Abstract
This paper examines the opportunities and dangers that can
emerge when attempting to make the Gospel relevant to the "new culture" as
articulated by French scholar Pierre Babin. It argues that
inherent dangers exist when attempting to adapt the Gospel to
the characteristics of members of the new culture. These
inherent dangers–and the need to try to reach out despite
them–are clearly illustrated in the Sister Act movies. Of
particular note is the shift of focus from God toward music and
personality as agents of change. The paper concludes by
suggesting the term "interface" as a potentially
useful addition to Babin's lexicon in discussing transmediation
and the Gospel.
"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you,
you have been searching for Me, not because you see the miracles
and signs but because you were fed with the loaves and were
filled and satisfied. ...
For the Bread of God is He who comes
down out of heaven and gives life to the world"
(John 6:26, 33).[1]
[1] Although church attendance in the U.S. rose slightly after
September 11 2001, until that time most surveys indicated that
the organized mainstream Church was not doing a good job of bringing
people into direct experience with God. "The gap between
believing and belonging is widening, however, with church and
synagogue membership down and a slight but steady increase in
the unchurched population while the growing percentage who believe
in the divinity of Christ has risen six percentage points between
1978 and 1988" (Gallup and Jones 1989, 2). Clearly,
many people want to come to Christ, they just don't want to come
to church! One of the reasons for this, argued by Babin
(1991), is that many churches have failed to adapt to “the
new culture” brought about by technology, particularly in
communication and media. This paper will introduce the overlooked
scholarship of Pierre Babin, explore some of the characteristics
of the new culture that as he defines it, and look at some of
the challenges that emerge when attempting to relate the Gospel
message to that new culture.
The New Culture According to Babin
[2] Extending on the work of McLuhan and others, Babin argued
that a new culture exists. This culture has six general
characteristics salient to our discussion. First, this culture
is right-brain dominant. As contemporary media have made
it easier to move from text and sequential/linear messages to
images and holistic messages, the right brain has become the center
of sense-making. Audiences have become experiential and
intuitive, as opposed to rational in orientation. The proliferation
of “trash TV” talk shows illustrates this preference. Audiences
rarely want to hear traditional "experts" discuss a
particular dysfunction from an objective, albeit learned, position. Instead
the goal is to hear, see, and experience the dysfunctional
people "in person." Many people have also decided
that the visceral experiences of the dysfunctional guest are more "true" than
the testimony of traditional experts. This shift is consistent
with the shift offered by Brummett (1991). He
noted that media logic shifts the focus from a rational discussion
of issues to a focus on narrative structure. This shift
in orientation clearly has implications for evangelizing and even
faith itself. As Babin (1991) pointed out, "Faith perceived
by the left hemisphere cannot be the same as faith perceived by
the right" (55). Even if one argues with whether there
is a literal division in the brain, the idea that contemporary
culture has migrated toward the characteristics once clustered
under the right brain division remains viable.
[3] A second key characteristic of the new culture according
to Babin is audiences’ affinity for modulation. Modulation
is a notion similar to vibration. Since media comes at us
in waves (sound waves, light waves) and appeals to the entire
being, audiences respond with their entire being. Music–when
loud enough to dominate our senses–affects our entire being
and we modulate. This is a culture that wants experiences
and excitement in the form of sensorial vibration and modulation.
[4] A third characteristic also implied by the right-brain orientation,
is greater emphasis of the "ground." Ground may be seen
as the combination of metacommunication and stimuli surrounding
the "figure." It can be thought of the atmosphere.
Restaurants, for example, generally need atmosphere in addition
to a good menu to thrive. “Wholesale" markets
that claim to have low prices must also look like (attractive)
warehouses so that the ground–the “right-brain” dimension
of the experience–is consistent with the stated policy (the
figure) of low prices. Since the new culture is processing
images and impressions more than arguments, the ground is now
equal to, or even more important than, the figure.
