ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of the brand and branding in the development and exercise of ‘discipline’. Having moved through different layers of the Hillsong brand from the ‘global’ to the ‘local’, it explores how the sacred is experienced and embodied individually as part of a branded ‘education’. Judith Becker likens the progression of a trance ritual to a story that produces a ‘habitus of listening’ or a ‘script’ that is followed. Taking the act of educational listening outside of the Sunday service further integrates the act of seeking Christ in everyday life. Listeners are more likely to engage with songs they like than songs they don’t like. Furthermore, to like something is to feel a priori well disposed towards it, so it is already more likely that the meanings and values associated with it have been or will be accepted.
