Imagining the Sacred in Popular Culture: Visual Representations in Japanese Religion

This book explores the role of religion in contemporary society and how representations of religion impact popular culture, focusing on Japanese popular culture and manga. It argues that manga can provide a powerful visual theology of sacred reality and raise profound religious and moral issues.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 01 January 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book delves into the profound impact of religion in the age of globalization, exploring how it speaks to us in contemporary society and how representations of religion shape popular culture. With a specific focus on Japanese popular culture, MacWilliams examines Japanese comic books, known as manga, which often explicitly address religious themes. These manga, which account for over 40% of all books and magazines published in Japan, possess a unique ability to dramatize and exaggerate information, simplifying complex realities in a visually captivating manner. In this book, MacWilliams delves into the fascinating world of manga, examining the imagined selves and worlds they construct, as well as the important visual theologies they convey. By exploring the religious iconography of manga, MacWilliams highlights the powerful visual theology of sacred reality that it offers to its audience. However, historians of religion have often overlooked popular culture as a medium of religious experience and expression, neglecting genres like manga. This book seeks to redress this neglected area, raising profound religious and moral issues that are immediately relevant for those exploring Japanese religion, media and cultural studies, and anyone interested in imagining the sacred today.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780754608127