[5] Fourth, there is a desire to be "in." This
manifests itself in two ways. First, members want to be
immersed in experience. Second, they want membership in
affinity groups. Advances in travel and media such as cars,
internet, etc., have made it possible to relate almost exclusively
with people of common interests and values regardless of geographic
barriers. These affinity groups are often centered on external
characteristics and interests: Trekkers, sports, musical tastes
and similar interests. As a consequence, members of the
new culture ask for a greater and more complete sense of membership
from the church they choose to attend. Because most can
drive on to the next church, or substitute a televised or downloaded
church service, they need not go to the closest church. And
as can be seen from the earlier characteristics, most will go
to experience God, not just learn well-reasoned doctrine.
[6] The last two characteristics are a bit more intuitive to
most Americans when observing society. This new culture
seeks pleasure and lacks interiority. By pleasure Babin
does not mean simple hedonism. He is articulating a subtle
orientation toward experience, imagination and modulation. For
instance, in order for me to "work out" at a gym, I
must approach the workout so that it brings me pleasure, or reward. Perhaps
I am a bit narcissistic and seeing myself all pumped up in the
wall mirrors at the gym is enough. Perhaps I love feeling
disciplined, and so making myself work out first thing in the
morning brings me pleasure. If not, then I must keep searching
until I find the approach that defines the workout as pleasurable. This
idea seems so basic to our modus operandi or the "common
sense" of our culture (Fiske1993, 6) that we are tempted
to assume it has always been this way. Even so, media and
other technology have catered to this tendency.
[7] Finally, because we can define ourselves by our surface-level
or external affinities, we can seek out external sources of modulation,
and we can immerse ourselves actively or passively in pleasures
offered by these external sources, the inward journey toward individuality
often suffers. Ong (1970) noted this relationship well in
saying that "oral cultures … hardly produce individual
thinkers or inventors as do cultures where writing, and particularly
the alphabet, has become deeply interiorized and given the individual
relative independence of the tribe" (40). It is difficult
to be an individual in an age of the collective. Interiority
is also made more difficult because, as Brummett (1991) has noted,
the "logic" of TV is characterized by commodification–problems
are solved by products, not introspection (12-13).
[8] It is important to note at this point that not all of these
characteristics are in the truest sense "new." Oral
cultures share many of these traits. In some ways the new
culture is a return to an oral culture even though the alphabet
still remains. The media build or stack upon one another,
they are not mutually exclusive (Ong 1970). Thus it is not
ridiculous to say that Jesus' narrative teaching style is still
effective today partly because he adapted his message to a largely
oral culture. His use of direct contact, stories, fundamental
images, and his use of the immediate surroundings enhanced the
aurality and effectiveness of his teaching (Horne 1994).
[9] Babin is not alone in his exploration of contemporary culture
and the need for adaptation. For example, Mitchell (1991)
noted the importance of story in helping to make Christianity
a "life-view and not simply a phenomena" and argues
that narrative forms can invite self-reflection (42). Lealman
(1991) stated that spiritual awareness may best be achieved, "not
through the gaining of more information but by the stirring of
the imagination" (266).
Analysis of the Films
[10] In order to illustrate how Babin’s system is useful
in delineating some of the challenges and opportunities associated
with adapting the Gospel message to this new culture I will analyze Sister
Act I and II. These films are worthy of analysis not
only because they illustrate many of the principles offered by
Babin, but because, given the subject matter, their popularity
within the culture of declining church attendance mentioned earlier
is worth noting. The July 20, 1992 edition of Variety reported
that Sister Act had grossed over 93 million dollars at the end
of its seventh week, far surpassing expectations. Sister
Act II was not the box office success of its predecessor,
but it has also done well, especially in home video. This
film is not the first to offer an exploration of traditional religion
and contemporary culture. Going My Way (1944) offered
a similar plotline of a poor parish under traditional leadership
being resurrected through the integration of contemporary perspectives
and methods. This movie prompted a sequel (The Bells
of St. Mary’s, 1945) and garnered critical acclaim with
seven Oscars.
