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Reader Louise has asked in relation to this previous post;
"But what about the Christian pop music, and the hat with IHS on it? Are
these things bad now? So that we have to beg God's forgiveness for this
"rot"?"
A fair question, and one difficult – or rather impossible – to answer directly. I'm certainly not interested in even beginning to say "Well, you shouldn't listen to this, but I think it's okay to listen to that…"
or "wearing Christian symbols on clothing is a compromise with the
consumer culture, and is therefore bad". Everything depends on the
individual's determination (or lack of same) to live a life radically
committed to the Gospel.
It comes down to a matter of
perspective. Is our faith just "part of a well-rounded life", or is it
the organizing principle that gives meaning to everything else? The
question might be framed this way; if not for the ICTHUS emblem on the
car, or the IHS hat, or the bible verse t-shirt, how would your
neighbors, your friends, your community recognize your lifestyle as
especially Christian? If these things didn't exist, what is it about you that would make people know you were a committed follower of Christ?
Keep
in mind that in saying "God forgive us" for these kinds of things, I am
praying mostly for myself, having been in a position to contribute to
the mess by designing Christian t-shirts and other knick-knacks for
several years. The horror, for me, would be that anyone could truly
say, "You can always tell a Christian because they have little bible
verses on their knick-knacks".
Yes, I do think we need to ask
God's forgiveness for the extent of the compromises we have made with
the prevailing consumer culture (mostly without even thinking), and we
need to look hard at our relationship to the wider culture, but much of
the responsibility lies with Christian artisans of every stripe to dig
deeper, reach higher and not settle for mediocrity by merely putting a
Christian spin on a material culture. This might mean having to work a
lot harder, it might mean walking away from a job opportunity. It might
mean lots of things.
Catholic artisans in particular have a rich and ancient tradition of excellence to build on… we should ask ourselves, where is today's Pieta? Chartres Cathedral? Mass in C minor? Crucifixion of St. Peter? If we don't create the masterpieces of our age, who will? (…and again, I'm mainly talking to myself, here)
I
don't want to be guilty of making the perfect the enemy of the good,
but from my perspective it looks much more likely in our culture that
the good has been seriously undermined by the "good enough". Am I being
a little hard-nosed about it? Yeah, maybe.
I was once much more
involved in Christian Retail, which meant getting a good look behind
the scenes at how Christian products are developed for the mass market
(a process which, like the making of laws and sausages, one might not
really want to see). Part of this involved attending a massive
Christian products convention in Dallas one year. I have to say, the
reality of the sheer amount of money flying around, the slick
marketing, the celebrity culture, opportunism, etc… I found
disturbing. I heard a reliable report that one Captain of Christian
Industry took some visiting manufacturers (atheist foreigners, which is
not their fault) out to a strip club. Why? Because they would like him,
they would feel like they were buddies, they would be impressed, they
would be easier to work with.
But for every lap dance proffered
at such a gathering , there are a hundred very expensive steak dinners,
rental limos, pricey gift bags and the like. It is (I believe)
fundamentally a culture of materialism, with a Christian gloss. This is
not to say it is this way in every single case, only to say that I
found a disturbing materialist atmosphere prevalent in that Christian
marketplace. Were there good points, as well? Sure, and I could name
some for which I was grateful. But the overall tenor of the thing
was… creepy.
I tried to imagine Jesus walking the aisles of the
cavernous convention floor, and decided pretty quickly that had he been
there in person, he would have slipped out quietly and would likely as
not have been talking to the homeless guy at the roadside who we passed
on the way in. I, myself, couldn't leave without breaking a lot of
commitments. I consider that I "left" that place over the next several
years.
Hey Tim,
Thanks for your post. I think you sound like a snob. I have 4 kids and no friend who is a MFA that can paint beautiful religious pictures for me if a babysit their kids. And I certainly don’t have the cash to buy your expensive work. So my 7 year old was having nightmares and I went to the local Catholic bookstore and bought a $10 faux icon of Divine Mercy. I told my son about Divine Mercy, St. Faustina and PJPII. Put the cheap $10 picture in his room, found him that night sleeping with it. No more nightmares. Few months later his teacher wanted him to fill a paper bag with a few things that symbolized who he was. What went in the bag? A scout badge, a little league picture, some legos and you guessed it, a cheaply made,slick mass marketed Christian product – a $10 faux icon of Divine Mercy. My, I was proud. And I won’t even go on about my five year old daughter in the back of the van singing “Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be His Holy Name” from another mass marketed CD. Or the CD of sweet baby songs my 20 month old won’t go to sleep without, “God is mercy, God is love”. What a buch of junk marketed to middle class housewives with no culture. Well no more of that stuff for my kids now. I’ll just put on Disney CD’s I’m sure that will be so much better.
