Today in class Jaclyn brought up the idea of contemporary religions. The term contemporary religion can be used to refer to religious that are changing as time changes, to blend into the time period. At least, this is how I interpret it. Religion can be contemporary in many ways. One example is the idea of christian rock. Christian rock is a genre of music that has the same musical instrument set-up as a rock group, but they sing about God. Another example of religions becoming contemporary can be seen just down the street from Lawrence University. An old movie theatre has been turned into a church. As Emma was saying in class, there are still a lot of lights, a gift shop, and even movie theatre seats present in the church.
It is clear that this level of contemporary varies by religion. Religions that are more orthodox than others are less likely to incorporate some of these things into their beliefs/rituals, like christian rock. But, how far will religions go to become contemporary? Will the latest trend in religion be that no one goes to a central location anymore, and that religious services are conducted on facebook and/or twitter? (I would not be surprised if this already existed.) In addition, why are religions becoming contemporary, in a sense? I believe it is because the religions want to relate to the "always on the go" person that enjoys things in society like rock music and gift shops.
That's funny, we basically blogged about the same thing. I think that religion meeting pop-culture is a good and a bad thing. It kind of makes for instant gratification, but on the other hand, it's necessary to stay alive as a religion
ReplyDeleteWell it can be said that all religions are contemporary, at least when they start. We're used to them being old, and outmoded so their evolution to match current trends seems strange to us, even though at the time of their foundation they where almost uniformly grounded in the culture of the time.
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