[11] There are other useful approaches one could take in analyzing
these films. The ideas offered by Fiske (1993, 1994), Turner
(1992) and Carey (1992) that emerge from the British Cultural
Studies tradition would illuminate the films' relationship with
the larger ideological system. Brummett (1991) has offered
insightful discussion of the rhetorical dimensions of popular
culture. He noted that "the real point of public discourse
is to manage the meanings and commitments involved in public decisions" (28). Important
to this discussion is that films and other artifacts of popular
culture are significant manifestations of such discourse. Babin,
however, has the advantage of framing his discussion with particular
reference to the Gospel and thus is an ideal fit with the films
and goals of this essay. I will begin by looking at the
dynamics within each film and then look at the progression of
the works as a whole.
Sister Act I
[12] Sister Act I tells the story of a lounge singer who
witnesses a murder (by her mobster boyfriend) and is put in a
struggling convent to hideout until the trial. Whoopi Goldberg
(the lounge singer, Deloris) embodies many aspects of the new
culture and secular world in general. The nuns represent
not only traditional catechesis and Catholicism, but much of what
McLuhan called the Gutenberg Galaxy. The Reverend Mother
in charge of the convent decides it is best for Whoopi to dress
and act like a nun so as not to disturb the others. Unwittingly,
Whoopi's character is being "immersed" in a new affinity
group. Her dress and new name (Sister Mary Clarence) will
ensure that the nuns at least relate to her in a way consistent
with her new identity, not her old.
[13] Telling signs of the conflict between the cultures emerge
in the dialogue between Deloris and the Reverend Mother (Maggie
Smith). At one point the Reverend Mother responds to Deloris
by saying:
[T]his is not a sorority or a speakeasy. This is a convent,
a religious order. There are certain rules you must obey. St.
Catherine's is a place to commune and pray. I will not tolerate
any disruption whatsoever with that communion. Do you understand? (Rudin
1992)
The Reverend Mothers' emphasis is clearly on rules and doctrine,
indicating an orientation of the old culture on print and a rather
static homeostasis instead of the modulation, pleasure and excitement
of the new culture.
[14] Deloris is later asked to pray for the meal. Her prayer
is a mixture of religious phrases, patriotic pledges and other "stuff" from
the collective cultural consciousness. This seems to symbolize
the perception that only a special vocabulary can be used
to come before God. Deloris did not think she could come
to God in her own words or out of her own experience. God
and the Church, as symbolized by the convent, are another world
whose boundaries are marked by dress, customs, and unique vocabulary.
[15] A crucial scene between the Reverend Mother and Deloris
occurs when Deloris asks to use the phone. She is still
operating with a focus of exteriority and a need to maintain her
membership in previous affinity groups. When her request
is denied, a flair-up ensues. Deloris states that "Before
I came here I was OK!" The Reverend Mother cuts to
the chase: "Oh really? From what I've heard,
your singing career was almost non-existent, and your married
lover wants you dead. If you're fooling anyone it is only
yourself. God has brought you here. Take the hint."
[16] This dramatic invitation to focus on interiority comes through
loud and clear in dialogue and circumstance. Her room is
free from distractions, gadgets and other diversions. It,
along with the lifestyle she encounters, fosters some self-reflection
and interiority. In one conversation she has with another
nun they both conclude one must "be yourself or you'll just
burst."
[17] For the still worldly Deloris, this means sneaking out to
a bar. However, two sisters follow her, assuming she is
going to do some street ministry. They want to learn from
her so they can start to do this too. The nuns do not reach
out to the community around the convent because the Reverend Mother
is fearful of the outside world. She later states that these
walls must protect the sisters because the robes no longer do. Critical
to the bar scene, however, is the realization for Deloris that
the sisters do have bodies. They do have desires to dance,
to relate, to modulate as well as seek God and biblical truth. The
rest of the movie on one level is an exploration of how to express
this “body faith,” this right brain faith, in a way
that is not in conflict with the Bible or core doctrine. There
is a dynamic exchange between Deloris and the nuns bringing about
(on an admittedly superficial level) a form of stereo catechesis. Stereo
catechesis is Babin's term for religious instruction and evangelism
that is a balanced incorporation of left and right brain stimuli
and thought. It is a balance between word and image, and
the old and new culture as well (p. 32 ff)
[18] Music becomes a key channel for this discovery. Deloris
is put in charge of the choir. She is able to awaken and "be
herself" in the truest sense. She gains a purpose and
vision that transform her into Sister Mary Clarence. The
other sisters also begin to experience awakenings in areas of
their right-brain and body-faith left dormant by traditional convent
life. It is interesting to note that the choir wants to
change. The movie seems to argue that even practicing members
of the faith want a faith that is alive, purposeful, and relevant. The
choice of music as one of the vehicles of transformation is one
we will return to later. However, it is important to note
at this point that the music is aural (Ong, 1970) and that for
Babin (1991) this characteristic is critical in reaching the new
culture.
