Material Religion | 2019
Charles Ellis Johnson and the Erotic Mormon Image
Abstract
the borrowing of local media, a reinvention and reinterpretation of the original symbolism, are all available empirically and took place. The book ends with a brief account of the cross in contemporary culture. But by contemporary, Jensen means Christian culture—with a brief nod to Auschwitz, Chagall and the Jews. This has to be a mistake. Admittedly, it is easier in America or certain parts of Africa to believe that we still live in a Christian world, than in Europe where the world is largely secularist and post-Christian, let alone everywhere that is not Christian at all. It has at least to be interesting to ask what is the state of so potent a symbol as the cross when used as a tattoo or a pendant in contexts that are atheist or pantheist or syncretist or whatever... Again, an opportunity missed.