For at least the second time in my college career, we’re talking in one of my classes about Christian Criticism for the popular arts. The first time, obviously, was in Critical Approaches to Literature class my sophomore year. And, to be sure, I had an opinion of what Christian Criticism should look like – and no, it didn’t look quite like it did to the author whom we studied. Now, again in Foundations or Christian Thought class, we’re engaging pop culture as we develop a Christian worldview. Here’s what I like and don’t like.
I like recognizing where mainstream culture gets it “right” according to the Christian world-view – which, for the rest of this blog and the rest of my life, I am going to presuppose is True, while recognizing other people have a different “truth.” (Insofar as you, the reader, are not Christian, understand that I will make claims according to what I believe just as you do, and I hope to back them up with evidence, just as you do.) And I think we would do well to recognize, as Christians, that secular thought cannot reach the conclusions we do – namely, the “why” of the evidence we see. A deeply secular – even anti-theistic – person can still study the world and recognize that families with children operate better, on a sociological level, when there are two parents. We should not be surprised, however, when the American Pediatrics Association states that homosexual couples are just as good as heterosexual couples at raising good children. That is, it shouldn’t surprise us when we recognize that the creational structure of family is, in a broader essence, two parents and children. The fact that we need to address homosexuality is a separate issue.
I do not like stopping there; I don’t like authors who write books that simple “comment on reality” because no book only “comments” on reality: it either supports it or tears it down. When a token Christian pops into a movie or book and acts stupidly, it undermines Christianity – unless the book goes further to tie the stupidity to the person, and not the faith; in essence saying: “even if this person were evolutionary Darwinist, they would still be an idiot.”
But even aside from Christianity – any book that ignores some truths and only presents others, leaving the reader with a sense that such and such an idea is “okay” needs to be looked at very critically. And here’s where we need to differentiate two things.
There is, 1: criticism by Christians for Christians; 2: criticism by Christians for non-Christians; 3: written works (fiction, non-fiction, everything else) by Christians for Christians; and 4: written works by Christians for non-Christians. (And then, of course, everything by non-Christians for everyone else: this I leave to their own minds). Depending on what we’re trying to do and for whom, we must adjust our approach.
So, when critiquing a work for Christians, I think we would do well to point out the landmines – those parts of the story that may sound good, but lead astray. If critiquing for non-Christians, it may do well to focus on the parts of the story that show truth, while perhaps questioning if the author goes far enough in their treatment of it.
If, like me, we are Christians writing to non-Christians, writing something that will go in the “Christian” section may not be the best approach. It’s a fine line, but I think we should be okay to show culture as it is while not leaving it at that. Like the criticism, let’s show in our writing that the culture we present is not the end, that there is something to strive for; and that there are things to uphold, and things to do away with. When we write to Christians, we can argue directly from Scripture – and I might even argue if you’re writing specifically to Christians to provoke thought, it would be well not to couch our themes in fiction. The fiction I write is safe for Christians to read in that it does not advance secular values; but it is not intended to grow the true Christian into a stronger follower of Christ.
Ran a little long today; thanks for hanging in there with me. See you Wednesday.
It's only been in the last 30 years or so that this whole business of Christian and non-Christian worldview has really come to the fore. I'm seeing some movement, mostly by younger Christians, to abandon the distinction and instead grapply with a work -- a book, a story, a poem, a painting, a piece of music -- from a perspective of truth as opposed to the notion of "what would Jesus like." In general, I think this is a good move.
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