Pop Culture and the Future of the Church
from SMACA, the e-zine of St Matthews in the City (www.stmatthews.org.nz)
by Brendan Boughen (Reproduced with permission)
It was supposed to be the “evangelistic event of the decade”. Strangely, Christians were, for once, actually encouraging people to go see an R-rated movie.
Today we might only vaguely remember the pre-launch controversy around Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ. The charges of anti-semitism were quickly overshadowed by the millions of dollars that rolled in at the box office as (mostly) Christians flocked to cinemas to see this feast of religious violence. Millions of tracts were printed and distributed to the (few) non-Christian punters leaving the cinemas afterwards, while the churches prepared for an influx of conversions.
As George Barna’s research group has now shown, there has been a distinct “fizzle” around The Passion in terms of evangelism success. On the whole, viewers who weren’t members of a church already, likely treated The Passion like any other film; they judged it on its own merits – and it came out wanting. Mel Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, had a more basic view. "The only aftereffects I know of are financial," he said, dismissing any ideas that the film had any wider socio-cultural impact. (http://homepage.mac.com/crosche/iblog/C525270696/E1385971775/)
A straw poll drawn from the dozens of reviews I have read and the many people I spoke to about this film, determined that fundamentalist Christians loved it; the rest of us didn’t so much. Why is this? Maybe they liked it for the same reason other people like seeing R-rated movies - for the tiny thrill of doing something a little bit ‘naughty’.
A second wave of Christian Passion mania – and subsequent coffer filling for Mel – has hit with over 2.5 million DVD copies of this movie selling in the US in its first week of release. Yet while The Passion might be a nice little earner, it has flubbed as a seriously engaging piece of pop culture for anyone outside the Church. A New Zealand magazine even ran a list of the top ten movies about Jesus that were better than Passion. I’d take the bet that, like the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez flop Gigli, history won’t be kind to this movie.
Let’s face it. When it comes to offering timeless spiritual food-for-thought to the world, the Church has largely rendered itself redundant.
Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor have brought this charge into sharp focus in their book A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080102417X/qid=1097788891/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-1068883-5602339)
They identify eight arenas of pop culture that surround us and affect the way we live; advertising, celebrities, music, movies, television, fashion, sports and art. They describe pop culture as the “amniotic fluid” of our lives. In doing so, they manage to pull some dazzling, serious theology out of everything from reality TV, to the music of Madonna, to “international theologian of mystery”, Austin Powers.
“Unlike those who decry the decline of Western civilization, we believe a profound, profane, honest discussion of God, the devil, death and the afterlife is sweeping pop culture,” they say. “The stones are screaming loud and proud, giving God all kinds of unorthodox and creative ‘props’. We can curse culture, ignore it and hope it goes away, or we can wake up and raise the questions to which people want answers.”
Yeah baby, yeah! I couldn’t agree more. That’s the reason why St Matthew’s dedicates a whole section of its web site to pop culture, and why churches like Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (http://www.GraceCathedral.org) keep winning annual Webby Awards.
However, I would also contend that unless those of us who call ourselves progressive Christians don’t start engaging with pop culture to a greater degree, our message will be ignored as thoroughly as that of the tracts handed out by the fundamentalists after Passion screenings. It is more likely to be those on the fringes of evangelical Christianity who are pushing the boundaries of engagement with pop culture. (See web links below.)
Besides that, we are beaten to the punch by advertising agencies that produce billboards across New Zealand promoting Tui beer. The distinctive black on white statements with the by-line “Yeah, right” (the only double positive that makes a negative) have become a prophetic voice for truth on the cityscape and in the Kiwi psyche. Cultural stereotypes, political pretension and those little white lies men and women tell each other in the battle of the sexes are held aloft to naked public scrutiny. Now, even New Zealand’s infamous Destiny Church has felt the sting of truth from a beer company: “ ‘It’s a church, not a cult.’ Yeah, right!”
Detweiler and Taylor make an observation that is blindingly obvious to those of us whose spiritual journeys have taken us beyond literal understandings of the Bible and the Christian faith: “While theology must be faithful to tradition and rooted in Scripture, it also must speak to the times, not just vernacularly but in emphasis and focus. Theology must move with the era and shift with the Spirit.” (p.295) And yet, with some brave exceptions to the rule, we progressives have a tendency to keep our focus on our own little religious world, just tweaking familiar liturgies and hymn words, and arguing endlessly with the conservatives about homosexuality, while the general populace watches Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and wonders when we’ll get over ourselves.