Tim writes, “I tried to imagine Jesus walking the aisles of the cavernous convention floor, and decided pretty quickly that had he been there in person, he would have slipped out quietly and would likely as not have been talking to the homeless guy at the roadside who we passed on the way in.”
Are you sure he wouldn’t have flipped over some tables?
My Dear Sherri –
Thanks for your comment. I am pretty sure you have misunderstood my post, which is undoubtedly my fault.
I do not mean to suggest that anyone, let alone a family on a budget, should pass over inexpensive reproductions of icons (what Catholic doesn’t have some of these?), statues of saints, certain kinds of music or what-have-you (I specifically said that I don’t want to get into that) in favor of expensive original art. Not at all. My whole point is that everyone (including me) ought to think more about how much stuff – of any kind – we really need, and whether our decisions in that regard are informed more by the surrounding culture or by our faith in Christ.
I think original art should not be thought of as a luxury and artists should not be so proud of their work that it becomes inaccessible to all but the wealthy.
I have lately taken to painting small, inexpensive original pieces and selling them on Ebay for prices I don’t think *anyone* could describe as “expensive” (though I know not everyone can afford even that). It is very likely that I *would* trade art for babysitting, if I had kids of that age anymore. :-). But I do want to try hard also to do the very best work I can and leave behind (if possible) something of lasting beauty that will inspire people to faith (or greater faith) in Christ, or that might bring some comfort or courage to His people (heck, could be that someone will one day make a lot of cheap copies of it).
Is there just a possibility, though, that a lot of us Christians own and consume too much for our own good? If that is not a problem for you, then God bless you, I’m sure. I don’t mean to imply that it is everyone’s problem, but I think it is a problem for a lot of Americans. I don’t know how much we want to think about it.
Or maybe I’m just completely off base. Maybe the world needs more plastic.
And, I should add, we DO owe it to our kids to look for the True, the Good and the Beautiful in every aspect of life, and teach them to appreciate these things in art, music, literature, etc… as much as we are able.
We might even find that we end up learning a lot, as well.
Or we can punt.
Re Christians having Bible verses on their little knickknacks, I’ve read that in Colonial times some Americans knit Bible verses (or poems) into their mittens. Do you see a difference between this and today’s knick-knacks, other than the effort involved? Knitting words into something takes a fair amount of effort–much more than just knitting a plain item and more than adding stripes or a simple design such as checks. Supposedly some people in roughly the same time period also had Bible verses or wise sayings painted onto their walls or mantels as decoration; most of us could probably paint a proverb over a fireplace faster than we could knit the same words into a mitten, and I think the wall painting thing was generally done by people who got paid to paint/stencil it. Nevertheless, I tend to assume that making or paying for these things was the result of people wanting reminders of holy things around them. People being what we are, they were no doubt sometimes also the result of wanting to show off what a good knitter the producer was or to have a fancier living room wall than the neighbors, but that doesn’t mean the good desire wasn’t there too. I think there were probably a lot of platters sold like the one Laura Ingalls Wilder had as a young wife that showed a design of wheat with the words “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”; a plain platter or a platter with just the wheat design would have held the food just as well and a plain platter would likely have been cheaper, but the words gave a reminder of God. Presumably there’s some of that desire for reminders in the people who buy the Christian key rings, the Scripture mints, and even, God help us, the ceramic figures of Jesus playing playing baseball and the Precious Moments Nativity figurines.
I think that this is what you get with a watered down form of Christianity. A lot of protestantism has gone to a belief of “health and wealth”, so many are making money any way they can. Also, you mentioned the vendors going to a strip club. Why not? They are all “saved”, so it won’t hurt to go and you never know, they might even save a dancer or two.
Are you sure he wouldn’t have flipped over some tables?
Gee, that’s what I was wondering, too.
Thanks for the detailed response, Tim. That gives me a lot more food for thought.