[19] Sister Act also seems to argue that the style of
the music is a key. The lyrics, or “figure” if
you will, stay relatively untouched. However, the ground goes
through significant changes. Hymns are stylized to sound
contemporary. Secular tunes have modest lyric changes, but
undergo more radical transformation of ground because they are
sung by nuns in a chapel. Revitalized meaning and relevance,
and even completely new meanings, are generated by the ground,
not the lyric in isolation. Ong found power in the spoken word. To
this I think Babin would agree but adds that the visual context
and entire symbolic context cannot be underestimated in its role
in shaping meaning.
[20] The Reverend Mother initially resists these changes. She
chastises Deloris and the following exchange occurs:
Reverend Mother: ". . . this is not a theater or
a casino."
Deloris : "Well, you see that's the problem. People like going
to theaters and they like going to casinos. But they
don't like coming to church. Why? Because it's a drag. But
we could change all that! We could pack this joint!"
Reverend Mother: "Through blasphemy? You have
corrupted the whole choir!"
The Reverend Mother’s objects raise significant questions: What
does it mean to come to God? On whose terms do you come? Deloris
demonstrates the new culture's orientation toward pleasure: not
necessarily sin, but stimulation (Babin 1991, 204). The
film answers this question by the nuns expressing their desire
to reach people. The priest of the church is also
happy to see the pews begin to fill up: "Did you see
the people walk right in? That music, that heavenly music–it
called to them." The people walked in when the lyrics
to a traditional hymn were spiced up to sound like a more contemporary
song. The change in form and in modulation made the lyric
appealing. The music is deemed "heavenly" by the
priest because it carried out a divine purpose and effect.
[21] A montage of the nuns sprucing up the convent and its surrounding
area is also worth noting. The song used to support the "cleanup
montage" is not a hymn, nor a contemporary Christian song
but rather a song entitled Touch of Love. The gospel
that seems to have transformed the nuns and that will go forth
from them into the neighborhood is the ever-palatable generic "love" variety,
and not the more radical agape love central to the gospel message. In
this montage they paint murals and skip rope and generally appeal
to the locals experientially–through the right brain and
body.
[22] It is true that the apostle Paul told his readers that love
is the key (1 Cor. 13:2-13). However, he was writing to
an audience that already confessed allegiance to Jesus Christ
at a time when such allegiance was not easy. It is somewhat
telling that an undefined "love" was given such
centrality in the film. In the Greek language of the New
Testament, it would easy to distinguish between eros, philia or agape.[2] In
English, the distinction, and potentially the impact, is lost. The
lyrics seem much more oriented toward romantic love and this further
clouds the issue. It is true that the film maker faces a
challenge of how to present love in the audio-visual language
(Babin 1991, 3), and as Brummett (1992) observed, media has its
own logic that focuses on commodification, narration, the visual
and the intimate (12 ff). These characteristics certainly
constrain the ability to portray other forms of love, and perhaps
even obscure one’s awareness of them.
[23] As the plot progresses, we see that Deloris has begun to
identify with the convent and its doctrine. She is willing
to risk her life to be with the sisters. She states explicitly
that she has had a rebirth and that she can "forgive" her
boyfriend who has captured her and is about to kill her. This
is key: she has been transformed by her relationship with
the sisters and the text (lyrics, doctrine) of the music.
Music as a medium is not new to her. For her the figure
changed, not the ground. Her life and character are better
because of her exposure to the teaching and examples set by the
sisters. This is the central change even though both cultures
have undergone some transformation.
