A Look in the Cultural Mirror

It isn't often that the Evangelical community gets an opportunity to have secular culture hold the mirror up to the Church for us to see how they perceive our cultural engagement, but this morning's New York Times features an article doing exactly that, New Cultural Approaches for Christians: Reviews, Not Protests.

Is it coincidental that this issue arises only after I blogged on Worldview Movies earlier this month? Possibly...(grin)

In general, I thought this to be an extremely fair article, especially in light of the venue in which it is published. And I agree with the author that the trend he identifies is part of American evangelicalism's maturation. This maturity has only been brought about by the culture wars of the past twenty years. I would say that this is a good thing, if only that the knee-jerk reactionism that typifies most evangelical cultural engagement is subsiding ever so slightly.

Again, there's nothing in the article that's objectionable, except for the knuckleheaded comment by Fuller Seminary prof Robert Johnson who is quoted as saying that there was protest over Schindler's List ten years ago because of the nudity. That's certainly not the author's fault, but honestly, I don't remember a peep from Christians about the movie when it came out. I understand that this guy is from neo-liberal Fuller, which many evangelicals would claim to be on our side, but the comment hints at some latent anti-Semitism that I don't think really exists.

The cultural impact of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is now starting to be seen in the Christian community. The article itself mentions several "Christian" movie review pages that sprouted in the wake of The Passion, including one run by the culturally backward Focus on the Family. Another effort borne out of Gibson's work is the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival that began in 2004. (Disclaimer - I've not yet seen The Passion, not for any moral or religious reasons; it's just that when everybody tells me I HAVE to see something, I usually wait at least a decade.)

There are several positive aspects to this trend discussed in the article. Perhaps the most important is that the movie community is becoming increasingly aware of the power of the evangelical movie market. Anybody seen The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe recently? Remember Prince of Egypt? And dare I say, Veggietales? Hollywood sees that there is a huge market out there, and they want to tap into it, which means more friendly fare for Christians.

Secondly, I think the Christian community is starting to break out of their Left Behind existence. It's becoming clear that cultural retreatism and isolation doesn't work. Thirdly, it sends a message to the youth in the church that this is an area in which it is legitimate to work. Gone are the days of the 1970s D-grade movies, like A Thief in the Night. Christians laboring in the field of film and the visual arts ought to be applauded and supported. That means putting our money where our mouth is: there needs to be a concerted effort to fund college scholarships for Christians at USC and other top film schools . Period.

Now to the downside, though not all of it is negative. Let me make the observation that much of the culturally engaged work being done in evangelicalism is coming primarily from a small segment of the community. Much like worldview studies that is becoming all the rage, evangelical leaders like Dobson and Colson have to go out and hire Reformed evangelicals to do their heavy lifting because there has been no attention paid to these matters by the bulk of evanglicalism. That's all well and good because it keeps people like me employed, and I think that the tide is turning in rejecting the theological systems that have supported cultural retreatism, but there still is a long way to go.

I think that there is also a real danger here as well. Machen talked about the three approaches to culture: Christ against culture, Christ of culture, and Christ transforming culture. We're starting to move away from the first, but I think that there is a temptation to easily drift into the second category, where evangelicalism no longer witnesses to culture, but becomes identifiable with it. In this situation, the Church loses its prophetic voice. We must be about transforming culture to Christ: this is the message of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).

I have to admit that I struggle with this temptation regularly, particularly when it comes to movies. I like to fancy myself a bit of an art-house film type. I go see, and I've dragged friends to see, films that don't ordinarily show up at your local theater. As an aside, let me point out that the indie art theater in Nashville is owned by a Christian family. I enjoy movies with subtitles (Tous Les Matins du Monde, Cyrano de Bergerac and Bergman's The Seventh Seal are movies that I own). But the lines are not very clear. While I lived in London I went to see a French movie, Baise Moi, that as soon as I came out of the theater, I knew I shouldn't have seen. I felt defiled, and for good reason.

There's a lot of gray in the world, but some shades are darker than others. That's why I wince slightly when I see comments like those in the NYT article about Brokeback Mountain that say, "I like to see Ang Lee movies, but the homosexual themes don't conform to my values." It sounds too postmodern for me. It's clear that there's a message in Brokeback Mountain, and I don't think it's a message that Christians should support with their $$$. The next thing you know, we'll see articles in Christianity Today or Books and Culture talking about "The Augustinian Themes of Sin in Jenna Jameson Videos". You might think I'm exagerating a bit, but I don't think that I am.

I also think we must realize that as a community, evangelicalism is still a redneck backwater. We have a very long way to go to recover from a century of cultural retreatism. In terms of the arts, the secular world is light-years ahead of us. We have to understand that we are playing catch-up. Time, attention, and resources (here I'm meaning $$$) needs to be committed to get us as a community back up to speed. A few weeks ago I mentioned on this blog the well-done Intelligent Design documentary, The Privileged Planet. But there is a sore lack of this kind of work. Over the weekend, I saw a series of shows on the National Geographic Channel that applied the higher-critical view of the Bible (complete with Jesus Seminar writer Marcus Borg) debunking the entire biblical Christmas story. If I wanted to see something with an alternative view, I know that there isn't anything out there like that. If we are to win the culture wars, we have to meet the world punch for punch and we're a long way from it.

Let me offer one additional smart-ass observation. At the time I read the article this morning, there still was nothing up at WorldMagBlog, which prides itself on being culturally hip and current. I quickly shot off an email to a reporter/friend at the magazine, so we'll see if they mention it later today. What does this mean? Possibly nothing more than the clowns at WORLD are late sleepers like I am. But how many Christians take the time to read the New York Times each day, undeniably the most important newspaper in the country? I'll pat myself on the back and say that I do, along with the Washington Post, L.A. Times and several other publications. Our cultural maturity can't be confined the to passive world of movie watching. We must be aggressive in all areas of culture to both be aware of what is happening in culture, and to be savvy enough to know how to respond.

Finally, (if you've come with me thus far) let me be sure to plug once again Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godawa's movie blog. And be sure to buy his book, Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment (InterVarsity Press).