovering verifiable propositions that correspond to the real world we live in.

Sociologists of religion, it seems to me, have occasion to welcome this book. As I suggested at the beginning, there has long been a dour discourse within this specialty that religion was doomed with the completion of the rationalization process and its correlates of science and higher education. Possamai provides a new rationale that religion may not be dying but changing in line with the new features of late capitalism. Since this new religiosity (or better yet, spirituality) is by nature more individualistic and based upon personal choice than previous religious economies, it stands to reason that sociologists of religion need to look less to traditional religious organizations and more to the products and commodities of popular culture on the one hand and to the internet and chat-rooms on the other hand. This should also suggest to traditional religious organizations that they may need alternate forms of financing, service provision, and even of worship than meeting together physically. If Possamai’s work vindicates Durkheim on the one hand (in the Frenchman’s insight that the old gods are dying but that there is no reason why new ones may not take their place), his work rather undercuts Durkheim’s insistence that religion is a collective phenomenon that best expresses itself in communal worship.

According to Possamai religion will survive in later capitalism but sociologists of religion had better get used to getting beyond their traditional haunts in temples and cathedrals. They will need to develop a keen eye for the resources of popular culture and cyberspace. Perhaps, then, I should conclude by saluting the work of Chris Seay in his The Gospel according to Tony Soprano: An unauthorized Look Into the Soul of TV’s Top Mob Boss and His Family(2002). When I bought it, I will admit that I was just fuelling my counterintuitive interest in organized crime and its influence in Europe and North America. It didn’t hit me at the time that I was actually developing “data” for my interest in the sociology of religion! Remember, however, that for Possamai, looking for religious inspiration in popular culture is looking “in all the right places.” The back blurb of Seay’s book promises that “…God permeates the show,” that “deeper moral issues” we can all relate to, resonate in it; and that pastor Seay will analyze the Soprano “family” (both of them!) and the various family characters and help “us evaluate our own humanity, and ultimately our relationship with God.” Thankfully, sociologists of religion may not have to turn out the lights; but we may have to turn on the t.v., our friendly p.c, and replace the Bible with a few salient (graphic) novels!

David A. Nock is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay,On. His two most recent books include the co-edited volume (with Celia Haig-Brown), With Good Intentions: Euro-Canadians and Aboriginal Relations in Colonial Canada ,2006, and Star Wars in Canadian Sociology: Exploring the Social Construction of Knowledge (1993). His article on the Chicago School, “The Myth About ‘Myths of the Chicago School’: Evidence from Floyd Nelson House” appeared in The American Sociologist 35/1 (2004), pp. 63-79.

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