Kathryn Lofton

What makes us decide to like something, to watch, to do? Why do we commit to organizing ourselves one way rather than another? These questions of relative value, Kathryn Lofton argues, are at bottom religious questions. It does not matter if you have never been inside of a cathedral, a temple, or a seminary: you are still in the frame of religion. Ranging from tabloids to office cubicles, from the Kardashians to Goldman Sachs, Lofton shows the conceptual leverage that religion provides, especially as a way to think about social modes of encounter, interaction, and development. With stylistic verve and analytical bite, Lofton offers the ultimate guide to the religion and consumption in our capitalizing times. "Consuming Religion" appears in the Press's new religious studies series, Class 200, edited by Lofton and John Lardas Modern (the series is named for the Dewey Decimal System classification for religion).