Kitsch in Religion: Identifying the Kitsch Aesthetic in Liturgy

This chapter explores the concept of kitsch in religious liturgy, drawing on Szostak and Sułkowski’s (2020) framework to identify and critique kitsch elements in contemporary liturgical language. While kitsch is well-documented in visual liturgical arts, there is still room to develop a neutral framework for identifying and analysing kitsch in liturgical texts. This work builds on Catherine Madsen’s (2001) critique of superficial liturgical productions and examines how Bryan Spinks and David Jasper address the transformation of worship and liturgical language. A case study analysing two versions of an Anglican Ash Wednesday liturgy experiments with the practical application of Szostak’s criteria for distinguishing true aesthetic productions from kitsch. The study concludes with questions for evaluating new liturgical texts to help evaluate the maintenance of theological depth and to resist the pull towards kitsch.