Breaking the consumerist trance: The reverend billy and the church of stop shopping

Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

Volumn 21, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 118-126

  Hindley, Jane ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMODITY; CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR; SOCIALISM;

COLCHESTER; ENGLAND; ESSEX [ENGLAND]; UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 78649497057     PISSN: 10455752     EISSN: 15483290     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2010.523138     Document Type: Review

References (12)

1. I'd like to thank Valerie Fraser and Sandra Moog for their comments on drafts of this essay. I'm also grateful to Sandra for sharing her knowledge of U. S. consumerism and social movements.
2. As the sermon went on to stress, the 2003 protests against the Iraq war all around the world were ignored by Bush and Blair: "'Bush spoke to newsmen on the Monday after the protest and said. 'Well that was a focus group and they were examining the products and they didn't like them. But I like them.' (He actually used that metaphor)"
3. In the U. K., the 2008 financial crisis was followed by a public scandal about expenses claims of Members of Parliament. The claim for the reimbursement of £1, 645 for an ornamental duck house by one MP was the most notorious and came to symbolize the corruption pervading the expenses system.
4. Bill Talen, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy is in My Store? (New York: The New Press, 2003), Chapter 2.
5. Bill Talen, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy is in My Store? (New York: The New Press, 2003), Chapter 2. p. 145.
6. Bill Talen, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy is in My Store? (New York: The New Press, 2003), Chapter 2. p. 51.
7. Bill Talen, What Should I Do if Reverend Billy is in My Store? (New York: The New Press, 2003), Chapter 2. p. 83.
8. Bill Talen, What Would Jesus Buy? (New York: Public Affairs, 2007). I only came across this book late in the writing of this essay because, curiously, it's not listed on the Church's website and was not promoted during the U. K. tour.
9. As an African American standing outside a Methodist Church put it on meeting three members of the choir, "You're on a mission? That takes guts!" Rob Van Alkemade, director, What Would Jesus Buy (New York, Artefact Films, 2007).
10. The significance of the picaresque novel in documenting and portraying the state of a nation was illuminated by Benedict Anderson in Chapter 2 of his seminal book Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991 revised edition).
11. As one of the remaining small shopkeepers tells us: [Before they opened the Walmarts 20 miles in each direction], "Saturday nights everybody came into town, and we'd be busy. We'd be busy until eleven, twelve o'clock at night"
12. The recent change of name to The Church of Life After Shopping reflects this emphasis on the good life.