A Hot Mess: Pentecostalism in Southern Literature and Television

In the years after World War II, American Pentecostal discourse revolved around a separation narrative. The authors of the narrative asserted that Pentecostalism’s success depended on the ability of the movement to remain separate from American popular culture, which was overwhelmingly shaped by mass consumption and mass media. Promoters of the narrative believed that Pentecostals were becoming too assimilated into mainstream American life with the result being a loss of Pentecostal distinctiveness and desensitization to cultural immorality. This thesis will argue that the separation narrative functioned as an idealized version of Pentecostal history, a rationalization of economic changes affecting Pentecostals, and a critique of postwar popular culture.

Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, 2013

Out of the Mouth of Babes presents a curiosity of the early twentieth century: the spectacle of the girl evangelist. These were young girls, sometimes extremely young-as with Evangelist Beatrice Wells who was just four years old when her preaching career commenced-through the young teenage years and into the twenties. Robinson and Ruff consider these young female evangelists contextually as a Fundamentalist antithetical voice to the Progressivist flappers. The flappers spearheaded a sexual rebellion in the early 1920s that threw off the final vestiges of Victorian social strictures that were especially visited upon young women. "Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of girl preachers stood behind pulpits-or on top of pianos if they were too short to be otherwise seen" (4). Girl evangelists became the rage in the roaring twenties in an era known for unbridled experimentation and daring freedoms, but the evangelists outlasted the flapper fad by nearly a decade. "The youngsters were as traditional and modest as the flapper was unconventional and brazen-the most sharply contrasting exhibits of the feminine that the 1920s had to offer" (9). Two of the most famous girl preachers were Betty Weakland, whose preaching career began at age six, and Uldine Utley, who launched her national evangelistic campaign at age eleven. Although apt to scold against the loose morals of their time, these mostly Fundamentalist and often Pentecostal girls, together with the slightly older flappers, were also a part of the Hollywood child star rage. In fact, the authors considered the children (there were also boys as well) as a subspecies of child performers. The public stage was particularly receptive during this "age of the child star." "In many ways, the child evangelist on a revivalist platform and the child actor on a Hollywood stage were part of the same performance" (7). The authors investigate the phenomenon largely through newspaper clippings, while fully detailing the limitations of the medium. A

Church History, 2011

Presidential election years are a reminder of the religious and regional differences in the United States. The South is now the stronghold and export center of the fast-growing Pentecostal tradition counting over 500 million adherents worldwide. This result found its origin as a mustard seed in a region resisting this Yankee import. In The Fire Spreads Randall Stephens, assistant professor of history at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, puts the Pentecostal tradition in the South in a broad historical perspective in a masterfully researched and well-written book. The book seeks to explain the nature of this change and its effects. Earlier histories explained the attraction of Pentecostalism from an alleged need among the lower classes for escapism, but none paid attention to the regional roots. This oversight was caused by the peculiar regional character which did not adhere to white supremacy nor to the Lost Cause, a Southern interpretation of the defeat in the Civil War (1861-1865) as defending just causes such as States' Rights and a noble culture. Stephens opens his fascinating story by setting the stage for a strong Calvinist-inspired pessimism in the South which resisted the Methodist emphasis on perfectionism and other human agencies campaigning for reform and progress. Perfectionism originated in the North as shortcut to a sinless life. This idea deviated from the accepted Methodist notion of a life-long struggle against sin and evil. The conditions for acceptance of the holiness culture in the South were poor because its source was suspect. The Northern cities in which perfectionism thrived were not popular in the South and contrasted with the strict discipline prominent in Southern religious practices. Moreover, the breakdown of the lines of communication between the sections before the Civil War and the fear for being overwhelmed by carpetbaggers after the war, made this Northern import even more suspect. However, other factors prepared the ground for its rooting: memories of past revivals and a strong criticism of contemporary materialism. A restorationist theology, a return to the simple gospel in which perfectionism fitted nicely, promised redress. The breakthrough of the holiness movement in the South happened in the 1880s and 1890s. Stephens rejects a class explanation, since poor as well as affluent people were equally attracted to the holiness message. He seems to give some credit to the explanation that rural people feared urban commercialism, but could have taken a stronger position by comparing this attitude to resistance