Any movie, CD, advertisement or TV show that you see and hear works a spiritual significance in your life, whether you are a Christian or not. So, what do we do with that? Keep our TV’s and radios switched off? Stay holed up in a church on Sunday, singing our inclusive language hymns thinking this will really interest anyone but ourselves?
We could start taking our musical cues from artists like Nick Cave, Neil Finn, U2, Peter Gabriel, Moby and Ben Harper who have earned the right to sing about God in the marketplace. Similarly, why not hoist up a screen and turn our churches into cinemas for a night, telling stories that help us feel fear, sadness and joy, thereby exploring the deepest meanings of our lives?
We could show movies like The Butterfly Effect – a mind-bending, time-traveling, psychotic Generation-X thriller that testifies to the power of sacrifice, repentance, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and how there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.
We could watch The Station Agent for a simple, perfectly-paced movie about finding true community. If for no other reason, we should see it to emulate the brutally honest grace uttered by Joe as he takes the hands of his new acquaintances and prays: “God, thanks for this food and please help my dad get better, because he’s driving me f***ing crazy!”
As Detweiler and Taylor reiterate time and again, "If you look close enough, beyond the surface provocations, you will see that pop culture reflects a longing for authentic truth, beauty, freedom and love." It is our task to respond to that longing and reflect it in our churches. If a progressive church, Anglican or otherwise, wants to be around in any relevant form in 30 years, it will start engaging with pop culture in the same way that the young adult on the street does.
Tyler Durden, the cracked revolutionary in David Fincher’s movie adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s book, Fight Club, gives his club members an assignment following one of the movie’s most disturbing scenes: Go out and pick a fight with someone, and then lose that fight. The intimation is that the club members are going to discover something important.
I offer you a similar challenge for the next fortnight. Go out and see a movie, listen to a CD, or watch a TV show that you would otherwise avoid. Note your reactions. Search for God in the experience. Write back to SMACA and share what you discovered with the rest of us.
Before we Christians living in a postmodern world collectively die in utero, let’s breathe in the amniotic fluid of the pop culture that surrounds us and see if we really can be born again.
Brendan Boughen
SMACA Editor
It was supposed to be the “evangelistic event of the decade”. Strangely, Christians were, for once, actually encouraging people to go see an R-rated movie.
Today we might only vaguely remember the pre-launch controversy around Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ. The charges of anti-semitism were quickly overshadowed by the millions of dollars that rolled in at the box office as (mostly) Christians flocked to cinemas to see this feast of religious violence. Millions of tracts were printed and distributed to the (few) non-Christian punters leaving the cinemas afterwards, while the churches prepared for an influx of conversions.
As George Barna’s research group has now shown, there has been a distinct “fizzle” around The Passion in terms of evangelism success. On the whole, viewers who weren’t members of a church already, likely treated The Passion like any other film; they judged it on its own merits – and it came out wanting. Mel Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, had a more basic view. "The only aftereffects I know of are financial," he said, dismissing any ideas that the film had any wider socio-cultural impact. (http://homepage.mac.com/crosche/iblog/C525270696/E1385971775/)
A straw poll drawn from the dozens of reviews I have read and the many people I spoke to about this film, determined that fundamentalist Christians loved it; the rest of us didn’t so much. Why is this? Maybe they liked it for the same reason other people like seeing R-rated movies - for the tiny thrill of doing something a little bit ‘naughty’.
A second wave of Christian Passion mania – and subsequent coffer filling for Mel – has hit with over 2.5 million DVD copies of this movie selling in the US in its first week of release. Yet while The Passion might be a nice little earner, it has flubbed as a seriously engaging piece of pop culture for anyone outside the Church. A New Zealand magazine even ran a list of the top ten movies about Jesus that were better than Passion. I’d take the bet that, like the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez flop Gigli, history won’t be kind to this movie.
Let’s face it. When it comes to offering timeless spiritual food-for-thought to the world, the Church has largely rendered itself redundant.
Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor have brought this charge into sharp focus in their book A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080102417X/qid=1097788891/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-1068883-5602339)
They identify eight arenas of pop culture that surround us and affect the way we live; advertising, celebrities, music, movies, television, fashion, sports and art. They describe pop culture as the “amniotic fluid” of our lives. In doing so, they manage to pull some dazzling, serious theology out of everything from reality TV, to the music of Madonna, to “international theologian of mystery”, Austin Powers.
