by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
Welcome back to Day 4 of my discussion of “the Christian Marketplace,” covering the realms of popular entertainment of fiction and music for the Christian community. (For previous posts, see Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3)
I think that I have set up the context of the Christian Marketplace (in regards to American culture at least). To sum up the 3 prior posts, you can say that this arena is plagued with a narrow interpretation of how it can operate. Christian musicians are chastised for sing a love song (that doesn’t have lyrics that can also be sung as if “Jesus is my boyfriend”). If they don’t have enough of a Jesus quotient in their songs, they are called “sellouts” who are trying for success in the “secular” music arena. Authors in the CBA have to walk a fine line theologically in how they represent real life, lest they be accused of supporting sin.
This is a deep topic that can require a lot to fully discuss it – blog posts can’t adequately cover all the issues. Let me say that I don’t want truly immoral art given a pass with the “Christian” label, whether to the artist or the art. Early in her career, Britney Spears maintained she was a Baptist and pledged to stay a virgin until marriage, while never following through. This is an extreme example of course. But where can we go with this issue of a Christian pop culture ghetto?
Some suggestions:
1. Don’t put artists on pedestals. These musicians and authors are not theologians. I don’t want to see wrong teaching promulgated any more than someone else, but their craft is for entertainment, encouragement, and emulating the Creator – not a expository sermon. The artist has a responsibility to do well with their craft (which should include accuracy), but don’t expect to be fully fed through pop culture, even Christianized culture. Reading good books and listening to positive music is a blessing, but we grow in our walk while dealing directly with our God, not while spinning the latest from Newsboys while reading Ted Dekker (or Karen Kingsbury, whatever your flavor!) Hey, I have been incredibly blessed when reading a novel that deals with themes that resonate with what God is speaking to me in my devotional life. God can even use these works to speak to you, but it shouldn’t be the norm, in my opinion.
2. Along with that: give grace. They are responsible for their Christian walk, not Joe Q. Christian who leaves a review on Amazon criticizing someone’s faith. Romans 14 deals with the tricky situation of dealing with differences in spiritual maturity. I won’t try to push The Light of Eidon or Germ on someone who is very careful about violence, as I don’t want to cause them a problem. Yet there needs to be understanding that is reciprocated to those who feel these books are appropriate for them.
3. The Christian Marketplace is undergoing transition. There is a discussion of the emerging church going on right now. This is a loaded term, but it can be applicable to what is happening to Christians in culture right now. The experiment of Christians circling the wagons to provide their own entertainment and therefore avoiding contamination with “the world” is undergoing change. This phenomenon is worth several days of its own focus, but I’ll just touch on it here.
There are a lot of Christian artists who are getting noticed outside the CCM world. I hear their songs on soundtracks of shows like Smallville. They may turn up on non-Christian format stations. Switchfoot started as a “Christian band”, but has crossed over to be a successful mainstream artist. I still see a Christian worldview in all of their music, even if it is not explicit. Bands like The Fray played to mainstream radio, but was picked up by Christian formats such as Air 1 due to their positive, faith-infused lyrics.
Christian fiction used to be relegated to prarie romances with a predictable formula: 1. main character is not a Christian or fallen away, 2. said person goes through trials related to their lack of faith, 3. the person has a conversion experience and all is well in the world. A stereotype, I know. Currently there are authors who are trying to write compelling stories where faith is a natural outgrowth of the plot and circumstances, not forcing a plot to fit a formula.
Hey, I love when someone finds the glorious freedom of the children of God, whether in real life or even as a story. The problem is that we live in a fallen world, and not everything turns out the way we want. There are novels being written that explore all aspects of life from a viewpoint of faith – just that not every story will end with the predicted ending. I remember being shocked when something very bad happened to the female protaganist in The Oath. She didn’t have a happy ending. But it fit the theme of the story, and the very Christian ideals in the book were served by his artistic choice. Plus, it made for a great twist, because I didn’t think he would go there.