According to Colleen McDannell, Catholicism stands above all other religions for the film and TV audience because it seems to be the most mystical and the most easily recognizable of all religious creeds; however, it is also the most criticized and suspicious denomination. Since Catholics star on the big screen, as well as on the flat screen in American homes, it is useful to have a close look at the different depictions of Catholicism and their criticism by institutions. Using examples from movies such as Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino as well as TV series such as Ally McBeal, Bones, The West Wing and The Simpsons, this article discusses the fascination with Catholicism on the screen and argues that even depictions seen as negative by the Catholic League do not necessarily harm Catholicism.

Pneuma, 2016

A recent article in the online journal Religious Dispatches discusses the Southern Christian presence, or lack thereof, on the hit television show Nashville. In an intriguing analysis, writer Carrie Allen Tipton points to the popular "spirituality" the show displays instead of the evangelical piety one would expect to find in a program situated in the Bible Belt and devoted to the culture of country of music. Perhaps the a-religiosity of the show can be attributed to the presumed proliferation of the unaffiliated-the "nones" so visible in the press of late. In any case, church going, if it is mentioned at all, seems a matter of nostalgia for Nashville's leading characters. The church choir of long ago is recalled with affection, but those sacred precincts of yesteryear have been replaced for the show's heroes with new sanctuaries: the Bluebird Café, in particular, and the famous Ryman Auditorium.

Pneuma, 2012

During last year’s regional meeting, a conversation began around the larger implications of popular culture and biblical studies in several forms to the American religious landscape. This panel hopes to continue this endeavor with a substantive conversation organized this time around representation and minority groups on “television.” Religious language and practice runs through the American media landscape. In our conversation last year, we struck upon the idea that certain pop culture forms are consistently used as mythic and iconic forms, that they are used as both texts and ritual acts. “Television” is currently undergoing a shift of ritual practice. Fewer people watch network television shows together, but more people are watching screens than ever. This fracturing of the audience might be a new part of the culture or it might actually be an illustration of divisions that already existed in audiences. We hope that this conversation will allow us to bring some broader questions to the region in a panel that focuses on conversation and the process of collaboration rather than more traditional papers. We will provide a quite brief introduction that will include some initial comments on definitional and methodological issues, the future of the field, the value of this field of inquiry. The rest of the panelists will contribute presentations that concentrate somewhat on the questions: In what ways does this show represent minority or religious groups? How does the way the show is distributed impact its production, audience, or reception? The remainder of the panel will be devoted to a moderated conversation that we hope includes those in attendance.

In this work, we present an analysis of the widely followed TV series Orange is the New Black (OITNB), a US-American comedy-drama produced by Netflix, which tells the stories and the problems of a group of female prison inmates. Its importance is due to two factors: first, OITNB has been, and continues to be, very successful, attracting large audiences and having broad impact. Second, it focuses on topics that are crucial for super-diverse societies (Becci, Burchardt and Giorda, 2015), such as gender, spirituality, and ethnic minorities. In what follows, we provide a multidisciplinary analysis of these cultural and social aspects, bringing together an NLPapproach with perspectives from semiotics and religious studies. In particular, we describe how these issues are represented in OITNB, comparing the outcome of an automatic analysis of subtitles, reviews, and fan-discussions with a semiotic interpretation of the series content and with recent work in the sociology of monastic institutions.

2023

As Pentecostalism has matured from its pre-WWI context to the present day, Pentecostal scholars and practitioners in North America have been engaged in a process of clarifying distinctives and identifying key theological loci and practices as a means of traditioning their communities and responding to changes in society. This article reviews and categorizes these activities and explores anthropological and theological insights garnered from the process of discipling. Finally, the article’s final section analyzes a sermon by Aimee Semple McPherson as a site where the dynamics of these activities and insights can be observed and used to generate important questions about how Pentecostals and Foursquare specifically can continue to engage in the processes of discipleship and traditioning.