Religion and Storytelling

Catalog description

This class will explore the way religion is represented in popular literature and film. Living in a largely secular world does not mean that interest in religion has waned. If anything, the opposite is true. Religion can be quietly embedded in a story or serve as the defining element of a narrative. We will investigate religious popular literature and media geared toward two separate audiences: secular and religious. Stories in the secular realm that explore religious communities often attempt to unveil the mysteries believed to exist among insular groups and challenge the dogmatism found in devout belief systems. Expats from religious communities who write their own accounts of leaving the values of their upbringing behind and the challenges of integrating themselves into a modern, secular world also contribute to the corpus of literature on the topic. Meanwhile, religious groups create their own form of entertainment that does not include the perceived vanities and traps of secular media, in the form of serialized fiction, novels, music, and film. What are the challenges with creating and consuming various depictions of religious life? What is our role as an audience in interpreting these narratives? How do the characteristics of popular literature and media affect how religion is represented? This class will explore how religion is represented and challenged in popular literature and media, focusing particularly on bestsellers—works that appeal to large numbers of people—to consider the implications of mainstream depictions. Alongside bestselling novels, self-help guides, short stories that appear in popular magazines, and acclaimed television shows, we will integrate theory from thinkers including Emile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz, Saba Mahmood, Beth Allison Barr, and Ayala Fader to guide our discussions.