Heaven on Earth: Consumption at Heritage Village, USA

Abstract

Heritage Village, home of the PTL ministry, is the focus for a study of consumer behavior involving an explicit synthesis of worship and shopping. The present investigation seeks to better understand the way these pursuits, seemingly philosophically opposed, are brought together for joint consumption. Notions of pilgrimage and sacralization of the secular are useful constructs in examining this merger of religion and consumption, but a priori formulations must be modified to more fully explain the behavior of consumers at Heritage Village.