TRANSFORMING TRADITIONS: TAKING POPULAR CULTURE SERIOUSLY IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Abstract

Making traditions “accessible” and making the connections between traditions and transformation “manifest” (this is Boys's definition of religious education), is a challenging endeavor in mass mediated popular culture contexts. Although definitions of “tradition” may differ from community to community, there is generally a sustained pattern of practice over time that shapes the religious identities of the people in question. Religious educators need to engage this pattern in multiple ways, some of which may extensively if not completely rework it. This essay illustrates such engagement by considering two examples of the televisual mediation of rituals following September 11, 2001, as well suggesting useful digital resources for religious educators in this context

Notes

¹ See also Maria Harris, Fashion Me A People, Mary Boys, Educating in Faith, and Norma Everist, The Church as Learning Communityfor further descriptions of these elements in broader arenas of religious education.

² More information on VeggieTales, a series of animated videotapes on biblical stories, can be found at www.BigIdea.com.

³ Tangentially, a rich attempt to do this kind of exploration is the Valparaiso University project on the “Education and Formation of People in Faith,” information about which can be accessed at www.practicingourfaith.org.