special to the star



Two different topics – religion and mass media – will come together as one in a lecture set for Friday at Meridian Community College.

  Marrying his favorite subjects, Dr. Todd Brand, chairman of the College’s Communication and Fine Arts Department, will present the talk, “Selling Salvation in the Information Age: Religion and the Electronic Mass Media,” beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the College’s Casteel Gallery.

  Brand, who was named the 2009 Humanities Professor of the Year at MCC, will present the talk in connection with the honor. Presented each fall to distinguished humanities scholars throughout the state, the award is part of an annual celebration of Arts and Humanities Month by the Mississippi Humanities Council.

“I am very humbled,” Brand said about receiving the award. Also during Friday’s presentation, Brand will receive a $500 honorarium.

“It will be an historical look at each medium as it developed,” he said. From the first printing press to the Internet, religion has been on the forefront, Brand said.

Brand became interested in the two subjects as a graduate student at Mississippi College and delved into research and continued to do so as the Internet came into its own. His talk will also include personalities including radio and TV evangelists as well as the “shticks, hooks and scandals.”  His research also includes the 1957 song lyrics: I don’t care if it rains or freezes  ‘Long as I got my plastic Jesus Riding on the dashboard of my car…

  “The humanities fascinate me; we’re all searching for the truth,” Brand said.

  “Today we encourage the study of humanities to give students a close study of various aspects of human culture so that the cultural attainments of human civilization may be preserved,” said Barbara Jones, vice president of MCC.

  “MCC has a long history of promoting the humanities as evidenced by our numerous course offerings in history, art, music literature, foreign language, government, and religion. I think it is vitally important to preserve and communicate the cultural attainments of human civilization,” she said. “It is the creativity inspired by the arts and humanities that will help renew the human spirit in all of us.”