There is some discussion going on at Touchstone’s blog which I think would be of great interest to CetT readers–we had a lot of lively discussion about the entertainment industry, with a wide range of opinions–that is, if the distance between deep skepticism and violent prophetic denunciation can be considered "wide." It begins with S.M. Hutchens wondering aloud whether Christians ought to be going to the movies at all . Read upwards from there for reactions, which eventually broaden out into discussion of popular culture itself. The latest entry as I write is from Anthony Esolen, who proposes an intriguing distinction between "popular culture" and "mass entertainment." I’m not sure I buy it as a differentiation of categories, but he certainly has a point about the degradation of the movie business. (Both Hutchens and Esolen are affiliated with Touchstone; in between there are some perceptive comment from readers.)
–Maclin Horton
“My instinct—an instinct difficult put into words, but still worth the attempt—is that Christian dialogue with Athens, Paris, and Rome is one thing, with Corinth, Pompeii, Hollywood, and Cannes, another.”
- why are Athens, Paris, and Rome so great and Corinth, Pompeii, and Hollywood so bad? As with most dualisms, it just seems so arbitrary to me.
The way I see it, the question is perhaps one less of ritual purity or contamination and more the task of going into the world, which is the commission of those baptized into Christ Jesus (lo, I send you as sheep among wolves!). We must not be afraid to go wherever Christ leads us.
If we beg Him, He will be present to us in all the circumstances of our life, helping us to judge our experiences, to discern the good and the bad that we encounter outside ourselves, and what is more important — within ourselves.
Will embracing and judging all we experience kill the joy of life? No. It just makes us aware of those elements which can suffocate us from within.
Fred
A challenging, provoking series of posts, only bits of which I have been able to read.
I wonder how Hans Urs von Balthasar (him of, inter alia, Theodrama) would answer the many questions here.
Here’s Barbara Nicolosi’s take:
http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/2005/02/blog-post.html
Fred, I took Hutchens’ point about Pompeii et.al. to be that those cities might be like Sodom, so far gone in corruption that all you can do is try to stay away from them. Still, I thought his list slightly odd, in that it did not include Sodom and Gomorrah but did include Corinth, to which certain apostolic letters were addressed.
I liked Barb Nicolosi’s comments. I guess my reaction to Hutchens’ remarks are along the lines of what someone in Barb’s comments said: “he has a point, but…” If nothing else, an admonition to those of us who do see movies from time to time not to let ourselves go too far in accepting their corruption is very well needed. Oh and by the way, watching tv these days is surely just about as bad.
I know someone who thinks moving pictures of any kind are basically not good for us. Maybe he’ll read this and comment.