4. I think this is the key point…but I’m writing a huge post, so I’ll save it for tomorrow!
by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
Welcome back to Day 4 of my discussion of “the Christian Marketplace,” covering the realms of popular entertainment of fiction and music for the Christian community. (For previous posts, see Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3)
I think that I have set up the context of the Christian Marketplace (in regards to American culture at least). To sum up the 3 prior posts, you can say that this arena is plagued with a narrow interpretation of how it can operate. Christian musicians are chastised for sing a love song (that doesn’t have lyrics that can also be sung as if “Jesus is my boyfriend”). If they don’t have enough of a Jesus quotient in their songs, they are called “sellouts” who are trying for success in the “secular” music arena. Authors in the CBA have to walk a fine line theologically in how they represent real life, lest they be accused of supporting sin.
This is a deep topic that can require a lot to fully discuss it – blog posts can’t adequately cover all the issues. Let me say that I don’t want truly immoral art given a pass with the “Christian” label, whether to the artist or the art. Early in her career, Britney Spears maintained she was a Baptist and pledged to stay a virgin until marriage, while never following through. This is an extreme example of course. But where can we go with this issue of a Christian pop culture ghetto?
Some suggestions:
1. Don’t put artists on pedestals. These musicians and authors are not theologians. I don’t want to see wrong teaching promulgated any more than someone else, but their craft is for entertainment, encouragement, and emulating the Creator – not a expository sermon. The artist has a responsibility to do well with their craft (which should include accuracy), but don’t expect to be fully fed through pop culture, even Christianized culture. Reading good books and listening to positive music is a blessing, but we grow in our walk while dealing directly with our God, not while spinning the latest from Newsboys while reading Ted Dekker (or Karen Kingsbury, whatever your flavor!) Hey, I have been incredibly blessed when reading a novel that deals with themes that resonate with what God is speaking to me in my devotional life. God can even use these works to speak to you, but it shouldn’t be the norm, in my opinion.
2. Along with that: give grace. They are responsible for their Christian walk, not Joe Q. Christian who leaves a review on Amazon criticizing someone’s faith. Romans 14 deals with the tricky situation of dealing with differences in spiritual maturity. I won’t try to push The Light of Eidon or Germ on someone who is very careful about violence, as I don’t want to cause them a problem. Yet there needs to be understanding that is reciprocated to those who feel these books are appropriate for them.
3. The Christian Marketplace is undergoing transition. There is a discussion of the emerging church going on right now. This is a loaded term, but it can be applicable to what is happening to Christians in culture right now. The experiment of Christians circling the wagons to provide their own entertainment and therefore avoiding contamination with “the world” is undergoing change. This phenomenon is worth several days of its own focus, but I’ll just touch on it here.
There are a lot of Christian artists who are getting noticed outside the CCM world. I hear their songs on soundtracks of shows like Smallville. They may turn up on non-Christian format stations. Switchfoot started as a “Christian band”, but has crossed over to be a successful mainstream artist. I still see a Christian worldview in all of their music, even if it is not explicit. Bands like The Fray played to mainstream radio, but was picked up by Christian formats such as Air 1 due to their positive, faith-infused lyrics.
Christian fiction used to be relegated to prarie romances with a predictable formula: 1. main character is not a Christian or fallen away, 2. said person goes through trials related to their lack of faith, 3. the person has a conversion experience and all is well in the world. A stereotype, I know. Currently there are authors who are trying to write compelling stories where faith is a natural outgrowth of the plot and circumstances, not forcing a plot to fit a formula.
Hey, I love when someone finds the glorious freedom of the children of God, whether in real life or even as a story. The problem is that we live in a fallen world, and not everything turns out the way we want. There are novels being written that explore all aspects of life from a viewpoint of faith – just that not every story will end with the predicted ending. I remember being shocked when something very bad happened to the female protaganist in The Oath. She didn’t have a happy ending. But it fit the theme of the story, and the very Christian ideals in the book were served by his artistic choice. Plus, it made for a great twist, because I didn’t think he would go there.
