televangelism
- noun
- /ˌtɛlɪˈvændʒəˌlɪzəm/
- American culture, writes Quentin J. Schultze in Televangelism and American Culture, "has increasingly linked religion with leisure and popular entertainment; worship and entertainment are sometimes difficult to distinguish in the United States" (13).
- televangelism and American culture
Examples
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With televangelism, religion joins with cultural myths produced by fairy tales, Hollywood movies, and popular images from magazines in perpetuating a collective American consciousness that refuses to deal with evil and capitalist consumption.
Academic text (2016) -
Televangelism allows pastors to reach a wider audience through televangelism programs broadcasted on television.
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During the heyday of '80s televangelism, it was easy to find people with huge hair and amusing sets praying over piles of requests.
Blog text (34) -
After showing how televangelism focuses on entertainment, personal well-being, and capitalist success, but refuses to engage evil in the world, the text uses Ginger's father to show the limitations of the traditional Lutheran church in this secularized, technological, and commercial Southern community.
Academic text (2016) -
Suppose, however, Castells is right: those Latin American churches that have embraced televangelism (in 1990 the Universal Church bought a TV network in Brazil for $45 million) may dimly realize that in the emerging world, their message must be given reality through media; a service with music, healing, preaching, and personal decisions for Christ thereby serving to constitute the world and give it reality.
Academic text (1999) -
Many viewers tune in every Sunday morning to watch their favorite religious leaders engage in televangelism shows.
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The rise of televangelism has changed how people experience faith, making it accessible to those at home.
Synonyms
To tell people the Christian message to make them believers
Spreading religious beliefs to try to convert people
Trying to make someone change their religion or beliefs
To try to make other people accept your religion or beliefs
Surface Forms
Morphology
televangelism = televangelist (semi-transparent) = tele + evangel + ism
The word is readily formed from the recognizable base 'televangelist' plus '-ism', but the resulting abstract sense is somewhat specialized.
Etymology
Televangelism combines tele- meaning 'far', like the tele- in television, and evangelism, a preaching word meaning 'good news'. So, televangelism is the practice of spreading religious 'good news' to many people at a distance through TV.