The Appropriation of Popular Culture: A Sensational Way of Practicing Evangelism of Korean Churches

Since the end of the 20th century, Korean churches have awakened to the fact that pop culture is enjoyed by a large segment of the population and thus provides a natural bridge between Christians and non-Christians. As a result, many Korean churches utilize popular cultural elements that Christians...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Lee, Min Hyoung (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2019]
In: Religions
Year: 2019, Volume: 10, Issue: 11
Further subjects:B Pastiche
B Appropriation
B Parody
B Evangelism
B Popular Culture
B Christianity
B Korea
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Since the end of the 20th century, Korean churches have awakened to the fact that pop culture is enjoyed by a large segment of the population and thus provides a natural bridge between Christians and non-Christians. As a result, many Korean churches utilize popular cultural elements that Christians and non-Christians relish, such as movies, music videos, and images, as a way of demonstrating their evangelistic invitation to the world. They appropriate famous pop culture contents and present slightly modified materials through various channels, such as church websites, social media, and YouTube. This study focuses on the artistic technique of the evangelistic materials that Korean churches create. Based on the artistic understanding of appropriation, parody, and pastiche, this study examines whether the evangelistic imitations are "parodies" as they are introduced by their creators. I also look at ways another artistic style, "pastiches," might be more suitable to those appropriations than "parodies." Employing insights from the artistic analysis, this study explores which artistic style might be a better way of providing imitations of popular culture not so much as superficial entertainment but as a serious way to communicate the gospel. This will show how to appropriate popular culture as both faithful and efficient evangelistic methods.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel10110592