Christian Culture
Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a big fan of western Christian culture. I never cease to be amazed at its countless attempts at creating “Christian” clones of “secular” things so that all good churchgoers can keep the sinful things of the world at arms’ length while still enjoying what mainstream culture has to offer, albeit rather cleaned up.
Seeing how that’s about all the personal commentary I can muster after midnight on a day where I worked far too much, here are some fun quotes from talks I heard from Calvin College’s 2007 Festival of Faith and Music that relate to what I’m talking about. Enjoy:
Has forming Christian pop culture solved the problem? You’re less safe when you think you’re safe.
Ken Heffner
This reminds me of the warning I give to kids I know that are about to attend Christian universities: Don’t let your guard down.
The church creates a subculture and refuses to compete. But the church wants desperately to fit in. The church is a teenager.
Michael Kaufmann
The irony is not lost on me. A culture is created with the purpose of protecting its people from the world. Then, in an attempt to market said culture, they try to prove to newcomers and inquirers that they’re just like everyone else.
Unfortunately the church has adopted a grid that limits creativity & imagination, disregards values such as authenticity and originality and instead champions notions of excellence and perfectionism.
Michael Kaufmann
This directly relates to a major theme in Francis Schaeffer’s short book, Art and the Bible, which I’ve talked about before. Maybe I’ll discuss that theme at greater length later when my brain is in better working order.
So there you go. A few quotes for you to ponder and play with. Thoughts?
I’ve been a part of this mindset for a while, albeit with some caveats. There’s a danger in encouraging libertine expression of faith (i.e., letting artists who are Christians be artists as a part of a trade/skill and not “Christian market” artists) because it it runs the risk of being a little too free with doctrine. There are two separate disciplines, but the unthinking Christian, or unthinking non-Christians, might falsely equate a spiritual freedom of expression with the freedom to create our own theology. That is, if we’re not careful. I don’t know about you, but if I were left to create my own Christianity, it wouldn’t be pretty.
We need to keep the essentials closed in a tight fist while allowing inspiration run free with the other, open hand.
You might like Roaring Lambs or Addicted to Mediocrity, if you haven’t read those.
Comment by Jay — January 8, 2009 @ 6:17 amYou make a good point, sir. There’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation, though, I think, in that if there were no such Christian subculture created in the first place (or at least not one that the rest of the world defines as such due to its high profile), that problem wouldn’t be as much of a concern.
Certainly it would never fully go away, but if the notion of a “Christian band” et al had been avoided in the first place, it wouldn’t be quite as bad.
So part of my frustration is at something that’s already too late to change. Oh well.
If I recall, that Schaeffer book addresses this issue indirectly. I’ll try to keep it in mind whenever I get around to writing more about that book.
Comment by Josh Mock — January 8, 2009 @ 8:53 am