4. I think this is the key point…but I’m writing a huge post, so I’ll save it for tomorrow!
by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, movies
It is pretty “amazing” when a comic book/superhero movie can speak so powerfully into the human condition. (It really shouldn’t be – it’s not the source material that’s the problem, it’s the people who think Batman and Robin was a good idea). Yeah, it is a pun to describe Spiderman 3 as amazing, but that’s how I looked at it.
I got to see it Saturday night, and it was a very enjoyable movie from the “popcorn” perspective. Tobey Maguire gets to flaunt his stuff in some different ways, and the action and grapics are top notch. The story had a few wobbles in places, but overall I am not going to complain.
For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on the spiritual aspect. It has been noted elsewhere how each of the movies have delved into various religious motifs. S3 holds nothing back in dealing with the inner life and how we can be destroyed, not from the bad guys out there, but from our own evil impulses.
Spiderman is faced with the double barrel of pride and anger. The city is finally embracing him, and there is concern that he is getting a little big for his spandex. Then he finds that his uncle was killed by a different man than was thought, and Peter becomes fixated on revenge.
The famous black suit makes its appearance as an outward manifestation of Peter’s internal turmoil, giving him increased power at the cost of hightening his aggression. After some disasterous behavior, he realizes (while perched on a church) that he must let go of his anger and the alien symbiote that feeds off it.
Finally, Peter is confronted with his past, and he realizes his greatest power comes in forgiveness. The effect of what it does, not only for Spiderman but for the recipient, is nothing short of remarkable.
I have always loved superheroes – their powers and adventures a haven for my fertile imagination. However, we have access to the greatest power of all, and I think the lesson of forgiveness (and the battle within) will have a lingering effect long after the cobwebs are gone.
For more on this topic, Infuze has posted a Bible study based off of S3 that can be downloaded via a PDF file.
by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, movies
It is pretty “amazing” when a comic book/superhero movie can speak so powerfully into the human condition. (It really shouldn’t be – it’s not the source material that’s the problem, it’s the people who think Batman and Robin was a good idea). Yeah, it is a pun to describe Spiderman 3 as amazing, but that’s how I looked at it.
I got to see it Saturday night, and it was a very enjoyable movie from the “popcorn” perspective. Tobey Maguire gets to flaunt his stuff in some different ways, and the action and grapics are top notch. The story had a few wobbles in places, but overall I am not going to complain.
For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on the spiritual aspect. It has been noted elsewhere how each of the movies have delved into various religious motifs. S3 holds nothing back in dealing with the inner life and how we can be destroyed, not from the bad guys out there, but from our own evil impulses.
Spiderman is faced with the double barrel of pride and anger. The city is finally embracing him, and there is concern that he is getting a little big for his spandex. Then he finds that his uncle was killed by a different man than was thought, and Peter becomes fixated on revenge.
The famous black suit makes its appearance as an outward manifestation of Peter’s internal turmoil, giving him increased power at the cost of hightening his aggression. After some disasterous behavior, he realizes (while perched on a church) that he must let go of his anger and the alien symbiote that feeds off it.
Finally, Peter is confronted with his past, and he realizes his greatest power comes in forgiveness. The effect of what it does, not only for Spiderman but for the recipient, is nothing short of remarkable.
I have always loved superheroes – their powers and adventures a haven for my fertile imagination. However, we have access to the greatest power of all, and I think the lesson of forgiveness (and the battle within) will have a lingering effect long after the cobwebs are gone.
For more on this topic, Infuze has posted a Bible study based off of S3 that can be downloaded via a PDF file.
by Jason Joyner | May 4, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
See Monday and Wednesday for the first two days of discussion on this topic. First I established the idea of the Christian Marketplace as encompassing fiction and music with an evangelical audience in mind. The next post talked about the paradox that authors face in trying to meet the varied standards of the public. I left off introducing the same problem that Christian musicians have by ending with a quote from Bethany Dillon. (Poor Bethany didn’t know she was going to get dragged into this!)
