A Market in Prophecy: Secularism, Law, and the Economy of American Religious Publishing
This article examines Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia Church of God, an influential case in which the plaintiff church sued a splinter sect for the unauthorized publication of one of its founder’s prophetic works. In this case, both groups turned to legal rationales, either the maximalist cl...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 85, Issue: 3, Pages: 629-652 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Weltweite Kirche Gottes
/ Legal conflict
/ Philadelphia Church of God
/ Religious literature
/ Verlagssystem
/ Value
/ Religion
/ Market
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KBQ North America |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article examines Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia Church of God, an influential case in which the plaintiff church sued a splinter sect for the unauthorized publication of one of its founder’s prophetic works. In this case, both groups turned to legal rationales, either the maximalist claims of intellectual property rights or the protections afforded by fair use exemptions, to defend their religious actions. In doing so, I argue that the dispute tested the capacity for the American legal system, and fair use doctrine in particular, to handle the complexities of alternative media economies like that of religious publishing. Because fair use asks courts to deal with the purpose of and market for the infringement, this case problematically turned theological issues of religious authorship, doctrinal difference, and church ecclesiology—normally considered outside the ambit of secular law—into matters central to the court’s adjudication.This article examines Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia Church of God, an influential case in which the plaintiff church sued a splinter sect for the unauthorized publication of one of its founder’s prophetic works. In this case, both groups turned to legal rationales, either the maximalist claims of intellectual property rights or the protections afforded by fair use exemptions, to defend their religious actions. In doing so, I argue that the dispute tested the capacity for the American legal system, and fair use doctrine in particular, to handle the complexities of alternative media economies like that of religious publishing. Because fair use asks courts to deal with the purpose of and market for the infringement, this case problematically turned theological issues of religious authorship, doctrinal difference, and church ecclesiology—normally considered outside the ambit of secular law—into matters central to the court’s adjudication. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfw084 |