Strategic Christian

Steve Turner is a new name to me, but I’m impressed by this interview in Infuze magazine–”Art, Entertainment, and Faith”–which is also new to me (I found it via Pro-Existence.) Turner has written books including Imagine: A Vision for Christian in the Arts and The Gospel According to The Beatles, the second of which has an intriguing title, to say the least.

Before I got involved in Christian mission strategy, I was a musician–principal trombonist at Michigan State University, studying under Curtis Olson, who was later honored with the International Trombone Association award for excellence in teaching. My sixth-grade daughter is practicing her trombone even as I write.

So I’ve always had a strong appreciation for music, and I’ve long enjoyed good writing, too. I wish I had the same sensitivity for visual arts, and I envy those who do. But what does it have to do with making a difference in the world for Christ? That’s what Turner has to talk about. The interviewer’s name is Matt Conner.

Matt: To begin with, what would you say is the single greatest tension for the Christian artist today?

Steve: The biggest problem is knowing how to integrate the Christian view of the world. Christians often develop a Christian view of, say, prayer and scripture but don`t think of having a Christian view of the normal stuff of everyday life. If they do not have a Christian worldview, they will inevitably just take the dominant view of the culture they live in. In the West, this tends to be some form of humanistic materialism. So the most important preparation is the development of a Biblical world view.

Steve is exactly right. This afternoon a teenage family friend said he had received a CD for Christmas with music by My Chemical Romance. What’s a Christian to think about such a name? It has obvious overtones of hormones and impure lust. It also connects to broader issues, though. The materialistic view of the world common among those who deny God typically says that there’s not much to us but our chemistry. It denies the reality of the soul, and (though many don’t see the connection) leads to a denial of human freedom, dignity, and worth. It renders real love meaningless. So My Chemical Romance as a name is not just about something immoral; it’s about buying into the common scientistic mythology of our day. (These are the kinds of issues often discussed on my other blog so I won’t go into it here.)

A teenager who buys My Chemical Romance is also, to at least some extent, buying into the worldview that goes with it. This is the kind of thing Steve Turner encourages us to be in touch with; it seems to be the reason he wrote The Gospel According to The Beatles.

I have tremendous respect for The Beatles as musicians. I have great appreciation for the vocal talent of another very secular artist, Madonna, who grew up in Bay City, Michigan, where I also attended junior high and high school. I completely oppose and repudiate almost all of her publicly espoused values, but I cannot ignore or deny the influence she has had on our world. Turner seems to be interested in The Beatles on the same two levels: their musicality and their impact. What is their “gospel,” in his view?

The book goes into their changing beliefs starting with their upbringing in different churches and ending with what they believed before they died (in the case of John and George) and what they seem to believe today (in the case of Paul and Ringo). I explain their gospel as one of expanded consciousness. They identified the problem in a song like “Nowhere Man” (”He’s as blind as he can be…”).

All the answers they came up with, whether it was drugs or eastern spiritual practices, had expanded consciousness as their goal. They believed that a child naturally has this consciousness and yet we lose it as we grow older. If we regain it, we see everything with a greater degree of clarity and are able to enjoy the present moment rather than get hung up either on the past or the future.

He goes on to say that he doesn’t accept this at all. But its influence has been strong:

People who are now in important decision-making positions are people who grew up on The Beatles.

Matt Conner asked about Christian artists and worldview:

Would you say that not enough Christians involved in the arts have a Christian worldview? Why or why not?

Christians have been used to dealing in ‘messages’ because preaching has been their main model of communication. This has prepared them to understand propaganda more than art. Having a view of the world is more subtle and complex. However, if you look at the work of The Beatles, they rarely indulged in propaganda. Maybe they did on songs like “All You Need Is Love” but they largely communicated what they believed by touching on a whole range of human issues and adding a spin that came from their way of seeing things. So they wrote about sleep and love and sunshine and doctors and taxmen, but in doing so they built up a picture that defined their viewpoint.

Too often Christians know the Christian view on the Bible and prayer - in other words, on the overtly religious - but not on the things that take up our everyday lives. I think that has happened because Christians haven’t been encouraged to think Christianly. They think Christianly about worship on Sundays but switch to a normal, secular frequency during the rest of the week.

Christianity is not a Sunday club or a CCM station on the radio. It’s a living connection to God. Turner points out further:

Hank Rookmaaker the Dutch art historian used to say, “Christ didn’t die in order that we could go to more prayer meetings.” People would gasp at this. Then he would add, “Christ died to make us fully human.” That’s right. He didn’t die to make us religious, but to make us human. In our fallen state, we lack the completeness of our humanity. The monastic tradition makes the mistake of thinking that God is best pleased with us when we cut ourselves off from the world, deny ourselves pleasure, refrain from marriage and devote ourselves totally to religious activities. This almost assumes that God made a mistake in putting us in a world of pleasure, culture, art, nature, work, companionship, etc. Fundamentalists would hate to be compared with medieval monks but, in many ways, they suffer from the same split.

I would qualify this somewhat: a prayer meeting may be just the place, sometimes, to be most fully human, as together we meet with the God who loves us. (I doubt Rookmaaker or Turner would disagree with that.) The error they warn of is thinking that is all there is in life in Christ. Christ is about life, which includes all the pain, joy, and discovery that comes from experiencing and encountering creativity–which is also to share in God’s character as Creator.

Turner says there seems to be an upswing in quality Christian art. I think he may be right, but we have a long way to go.

From Infuze’s list of links, I found another strong call to Christian artistic development from Image Journal.

It’s my intention to keep this strategy blog on an accessible level, useful to any Christian who wants to be more effective in outreach in his or her community. This entry may not seem that way, but it can be. What can you do?

• If you’re an artist, pursue your art, and do it well! Don’t assume that all your art must carry a “message,” or preach. Your overall body of work will reflect your overall heart, so do good art, express yourself, and develop your life in Christ deeply so that the self you express is one who knows and loves Christ. That will have its impact, certainly!
• If you are not an artist, encourage one, and develop your own life in the creative realm! Read some good literature, listen to good music, take in a play, visit a gallery
• Artist or not, develop your sense of Christian world view Read Nancy Pearcey or Charles Colson for starters. Stay strong in Scripture. Understand the world’s questions, and meet them with Christ’s answers.

Posted by Tom Gilson under Culture |