At its best religion is imbued with mystery and majesty and allows us to transcend the mundane. At its worse is cruel and crass and downright daffy.
I saw a Washington Post piece about a church supplies expo in Italy which reminds us of the mundane and even the daffy aspects of religion. Don't get me wrong, I have a fair amount of what I like to call "holy hardware," everything from crosses to chalices to liturgical stoles. The photos from this expo are both intriguing and jarring, a reminder of how some of the powerful symbols of our faith can be commodified. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/02/25/the-wonderfully-weird-world-of-italys-international-church-supplies-expo/?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Do these images offend you, or is this just the business side of religion. Do they intrigue you?
I quite enjoy the Last Juicebox, pictured below.
I think David that you hit the nail on the head with your statement regarding the commodification of the symbols of our faith.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the part this seems to play in the overall consumer oriented culture we now have to endure that makes me feel a bit uneasy. Do we need another cleansing of the temple?