Pervasive presence—or just ordinary ubiquity—is one of the main strategies in Oprah’s attempt to serve as a guide through the…
Divine pervasion and the change that isn’t
popular culture
Adrift on common dreams
What a strange, provocative experience it has been to dwell with Kathryn Lofton’s Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon during…
Spirituality: what remains?
To use the concept of spirituality analytically is enormously difficult. There comes a point in reading this book when one…
“The hegemony of her sway”
Oprah’s “gift is not her interviewing strategy but her confessional promiscuity.” While claiming only to tell you what she herself…
Competitive theism at the Grammys
In anticipation of the Grammy Awards tonight, Neill Strauss asks, "Why do so many musical superstars think that their careers…
What is Oprah?: An interview with Kathryn Lofton
In Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, just out from University of California Press, Yale religion professor Kathryn Lofton orchestrates…
Death metal: A “pipeline to God”?
Metal music’s obsession with religion is part of its obsession with living at the limit. The goal of metal is…
What does it mean to be cool and Christian?
Thomas Turner, author of the blog Everyday Liturgy, interviews Brett McCracken on his new book, Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool…
Meta meta meta
Tonight on Big Brother 12, the implosion of the secular age!
Kinkade Studies comes of age
Last Friday mass market painter Thomas Kinkade was arrested on the suspicion of driving under the influence. In light of…