Liderzy religijni jako gwiazdy amerykańskiej popkultury

• Authors: Marta Młodzianowska

Title variants

EN

RELIGIOUS LEADERS AS THE STAR OF THE AMERICAN POP CULTURE

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article presents American religious leaders who acquired the status of popular culture stars. The phenomenon of extraordinary popularity of charismatic preachers in the USA dates back to the Puritan era. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the era of electronic media that the great career of American ministers began. Religious leaders were provided with new tools to propagate their message and they gradually gained mastery of using them. The label of the progenitor of religious celebrities is traditionally assigned to Billy Sunday who was active in the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. After him came the pioneers of radio ministry (S. Parkes Cadman) and first TV stars in religious show -business (Fulton J. Sheen). The article focuses on some outstanding figures who in the space of the decades had major influence on televangelism. These are: Billy Graham, recognized as the most famous pastor of all times; Oral Roberts, popular healer, businessman and hero of well -known scandals; Robert Schuller, founder of the famous Crystal Cathedral and promoter of the institution of megachurches; and Joel Osteen, representative of the young generation of televangelists and pastor of the biggest church in the USA. What is common to all these figures is great charisma, perfect mastery of the techniques of creating self -image and influencing people as well as the ability to meet people’s needs. Thanks to these attributes these pastors turned into the icons of the American pop -culture.

Keywords

EN

RELIGIOUS LEADERS; POP CULTURE; MEGACHURCHES

• Publisher: Księgarnia Akademicka
• Journal: Politeja : Pismo Wydziału Studiów Miedzynarodowych i Politycznych Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 2(14)
• Pages: 505-520

Contributors

author

Marta Młodzianowska

• Wydział Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politycznych, 31-010 Cracow, ul. Rynek Glowny 34, Poland