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Studies in Rhetoric and Religion
The Faithful Citizen: Popular Christian Media and Gendered Civic Identities
For decades, American popular media have instructed audiences about their roles and significance in the public sphere. In The Faithful Citizen , rhetorical critic Kristy Maddux argues that popular Christian media not only communicate avenues for civic engagement but do so in profoundly gendered terms. Her detailed interrogation of popular Christian movies, books, and television shows―the Left Behind series, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, Amazing Grace, 7th Heaven, and the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code―exposes five competing models of how Christians should behave in the civic sphere as their gendered selves. What emerges is a typology that insightfully reveals how these varying faith-based models of engagement uniquely shape public discourse and influence the larger picture of contemporary politics.
285 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 1, 2018
Maddux's work in this volume is remarkable for how it deftly navigates the tricky waters of Christian faithfulness, gender, and politics, all without necessarily pushing an agenda. The analyses that are included in the case study chapters are concise and direct, but with adequate detail and historical background for them to be significant and all of Maddux's main points well-illustrated and supported. Overall the goal of illustrating the variety of ways that Christians can engage in civic causes is accomplished, and the book is truly an easy, enjoyable read as it does this work. My one complaint is that the conclusions of the chapters can be a bit repetitive, but this doesn't really detract from the main substance and power of the book's arguments and flow.
September 11, 2013
This is a great book that looks at the media representations of the intersections of gender and religion. It looks at the consequences of, and assumptions about what it means to be a citizen and a christian and a male or female. The method that is used is constitutive rhetoric, which, gets a bit boring after reading a few case studies. It really hits the point home, but I can't help but feel like I read the same "conclusion" over and over.
This book is highly specific, and I think Kristy Maddux is just the author to write it: she comes from a christian background, which I think gives her fantastic insight: although with that insight comes an unwillingness to be super-critical. The book is critical enough of mediated forms of christianity, but you get the feeling that Maddux doesn't want to critique the idea of religion as a whole; which is fine with me if that is her prerogative...just know you won't be getting that from this book!
This book is highly specific, and I think Kristy Maddux is just the author to write it: she comes from a christian background, which I think gives her fantastic insight: although with that insight comes an unwillingness to be super-critical. The book is critical enough of mediated forms of christianity, but you get the feeling that Maddux doesn't want to critique the idea of religion as a whole; which is fine with me if that is her prerogative...just know you won't be getting that from this book!
June 11, 2011
Maddux examines Christian based media in order to argue that evangelical Christians are not merely conservative and that there are a variety of ways that evangelical Christians engage in civic participation. However, Maddux uses Catholic as well as Protestant media, and she also discusses The Da Vinci Code, which is not a film that is popular among evangelical Christians. Also, it ignores the fact that while there are liberal, evangelical Christians, they do not have the political power or organization that conservative, evangelical Christians have. Therefore, civic participation and political sway within the evangelical community is dominated by conservatives, which Maddux denies.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews