Reading: Cobb [Life Everlasting]

Cobb mentions the "communion of saints", found in the Apostles' Creed, during his prose on life everlasting. When I hear the phrase "life everlasting", I immediately think of the creed.

I loved the show Six Feet Under and was ecstatic that Cobb included the daring, dark & smart show in his diatribe. You can't beat it when death, homosexuality, drugs & family issues are all thrown into a weekly script and come out as an eloquent timepiece that reflects both hope and fear in life's beautiful struggle.

If you haven't seen the HBO creation, I implore you to give it a go. You will not be disappointed. Well, unless you can't take the swearing. If that's the case, stick to your American Idol or whatever else you people watch.

Reading: Cobb [Salvation]

Although their titles are probably too literal for Cobb's liking, there were two works of art in popular culture that I was surprised were not mentioned when breaking down popular cultures variety of conceptions of salvation.

The first is the film Saved. The plot follows Mary, a devout senior at a Christian high school, who after accidentally getting pregnant, starts to see her peers and her faith in a whole new way. This dark comedy/coming-of-age story premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was produced by R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe. Saved refreshingly argues that Jesus would have embraced the cast-outs and the misfits, and might have leaned toward situational ethics instead of rigid morality.

The second piece is the song "Save Me" by Aimie Mann, featured in the epic film Magnolia. The movie is an interlocking series of episodes that take place during a single 24-hour period, using the interconnected tales of its nine protagonists (acted by John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall and Philip Seymour Hoffman and others including Tom Cruise) to form a frenzied slice of our life and times. Each character is searching for happiness, having trouble making human connections, and, more specifically, trying to come to terms with what's come before. In the end, all of these threads converge, in one way or another, upon an event there is no way for the audience to anticipate. Mann's song highlights the aforementioned divine ending sequence with each character attempting to come to grasp with their past and hope of future salvation.

Reading: Cobb [Sin]

Focusing on the Gothic that is evident throughout literature, movies, journalism, fashion and music, Cobb draws on key elements of the previous chapters human nature. Our culture's media landscape also reveals societies obsession with sin and moral transgression. We love to see someone fail as much as we enjoy seeing them succeed. Watching a video of someone getting hit in the nuts is always funny. Well, unless the video is you. I'm sure Adam & Eve would have thought twice about eating those apples if they knew there was a possibility of a hidden camera [e.g. God's omnipresence].

Reading: Cobb [Nature]

Cobb investigates human nature as well as the nature of human expression, not only describing the human as a "pleasure seeking bricoleur" but confronting the tension between our fascination and "sheer delight in the simulacra that now compose the world" which can temporarily satisfy, with our awareness that acquisitions are, in the end, not enough.

Our desire for spiritual transcendence outside the realm of institutional religion becomes, in fact, the motivation behind our various simulations and creative inventions. We need first-hand experience. We want a reality that goes below the surface, beyond simulacra. And yet in order to touch the invisible we attempt to manufacture tangible facsimiles. Skin and clothes seem inseparable.


WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?! I love how Cobb brings up the films of Nolan and Minghella and how they reflect human nature, but a curiously absent was the counter argument and viewpoint of how human nature is inherently sinful after sin was introduced into the world after the Garden. The "pleasure seeking bricoleur" is of an inherently sinful human nature is perfectly emulated in David Fincher's Se7en. As I continued to read, I kept waiting for Cobb to bring up the flick as a negative point of view of human nature. But it never came.

Reading: Cobb [Images]

Images of God is always a compelling subject that has been given new life in todays postmodern and media saturated age. Cobb nails many memorable images of God, including great examples like Zorba the Greek, Augustine's Confessions [a great site of the Adventures of Confessions of Saint Augustine Bear is linked here if you have to time to get deep with Augustine's thoughts in hairy cartoon bear form], Fight Club, and Tori Amos.


My favorite image Cobb cites is Wim Wenders phenomenal film Wings of Desire. I think Cobb's analysis of God in the film as an unseen or heard God is incorrect. Rather, I believe God is seen in the film through God's creation in both humanity and angels. God has set creation on Earth in motion, and just like us on film, is watching for the drama to unfold.

Reading: Cobb [Tools]

Cobb continues to hone in on Tillich's cultural theory by focusing on his concept of "ultimate concern." The most interesting and easily used, from a practical perspective, is the language of religious symbols. Cobb explains that, according to Tillich, it is our divinely given capacity for ultimate concern that craves symbols.

In a contemporary cultural setting, the symbol of the cross, a priest's robe, and even the Bible are seen as symbols of the Christian faith from both inside and outside our culture, for better or worse. Better when the symbols epitomize good, faith and truth. Worse when they symbolize the greed, capitalism and democracy-spreading of a twisted American "Conservative Christian" ideal.

Reading: Cobb [Theology]

It's interesting that Cobb focuses on Tillich in his study of theology and culture. The first research paper that I wrote as a student at Fuller 8 years ago was on Paul Tillich. Professor Charlie Scalise turned me onto Tillich since his views on popular culture and embracing the objects of popular culture were near my own interests in forming a new way to look at church, ala the emerging church model.

Paul Tillich had an interesting take of systematic theology that uses different language to observe the physical world around him. Words like "being," "ultimate concern," "self-alienation" are not the typical conventional religious language, and for me it was a breath of fresh air into the long-winded musings of other theologians.

It does take a while to get your head around his thinking, but once you do, the genius of Tillich’s method is that it creates meaning. Everything becomes relevant. The system is based on experience. It is not the product of cool reflection; it is about getting involved in the world and in the revelation. Through Tillich, theology is a way of life, not a body of information. There are no limits whatsoever to what theology can be or what can be theology.

Reading: Cobb [Studies]

Antonio Gramsci's twist on Marxism called "hegemony" is a refreshing turn in the history of cultural studies we have been reading up to this point. I agree that the dominant groups in society do have persuasive influences, and further side with Gramsci that the working class does have a choice in the matter. John Storey's example of Bob Marley's is a perfect one, with the Rastafarian's music standing against the same capitalist moneymakers in the music industry, while the same industry, labels, and promoters are profiting from the continued sales of Marley's albums.

We might have seen a significant hallmark in the music industry just this past year, with Radiohead's groundbreaking self-release via the World Wide Web this past Fall. Radiohead provided a download and asked the user to make her/his own price for the "purchase" of their entire new release. What is interesting is that 60% of people who downloaded the album, downloaded it for free. That being said, the album was then released on January 1st through TBD Records, a sublabel of ATO Records, and opened No. 1 on the week's music charts with sales of 122,000 copies. It's a start. But in the future, it'll take more artists with additional innovations to stick it to The Man and make a noticeable dent in the formidable force of the record industry.

Reading: Cobb [Popular]

Kelton Cobb takes a wonderful angle in the introduction and first chapter of The Blackwell Guide to Theology and Popular Culture. Within the book, Cobb observes culture through the artists, thinkers and writers of our time. From Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club to M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, Cobb beautifully blends current cultural phenomenons in poignant and critical analysis.

What is interesting is that each creative piece being observed, whether it be film or literature, is examining life, faith and the soul. Each is attempting to finding the "Why?" behind our human existence. If you have ever taken care of a adolescent child you have experience the seemingly echoing "Why?" questions about everything from why dogs can't talk to why the sky is blue. After reading the beginning of Cobb, I am reminded we apparently never stop questioning.