[24] In the movie-ending concert for the Pope (remember, it's
Hollywood), the Pontiff''s approval of this new music strongly
suggests that the movie is arguing for what Babin is calling for
as part of stereo catechesis: a modernization of form in
the transmediation of the gospel. An interesting side note:
one of the reviewers of the movie was impressed with the way "production
designer Jackson Degovia also does a fine job of turning the dreary
church into a glitzy main room as the chorus starts to fill the
benches" (Lowry 1992). Clearly, ground supersedes figure
when the transformation of the set makes the review!
Sister Act II
[25] The unanticipated success of Sister Act called for
a sequel. From the outset it is a slicker production. However,
the sequel has clearly shifted from its earlier focus. The
issues of culture clash and the possible synergistic relationship
between the two cultures (old and new) is lost. This movie
is about feeling. From the outset the deeper issues are
secondary–their primary goal seems to be making the audience
feel like they did during the "good parts" of Sister
Act I. Deloris has returned to Las Vegas and made it big. She
has integrated her "conversion" experience into her
act. One is tempted to hope that the movie will continue
to explore this integration. However, it is clear that she
has made it by the world’s standards and integrated God
into her lifestyle and schedule.
[26] Sister Act II is built around the centrality of Deloris
and music as the primary change agents. The New York
Times review (James 1993) of the film comes under the title “A
Call for Help From the Convent” (my emphasis). Several
of the nuns visit her in Las Vegas and ask her to come back to
San Francisco with them. They need her help. God
is not seen as the key to the solution or even called upon. The
absence of God as either figure or ground not only points out
the potential lack of balance imbedded in Babin’s concept
to of stereo catechesis, but is significant rhetorically. What
is not stated is often as key to understanding the impact
or meaning of a message as what is stated (Foucault 1972). The
reunion of Deloris with the Reverend Mother provides one of the
strongest examples:
Reverend Mother: We need your help here [Deloris]
. . . at St. Francis we seem to have gotten in over our heads.
How she will help:
Reverend Mother: Teach music. . . you weren't cut out
to be a nun either, but look what you accomplished at
St. Catherine's: you brought a new spirit into the church
and into the community you were infectious. . . [the
school and community] is becoming a hopeless situation. We have
nowhere else to turn. We are desperate women,
Deloris (Orr 1993. Emphasis mine).
[27] The nuns also run to Deloris (once again in the guise of
Sister Mary Clarence) when they find out the school is slated
to be closed. Key to this analysis is that Deloris undergoes
no redeeming transformation as she does in Sister Act I. She
changes others in Sister Act II but remains largely unchanged
herself. In a way she is now God and the movie is about
her powers. This may explain the relative failure, both
critically and economically, of the movie. The students
in her music class do eventually sing hymns. But they also
sing her song/philosophy: "If you want to be
somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and
pay attention." It is a celebration of generic awakening–and
a focus on self-efficacy rather than the transforming power or
provision of God. Most of the songs sung by the nuns this
time, and in the soundtrack in general, are not remakes of hymns
or secular tunes that point to God as is the case in Sister
Act I. They are simply about social awareness and similarly
noble, but not divine themes.
[28] Despite the theological shortcomings, the movie is full
of illustrations of the new culture. When Deloris says she
will be turning the class of students into a choir, one of the
boys raises a concern: "If my homies see me in a choir .
. ." he gets cut off. However, his concern for being "in" with
his affinity group is obvious. As we see the choir develop
and mature, they sing scales–pure modulation and pleasure. There
is no text or doctrine in the classic sense. They are brought
together by the experience of creating musical stimulation. They
create their own affinity group brought together by modulation. This
indicates the truth of Babin as well as the amoral nature of modulation. It
is not of itself secular or divine; it simply is.
[29] The climax of the movie occurs at a choir competition the
school has entered. The nuns who spontaneously entered the
school in the competition say, "We took our cue from you
[Deloris]," indicating she was the inspiration for
them to think big and take action, not God. As the students
prepare to take the stage, Deloris instructs the kids to take
off the robes and go out in anything they want to wear. This
could have been a great moment symbolizing that you can come to
God as you are –a statement about authenticity and interiority. However,
her reason for this advice is simply so they can go out on stage
feeling physically "comfortable." This shows a
clear orientation towards pleasure rather than interiority. Their
identity lies in what they wear, not in who they might be in Christ.
