Wisdom of Crowds Paul Elie on Culture and Crypto-Religiosity
It’s the summer doldrums, so this week, Wisdom of Crowds is taking a break from politics and war and Trump. Instead, we are talking about culture. Our guest, Paul Elie, is one of the leading culture and religion writers in the United States. His words have appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Times. Paul’s latest book, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s, tells the story of artists in the 1980s who grappled with religious ideas and stirred up controversy while doing so. U2, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Piss Christ, Sinead O’Connor and many more play a role in a masterful, novelistic retelling of that fateful decade in American cultural history.
Damir Marusic is curious about Paul’s concept of “crypto-religiosity,” which Paul uses to describe an abiding sensibility in 1980s art and culture. Is it actually a unique category? Aren’t all Americans crypto-religious to a greater or lesser degree? Isn’t that the legacy of Protestantism? Santiago Ramos pursues a different line of questioning. What might a healthier relationship between institutional religion and cryptically-religious artists look like?
In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Damir and Paul compare the 1980s music scene with that of the 1990s; Damir explains why the 1990s felt “less devotional and more ecstatic”; Paul talks about his first time listening to “Smells like Teen Spirit”; Santiago and Paul discuss the coming culture of “ex-vangelicals”; Santiago confesses to not having his s**t together in his 20s; Damir asks: “How can you do good punk rock if Bill Clinton’s the president?”; the three discuss why Trump hasn’t yet generated a counterculture or artistic resistance; Santiago mentions Macklemore’s Gaza song; Paul and Santiago discuss “radtrads,” and the coming rebellion against radtrads; Paul tells Damir why he should be religious; Paul explains why electoral politics is our modern day bread and circuses; and more!
Required Reading:
* Paul Elie, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s (Amazon).
* Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (Amazon).
* Julia Yost, “The Scandal of Dogmatism” (Compact).
* Damir Marusic, “The Pursuit of Passion for its Own Sake” (WoC).
* Damir’s discography from his punk rock days (Discogs).
* Damir’s music with his band, The Miss (Bandcamp).
* CrowdSource, “Protest Music” (WoC).
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