In Chapter 8, author Colleen McDannell highlights the impact of Christian Retailing by emphasizing the sales and services of Christian objects (from T-shirts to porcelain statues) for both individual and household uses, and asserts that it . . . ” is a significant aspect of contemporary religious life in America” (p. 222). McDannell cites statistics indicating the sales of Christian products have increased since the 1990s, and the number of bookstores has doubled in profits, making the Christian bookstore a billion-dollar industry.
With further reading, she describes the Victorian origins (use of religious objects) as early as the mid-1800s as a catalyst for the increase in Christian retailing in the 20th Century. McDannell purports that the merchandise explosion is a result of “cheaper production, more efficient distribution, and the willingness of Christians to integrate religion into every aspect of their lives” (p. 223). She also claims that the various Christian manufacturers, marketers, advertising, and mass production are reaching the masses in the 21st Century, and calls it “a religious activity.” With the increase of Conservative Christian evangelicals in the 1980s, identification with exclusively “Christian” merchandise and activities supported the growing Christian retail industry.
Goods such as pens, postcards, wall mottoes, pictorial bookends, and lamps were used for “teaching, spiritual uplifting, and cementing bonds between people” (p. 242 ) and even tied to religious practices such as faith healing. Before World War II, door-to-door Bible sales men were a primary means of supplying Christian materials. After the War, Sunday School became a primary conduit of material culture, followed by the appearance of Christian bookstores in the 1970s.
From the Gospel Trumpet Company in 1877 (later known as Warner Press), to Lifeway Christian Bookstores today, as well as numerous other religious and secular companies, they have crossed denominational boundaries to become a major contributor to the material culture of the 21st Century, and this industry continues to grow in spite of corporate mergers. Christian retailing continues to successfully integrate religious concerns and popular culture into a profitable business, with an emphasis not just on making money, but on changing lives.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the connection between Colonial Revival furniture and mass-produced religious objects as material culture trends?
2. What are the similarities/dissimilarities between Orsi’s and McDannell’s books with regard to the religious movements they describe? Compare and comment on other books we’ve read up to this point.
3. How do the religious practices, beliefs, and identity of conservative evangelical Christians impact their purchase of exclusively Christian merchandise?
4. In the Epilogue, McDannell refers to a “dualism” between mass-produced kitsch and autonomous art, that has as much to do with gender and class issues as it does with theology and aesthetics. Do you agree with the author? Why or why not?
In response to your second question; viewed in light of McDannell’s framework, it seems to me that Orsi’s book reflects the experience of an ethnic, immigrant community in attempting to integrate the sacred into their daily lives through their celebration and use of material objects. McDannell touches on this point in her discussion of Roman Catholic “sacramentals” in Chapter 2. She says that through “sacramentals” lay people become Priests and decide when and where the sacramentals will be employed (20). McDannell’s book seeks to describe generally how American Christians use material representations of their various religious faiths to integrate their faith in their everyday lives. Most of the books that we have read up to this point identify some material representations of faith. The Salvation Army has their kettles, the Holy Communion banquets of Father Divine’s movement are a means of fusing the sacred and the profane for his followers. Interestingly, it is a Pentecostal who became the first Christian retailer according to McDannell. While McDannell provides us with a great framework from which to view individual and communal expressions of faith through material objects, I wonder if she doesn’t go too far in separating material Christianity and secularization; especially in the context of Christian retailing where “Christian” retailers accommodate principles of market capitalism and rationalize as “outreach” becoming part of secular publishing houses that clearly focus on profit rather than faith. Although the individual Christians who purchase these items do so to represent their faith in a meaningful way, it is interesting that they also require these items to reflect the current fashions of the culture. I don’t know if this is “secularization” in the traditional sense but it seems to accommodate secular culture, sometimes at the expense of religious principles.
Donna Cywinski
November 5th, 2007
The epilogue may actually have been my favorite part of the book. In it, McDannell did a great job of summing up her reasons for believing that materialism is such an important aspect to study when trying to determine the influence of a religion upon society. Although she demonstrated it over and over in the book, her epilogue tied the ends together quite nicely. After reading it, I suppose that I do agree with McDannell that the dualism between the kitsch and autonomous art has a lot to do with gender and class issues. It seems logical to make that jump, because for the entire book McDannell describes how we can see that certain aspects of religion are important to people because of the types of images, relics and other merchandise that they purchase. The art as well as the mass-produced kitsch in a society ultimately reflect the values of that society. Even certain types of autonomous art will not continue to be produced / sold if there is no market for that art. And the market will not be there unless certain values also exist.
Deaton
November 5th, 2007