Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Faith & Religion

(Pop) Culture

In a moment of coincidence I read Steve’s posting e~mergent kiwi: whats the internet point at the same time as I found (Pop) Culture: Playground of the Spirit or Diabolical Device? by Stanley Grenz. He writes

For a large and growing segment of the population, pop culture serves as the chief referent for the cultural task. It provides the central tools by means of which they engage in the age-old task of meaning-making as persons within society. It mediates to them the paradigmatic narrative by means of which and in accordance with which they make sense of their otherwise seemingly senseless lives and thereby construct a sense of personal identity. To the extent that it fulfills this purpose well, pop culture becomes the playground of the Spirit.

. Conversely he argues that if it becomes a false god it degenerates into a diabolical device.

Will have to download the article (it’s about 28 pages long) and have a read more fully later.

2 Comments

  1. Stephen, you’re da man. Thanks for finding the Grenz essay. I haven’t checked in at his site for quite some time. It’s printed, looks great, and is ready to be read and reflected on as soon as I get a chance. Hmmmmmm. Just looking at it again, I’m sure I’ve read it (or a version of it) in a journal somewhere. It looks very relevant (albeit @ an academic level).

  2. In an ideal world I’d be a reference librarian. As an aside a group of us used to trip down to the Leamington Tavern a few years back to play “pub trivia”. We were MOTAS (Masters of Time and Space) and did not too badly – that is, we won a lot of beer & bar tabs over the course of the year.

    Cheers.