Abstract
This introductory chapter situates the study within the field of religion, media, and culture. It highlights the inability of “supply-side” religious economy and branding models to account for participatory cultural activities related to American televangelism. This includes the activities of the unintended fans discussed in this book, whose ironic tendencies challenge common assumptions of sincere devotion in studies of religion and fandom, and whose analog media practices problematize suggestions of novelty in research on religion and “new” media. John Fiske’s theory of popular culture is proposed as a way to account for such activities.
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Bekkering, D.J. (2018). Introduction. In: American Televangelism and Participatory Cultures. Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_1
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00574-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00575-7
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