Visual Blog: A Model for Religion and

Capitalism

Mark Hirsch

Introduction: The purpose of this visual blog will be to explore the consequence of a capitalistic/consumer driven society with regards to religion, and to understand how, in response, religion has found a place for itself in this society. I will use the local example of Appleton, WI as a model to make broader claims about religion (especially Christianity) in America.

Religion is no stranger to commerce. From early on there has been a unique connection between the two. In medieval times, cities centered around the church—both

figuratively and literally—as the church formed the base of a town’s central area and was often the largest structure or building. This was a time period when the church controlled and guided almost every aspect of life, from law and order to politics and

day-to-day life. Because of this orientation, much of the business and commerce in that

time was carried out in and around the church.

This map displays the church’s central and dominating place of importance relative to all the other structures on the map.

This aerial shot also illustrates the way in which the other structures in a city seem to revolve around the church.

As we fast-forward to the present, it becomes apparent that the church and commerce are no longer fused. In fact, it would seem that the two have actually switched rolls.

Where once commerce acted as a subordinate under the umbrella of the church, today, capitalism fuels our society and daily life, causing religion to fall under its umbrella.

Though the observation of the physical aspects of modern day churches as well as their locations, both on an

individual basis and their overall distribution within a city, an initial picture of were religion fits into this modern

capitalistic society comes into focus.

The contrasts between the architecture and design of the medieval church and cathedral and the modern day church are obviously staggering, but why is this difference so dramatic? Keeping in mind that in medieval times the church was the central structure of the city—the focus of daily life—it makes since that they were so elegantly and complexly conceived. Conversely, though I have no visual proof to back this up, I’m sure that medieval bakeries exhibited almost none of the elegance that the cathedral boasts, and though they were important, no excess amount of time was spent on its architecture. In contemporary society, where elaborate, and often large buildings of commerce and business have become the central structures of the city, churches have fallen into the ranks with the bakery. The signs in front of the churches highlight the fact that they are no longer in a centralized place within the city and thus need a marker to identify themselves. Also, the average church is becoming smaller and less ornamented, and as exemplified by this juxtaposition of a suburban church and a rural church, the structures get less elegant and architecturally less advanced

the farther away they are from the city.

suburban

rural

Each dot on this map represents a church in Appleton, WI and its neighboring areas. Though there is a slightly denser concentration near the downtown area, overall, there is a fairly even distribution throughout the

area. Comparing this map to the medieval map above, it is clear that there

is no longer one church or cathedral as a central focus of the city.

Focusing in on many of these dots from the map above, reveals yet another characteristic of the church, and thus religion, in modern society. These two pictures show a church a few blocks north of the downtown area. The church is quite unceremoniously flush with the residential area that makes up its surrounding. There is almost no buffer on its perimeter to separate it from the neighboring houses, nor do the houses appear to have been structured in any sort of responsive way to the church. This very drastically contrasts the way in which medieval residences seemed to circle and revolve around the church. Today, the church often becomes just another revolving body, and commands very little “gravity” of its own.

The real center of gravity in this metaphor is the downtown area—the center of commerce. Subsequently, as mentioned above, the concentration of churches becomes increasingly more dense the closer they are to the downtown area. If we look at the churches closest to the “center of gravity” there are a few interesting characteristics to observe. Of the five churches that are located on the downtown strip (College Ave.) or are immediately next to it, one is now a performance venue for Lawrence University, one is a museum, and a third, though still a church, has structured its building and services in a very pop. culture manner and offers its service at 5 P.M.—a much more “social” time than the

traditional Sunday morning services.

Having established that the church is no longer the central figure of the city, having been replaced by

commerce and business (capitalism), I will now explore the church’s response to this new central figure and how religion has attempted to work its way into a consumer

driven society and find its place within the realm of capitalism.

The church’s response to capitalism is most easily and thoroughly seen in the venue of the Christian bookstore.

By comparing the merchandise of their store with those of a popular non-Christian store (in this case Target), I hope to illuminate the depth and diversity of religion’s response

to capitalism and consumerism.

These picture frame shelves would be almost identical if it weren’t for the symbols of Christ and the cross.

The Christian store developed its own version of “Dance Dance Revolution” and has set up a display console similar to the types found in Target.

Here, the Christian store has closely modeled popular trends of entertainment in developing their own Christian television/movies.

Similar to the picture frames, if it weren’t for exclusively Christian music, these shelves would be almost identical.

Through these examples, it is clear that the Christian bookstore is not only selling material objects with Christian ideals, but they are also closely

modeling their merchandise after titles, brand names, styles, and trends that are popular in other leading stores—often focusing on entertainment

and leisure (i.e. movies, music, video-games, apparel).

The Christian store has taken popular styles of apparel and converted the original message to a Christian one.

Another way religion has attempted to establish itself in consumer society is seen through the style of its worship services. In Appleton, a very obvious example of this is The Core.

Similar to the entertainment theme, displayed by the bookstore, The Core has modeled its building and services to something that resembles a combination of a movie theatre mixed

with a coffee shop mixed with a concert venue. Visiting their website reveals many acknowledgements to popular culture (indie-rock music, images of an iPhone and the Copper Rock coffee shop--see arrows) and suggests that this pop. culture style is the reason for their

slogan: Real, Relevant, Relational.

Conclusion: Using Appleton, WI as a model to observe and understand the contemporary relationship between religion and capitalism, the conclusions I have made are as follows:

ｷ In contrast to various historical periods, capitalism, not religion, forms the center of modern society, causing religion to fall into ranks with the other aspects of life that revolve around this center.

ｷ As a consequence of not being the central focus of society, religion has responded to capitalism’s “take

over” by adapting itself to consumer ideals of material objects and entertainment—so closely that religion often models specific trends and products.