Conference examines religious publications

The relationships among religion, printed materials and their readers will be explored at a two-day conference Friday-Saturday, Sept. 10-11, at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St., on the UW–Madison campus.

Conference participants will examine how print functions within religious communities, the business aspects of religious publishing and how readers used religious texts.

Readers are a primary focus of print-culture studies, says conference director Jim Danky of the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America, which is sponsoring the conference.

“We’re interested in the reaction of the reader to a whole host of printed materials, including books, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, comic
books – and now, for religious publications,” he says.

Print plays an important role in popularizing religion, Danky notes. For example, the apocalyptic book series, “Left Behind” by Tim LaHaye, which was featured on “60 Minutes” earlier this year, ranks among the top best sellers of the past decade. It speaks to a culturally powerful segment of American society often unnoticed by “mainstream” literary commentators.

The conference is an important step in better understanding the influence of works such as “Left Behind,” and the role of religion in American history, says Charles Cohen, director of UW–Madison’s Religious Studies Program. “For decades,” he says, “historians and other scholars completely underestimated the abiding power and interest in religion that existed throughout the 20th century. This conference is a step toward addressing that deficiency.”

Participants can register for the conference online at http://slisweb.lis.wisc.edu/~printcul/religion.html. The cost is $129 for one lunch and a reception, or $50 for a full-time student.

The Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America is a partnership between UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Other conference sponsors include the religious, Asian and women’s studies programs; the departments of English, history, educational policy studies, and Afro-American studies; the School of Journalism and Mass Communication; the School of Library and Information Studies; and the centers for the Humanities, Jewish Studies, and the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures.