Cool Christianity
Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:5th Mar '24
£19.99
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Hillsong, an Australian megachurch founded in 1983, is now a global phenomenon. It has branches in most global cities and award-winning worship bands that tour the world and whose music is sung weekly by an estimated 50 million people in 60 languages. Moreover, the megachurch and its bands have an immense presence on social media with millions of followers. The scandals around sex and money that have rocked Hillsong in recent times have been reported globally in the mainstream secular media, reflecting the megachurch's prominence. Hillsong's style of Pentecostalism relies on a deep engagement with consumer capitalism, as well as celebrity, youth, and digital cultures. In Cool Christianity, Cristina Rocha tells the story of how Hillsong's “Cool Christianity” aesthetic allowed it to make inroads among the Brazilian middle classes, who adopted Hillsong's brand of Christianity as a way of becoming cosmopolitan and establishing class boundaries. Rocha draws on the theoretical frameworks of material religion and lived religion to show how religion can be made globally relevant to young people through cool aesthetics, affect, and engagement with consumer culture--from fashion to music to branding--in the digital age.
"Tracking the expansion of Hillsong from Australia to Brazil, Cristina Rocha highlights the central role of its distinctive aesthetic style in holding the network together globally while also making it touch ground in the Brazilian charismatic field. This amazing ethnography offers a highly innovative methodological and conceptual intervention into the study of global Pentecostalism." * Birgit Meyer, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Utrecht University *
Cool Christianity is readable and, importantly, fair. Both newcomers and experts, critics and attendees can enjoy and be challenged by this overview of young transnational 'cool' pentecostalism. * Tanya Riches, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion *
Cool Christianity is a must-read for scholars interested in Hillsong, Pentecostalism, and Megachurch Christianity more broadly. Scholars of material religion will be inspired by Rocha's focus on the Hillsong sensational form and its ability to travel transnationally and adapt to local settings-a topic ...[that] has not been studied previously with such rich ethnographic detail. The book is timely and reflects on the recent stress that the Hillsong movement has come under after its founder has been implicated in a number of scandals. * Jerrold Cuperus, Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief *
This is an important study for theologians and churches to engage with. Rocha's writing is exquisite, scholarly and accessible. * Martyn Percy, Theology *
ISBN: 9780197673201
Dimensions: 160mm x 226mm x 25mm
Weight: 363g
248 pages