In her interview at Infuze Magazine, she discussed writing straight ahead love songs, without mention of God.
But being attracted to someone and being wooed by someone and being affected by someone – those are so purposefully from the Lord to echo what He has for us. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying a shadow of things, of the original. That makes me love the original better. So writing love songs and all those things, I put those on the record for that reason to give us a picture of what He’s doing. I think that’s an important thing to look at.
The controversy of a CCM artist discussing “wordly” subjects like love and relationships has been a problem in Christian music for a while. I remember the early 90’s, where there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth with Amy Grant’s album Heart in Motion, which only had one song directly dealing with God, and most songs being nice pop love songs. After this Charlie Peacock released his album Love Life, which dealt with love both horizontal and vertical. He had a wonderful song called “Kiss Me Like a Woman”, with the provocative line “We can lie naked and unashamed/ Made one by divine connection” in describing the relationship between a husband and wife in a Christian context. I remember an interview he gave where he said he wanted his son’s idea of a love song to be “Kiss Me Like a Woman”, rather than “I Want to Sex You Up” by the group Color Me Badd (think Justin Timberlake nowadays).
I think it is getting better in the CCM realm. There are bands like Switchfoot, Relient K, and others that write about a variety of topics without having a “Jesus loves you” chorus in every song – although it is still remarkable enough for Variety Magazine to write about it (see this interesting article! – hat tip to Thunderstruck)
My pondering in all of this is: what is a Christian artist to do? In exploring the problem, is there a place to go with all of this?
There is a purpose to this discussion – I promise. I am coming to a head, most likely on Monday (ignoring the groans of everyone who just CAN’T wait :P). In the meantime, check out this little Mac vs PC parody.
by Jason Joyner | May 4, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
See Monday and Wednesday for the first two days of discussion on this topic. First I established the idea of the Christian Marketplace as encompassing fiction and music with an evangelical audience in mind. The next post talked about the paradox that authors face in trying to meet the varied standards of the public. I left off introducing the same problem that Christian musicians have by ending with a quote from Bethany Dillon. (Poor Bethany didn’t know she was going to get dragged into this!)
In her interview at Infuze Magazine, she discussed writing straight ahead love songs, without mention of God.
But being attracted to someone and being wooed by someone and being affected by someone – those are so purposefully from the Lord to echo what He has for us. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying a shadow of things, of the original. That makes me love the original better. So writing love songs and all those things, I put those on the record for that reason to give us a picture of what He’s doing. I think that’s an important thing to look at.
The controversy of a CCM artist discussing “wordly” subjects like love and relationships has been a problem in Christian music for a while. I remember the early 90’s, where there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth with Amy Grant’s album Heart in Motion, which only had one song directly dealing with God, and most songs being nice pop love songs. After this Charlie Peacock released his album Love Life, which dealt with love both horizontal and vertical. He had a wonderful song called “Kiss Me Like a Woman”, with the provocative line “We can lie naked and unashamed/ Made one by divine connection” in describing the relationship between a husband and wife in a Christian context. I remember an interview he gave where he said he wanted his son’s idea of a love song to be “Kiss Me Like a Woman”, rather than “I Want to Sex You Up” by the group Color Me Badd (think Justin Timberlake nowadays).
I think it is getting better in the CCM realm. There are bands like Switchfoot, Relient K, and others that write about a variety of topics without having a “Jesus loves you” chorus in every song – although it is still remarkable enough for Variety Magazine to write about it (see this interesting article! – hat tip to Thunderstruck)
My pondering in all of this is: what is a Christian artist to do? In exploring the problem, is there a place to go with all of this?
There is a purpose to this discussion – I promise. I am coming to a head, most likely on Monday (ignoring the groans of everyone who just CAN’T wait :P). In the meantime, check out this little Mac vs PC parody.