[30] They win the competition with a hip-hop version of the hymn "Joyful,
Joyful." The team that came in second sang a traditional version
of "Joyful, Joyful." This is an interesting statement
made by Sister Act II, similar to the statement in Sister
Act I: a change in form will make your message more
appealing to those that will judge it.
[31] Finally, it is important to note that the experience for Sister
Act II is a group experience, not a solitary one. As
noted earlier, the lack of interiority is a natural extension
of the collective nature of contemporary culture. It
is in the moments Dolores is alone in Sister Act that she seems
to be transformed. In Sister Act II it is in the moments
together that the kids become aware of their potential.
Notable Progression Between the Two Films
[32] While analyzing each of the films individually provides
some insight into Babin's work and the transmediation of the gospel
in general, the progression of the two works as a whole gives
rise to some potential dangers. In Sister Act I,
the agents of change were Deloris and the nuns (and in the nuns,
God)–each personifying their particular cultures. We
saw a version of–and a call for–stereo catechesis
in the tension between Deloris and the nuns.
[33] There is a subtle but significant shift in Sister Act
II. Deloris and music become the primary agents of
change. God, doctrine, and Christ all become minor players. The
monks are merely comic relief in an already light film and
offer no depth or power. The audience cannot identify
with them in any positive way. Viewers are told in many
ways to dismiss them and, by implication, what they stand for. The
kids are, in essence, told to get excited about excitement;
get excited about potential, about what you can do. They
pursue stimulation, experience and modulation, not God. In
a way, this is another example of the culture shifting from
figure to ground. The lyric or figure points directly
to God. However, the medium encourages one to focus on
the ground: the volume and modulation of the music. The
focus is diverted even though "participation" is
increased. The modulation becomes the message and it
is an empty message without the balance suggested by stereo
catechesis.
[34] This is not simply a case of letting a spoonful of sugar
help the medicine go down. Bodies respond to the medicine
without knowing what it is or how it works. The biblical
account of God is different. The bible urges followers to
call on God by name (Rom. 10:9-13). The temptation
to pursue experience instead of God is not limited to Hollywood. Hunt
and McMahon (1985) in their work entitled The Seduction of
Christianity identified a significant number of cases where
movements have drifted away from mainstream understandings of
Christian doctrine by pursuing experience and exploring the potential
of self.
The seduction is surprisingly easy. It does not take place
as an obvious frontal assault from rival religious beliefs. That
would be vigorously resisted. Instead it comes to some Christians
in the guise of faith- producing techniques for gaining spiritual
power and experiencing miracles and to others as self-improvement
psychologies for fully realizing human potential that are seen
as scientific aids to successful Christian living. Or
it may take other forms (Hunt and McMahon 1985, 11).
[35] The challenge when exploring religion and popular culture
in a Christian context is one of keeping faith relevant without
losing the centrality of the object of that faith: Jesus Christ. Sister
Act and especially Sister Act II illustrate challenges
that may be inherent in any efforts to mediate the gospel in the
new culture. Hollywood's goal is not that of Babin’s
or other Christians. So it is useless to criticize them
for failing to achieve something they were not striving for. This
analysis does attempt to raise the question of how to strike a
fruitful balance so that films can be successful by Hollywood's
standards and Babin's.
Conclusion
[36] Music was a key to the success of both Sister Act movies. I
don't think this is accidental, nor simply a Hollywood convention. Music
is special. Law (1985) thoroughly explored what he called
the power of praise and worship. He notes that music is
mentioned over 800 times in the Bible and that Martin Luther saw
music as second only to theology in service to God.
[38] But what form should that music take? Miller (1993)
argued that the musical style should be chosen based on the audience
and purpose intended. The popular success of both Sister
Act movies seems to support his claim. Audiences (both
within the film and in real life) responded positively to the familiarity
in the forms chosen. This familiar form may help non-believers
and new believers see Christianity as a way of life without feeling
they will undergo what Stott (cited by Miller 1993) called a "painful
cultural circumcision" of stepping back two generations and
learning a new vocabulary. The point of this essay is not
that form must stay constant, but that focus must stay
true. Miller remarked that when interviewing Mylon LeFever,
an early Christian rock artist, Mylon said the test of their music
is whether or not a kid in the audience can make an intelligent
decision about Christ at the end of the concert. The band
has scripture verses to back up each song. This balance
captures the responsible quest for stereo catechesis that Babin
is arguing for.