“Unlike those who decry the decline of Western civilization, we believe a profound, profane, honest discussion of God, the devil, death and the afterlife is sweeping pop culture,” they say. “The stones are screaming loud and proud, giving God all kinds of unorthodox and creative ‘props’. We can curse culture, ignore it and hope it goes away, or we can wake up and raise the questions to which people want answers.”
Yeah baby, yeah! I couldn’t agree more. That’s the reason why St Matthew’s dedicates a whole section of its web site to pop culture, and why churches like Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (http://www.GraceCathedral.org) keep winning annual Webby Awards.
However, I would also contend that unless those of us who call ourselves progressive Christians don’t start engaging with pop culture to a greater degree, our message will be ignored as thoroughly as that of the tracts handed out by the fundamentalists after Passion screenings. It is more likely to be those on the fringes of evangelical Christianity who are pushing the boundaries of engagement with pop culture. (See web links below.)
Besides that, we are beaten to the punch by advertising agencies that produce billboards across New Zealand promoting Tui beer. The distinctive black on white statements with the by-line “Yeah, right” (the only double positive that makes a negative) have become a prophetic voice for truth on the cityscape and in the Kiwi psyche. Cultural stereotypes, political pretension and those little white lies men and women tell each other in the battle of the sexes are held aloft to naked public scrutiny. Now, even New Zealand’s infamous Destiny Church has felt the sting of truth from a beer company: “ ‘It’s a church, not a cult.’ Yeah, right!”
Detweiler and Taylor make an observation that is blindingly obvious to those of us whose spiritual journeys have taken us beyond literal understandings of the Bible and the Christian faith: “While theology must be faithful to tradition and rooted in Scripture, it also must speak to the times, not just vernacularly but in emphasis and focus. Theology must move with the era and shift with the Spirit.” (p.295) And yet, with some brave exceptions to the rule, we progressives have a tendency to keep our focus on our own little religious world, just tweaking familiar liturgies and hymn words, and arguing endlessly with the conservatives about homosexuality, while the general populace watches Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and wonders when we’ll get over ourselves.
Any movie, CD, advertisement or TV show that you see and hear works a spiritual significance in your life, whether you are a Christian or not. So, what do we do with that? Keep our TV’s and radios switched off? Stay holed up in a church on Sunday, singing our inclusive language hymns thinking this will really interest anyone but ourselves?
We could start taking our musical cues from artists like Nick Cave, Neil Finn, U2, Peter Gabriel, Moby and Ben Harper who have earned the right to sing about God in the marketplace. Similarly, why not hoist up a screen and turn our churches into cinemas for a night, telling stories that help us feel fear, sadness and joy, thereby exploring the deepest meanings of our lives?
We could show movies like The Butterfly Effect – a mind-bending, time-traveling, psychotic Generation-X thriller that testifies to the power of sacrifice, repentance, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and how there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.
We could watch The Station Agent for a simple, perfectly-paced movie about finding true community. If for no other reason, we should see it to emulate the brutally honest grace uttered by Joe as he takes the hands of his new acquaintances and prays: “God, thanks for this food and please help my dad get better, because he’s driving me f***ing crazy!”
As Detweiler and Taylor reiterate time and again, "If you look close enough, beyond the surface provocations, you will see that pop culture reflects a longing for authentic truth, beauty, freedom and love." It is our task to respond to that longing and reflect it in our churches. If a progressive church, Anglican or otherwise, wants to be around in any relevant form in 30 years, it will start engaging with pop culture in the same way that the young adult on the street does.
Tyler Durden, the cracked revolutionary in David Fincher’s movie adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s book, Fight Club, gives his club members an assignment following one of the movie’s most disturbing scenes: Go out and pick a fight with someone, and then lose that fight. The intimation is that the club members are going to discover something important.
I offer you a similar challenge for the next fortnight. Go out and see a movie, listen to a CD, or watch a TV show that you would otherwise avoid. Note your reactions. Search for God in the experience. Write back to SMACA and share what you discovered with the rest of us.
Before we Christians living in a postmodern world collectively die in utero, let’s breathe in the amniotic fluid of the pop culture that surrounds us and see if we really can be born again.
Brendan Boughen
SMACA Editor
posted by etnobofin @ 08:59
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