[38] This analysis reveals that Babin's position is an insightful
one. The characteristics of the new culture seemed to play
out in both Sister Act movies, and the success of those
movies suggests that people engage in some identification (Burke
1969) with what goes on in the films. However, the greater
success of Sister Act over Sister Act II indicates
that Babin's point about experiencing Christ and sharing out of
that experience–instead just sharing head knowledge–is
critical. Fischer (1992) stated that we can "borrow
the sound or the look, but please don't borrow the message. When
the Gospel is presented with borrowed words . . . and feeling
. . . then a great disservice is done to the purpose of God in
the World" (62).
[39] In summary, it is clear that Christians are not any less
susceptible to the progression noted in the two Sister Act movies:
Christians may find a symbolic experience that works, and because
there is a desire to duplicate the results, there could
be a natural tendency to duplicate the method. This
often results in attempts at magic as discussed by Hunt (1985). For
him, magic is the attempt to recreate a supernatural experience
with the tangible elements under our control–with a focus
on duplicating the experience rather than on pursuing God.
[40] Perhaps an additional term might be useful in this discussion. The
term interface is primarily associated with computers: "a
communication device or protocol that enables one device to communicate
with another. [It] matches the output of one device to the
input of the other device" (Mueller 1992, 1223). Devito
(1986) in applying the term more generally to communication offered
the following: "The point where two systems meet; as
a verb it refers to the process by which two systems confront
each other and form a common boundary" (162).
[41] These definitions link usefully with Babin's call for stereo
catechesis and the transmediation of the Gospel. The term “interface” captures
some of the complexity he wrestles with. How do communicators
of the Gospel establish protocols without corrupting the essential
data? The church and the world are two distinct cultural
systems. Some boundaries are needed. If the church
becomes indistinguishable from the world then it is redundant
and struggles in its mission to “call” people to be
set apart. However, Christians must also learn how to interface
with the world in order to fulfill God's purpose for the earth. New
devices, vehicles, and tools are needed to fit the needs of those
receiving the message. It is up to the sender to do the
adapting (see I Cor. 9: 22).
[42] Regardless of the issues surrounding encoding and decoding,
the word must still be prominent. To borrow Brummett's idea we
should ask what is the inherent logic of the medium and how might
that effect the message production and reception? The pressure
to be aurally pleasing and doctrinally sound is immense. Fischer
(1992) observed that Christian musicians often feel the pressure
of trying to be as musically proficient as their secular counterparts
while being more spiritually insightful than the local pastor. The
balance, though difficult, is a must. Image still must be
interpreted. Ong (1970) argued that image is subject to more corruption
in translation than word. Given the sects, heresy and simple
denominational variety that have come from interpreting the word,
this is a sobering thought indeed!
[43] With success comes imitation. It will be important
for Christians and other deeply religious people to have an intelligent
and media-literate response to future productions. For instance,
what does one do in response to products such as Angels in
the Outfield, Touched by an Angel, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, or The Preacher’s Wife, to name but a
few that could point people in the direction of more complete,
more mature theology without appearing out of touch and "an
old stick in the mud?" Gordinier (1994) writing for Entertainment
Weekly noted:
In a year when the TV airwaves are aflutter with winged spirits,
the best-seller lists are clogged with divine manuscripts and
visions of the afterlife, and gangsta rappers are elbowed aside
on the pop charts for the hushed prayers of Benedictine monks,
you don't have to look hard to find that pop culture is going
gaga for spirituality (36).
He goes on to identify dozens of artifacts from major motion pictures,
to rap and rock lyrics that explore spirituality. The issues
highlighted by Babin, Brummett and others may be central in helping
to understand how versions of spirituality offered by pop culture
are being shaped by the media and the larger cultural framework.
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