I have children with the ages of 8 to 15. We love wearing our Catholic t-shirts, our bumper sticker that asks fallen away Catholics to come home, and especially the music that has a Catholic message but with a rock beat and sometimes a rap. These are all ways to evangelize and teach. Can the business side of things go beyond the Christian attitude, YES! But if I can walk into a doctors office with my 10 year old son, who is wearing a Catholic T-shirt and the doctor comment on it, then that might be a opportunity to witness. I understand what you are saying Mr. Jones. When we see and experience something like you did it can make us think twice. We have to be careful that when we are wearing those shirts, we are behaving as Christians, when we are driving with those bumper stickers that we don’t drive like maniacs. Thank you for your post!
Not that I have that many things with Christian verses on it, but…. I think that these things can not only serve as a witness to others, but as a reminder to ourselves. It’s easy to lose sight of God, and if a screen saver reminds me more of Him, and calls me back to the Way, then it’s a good thing.
Secular culture is being scrubbed of God and Christianity, so every little bit helps.
The business of selling is one of marketing, which is what seemed to disturb you. But, a good comes out of it. And you talk about the money flying around. I can imagine the sums that flew around when such things were more rarified and only for the moneyed elite. So in this way, I can certainly understand why Sherri called you a snob, although I think what you wrote came out wrong.
Remember that Christians on pilgrimages used to be souvenirs from holy places they visited. I am sure they would display them both so others could see, and that they too could be reminded of what they did.
I think the problem isn’t so much that Tim is a snob but that he’s struggling to address a fairly (perhaps even increasingly) difficult problem. What it seems to me he’s saying (correct me if I’m wrong here, Tim) is that we should aim for a certain level of “appropriateness”.
For instance, it’s generally not particularly appropriate to wear your “Jesus loves me” t-shirt to Mass (though it would be much better than the Goth or heavy metal t-shirts I sometimes see at Mass), though for the Mass at that big youth rally at the stadium with the bishop it’s almost de rigueur so that there is a sort of identity of presence at the rally.
Likewise, it’s appropriate for people of means (money, time, talent, etc.) to sponsor the production of something like a Divine Mercy icon, which could then be copied or imitated by those with a similar devotion but with less means.
Furthermore, he is saying that there should be an appropriate level of beauty or similar aesthetic quality. Those heavy metal t-shirts I mentioned, for instance, are almost always ugly or threatening somehow, which is an indication of the message they mean to convey.
In contradistinction, religious art should have as high a level of beauty and attractiveness as is possible, because that also is an indication of the intended message. Even a crucifix, with its overtly brutal and cruel subject matter, should have an underlying beauty to it, indicating the underlying beauty of the sacrifice made for us.
Or at least that’s what I take from reading between the lines as well as reading the actual words of what Tim wrote.
As former NY Mayor Koch used to ask, Tim, “How am I doing?”
Thanks, Hans.
I am making no criticism of holy articles… how could I? There is a long tradition of making use of these kinds of things. We have plenty of them.
Nor am I criticizing only more modern items (t-shirts, ball caps, bumper stickers, etc…) simply because they are modern.
I am talking first of all about the danger of a materialistic mindset, a wider society awash in meaningless cultural flotsam, and the pernicious influence this can have on Christians living in such a culture.
Can everyone agree that materialism and consumerism are bad things, and that many people in our country are tempted and fall into these traps? I mean an unhealthy attachment to things, the desire to own more than we really need, the tendency to buy things on impulse, placing undue importance on material acquisition and the social standing associated with it.
Can we start with that?
think original art should not be thought of as a luxury and artists should not be so proud of their work that it becomes inaccessible to all but the wealthy.
I was just listening to a 10 y/o Scott Hahn recording about being Christian in the world. The way he put this is something like this; If someone came into your house and saw a big screen TV (or evem not so big)computer, nice furniture, nice decorations and the only represention of Christianity was a cheap $10 icon. Well, that speaks volumes. The Christian art in your house can include that cheap $10 icon but should also include items that show you care.
In my house we have purchased a nice creche’, a nice wooden crucifix for the living room and, because friends and family know we care, we have a beautiful, if small, icon of the “black madonna”. My wife just bought a large print of a detail of a painting with the Madonna, baby and Angels.
At least twice a year we have the work of artisens from Bethlehem on show at our parish and Tim would appreciate the annual show of traditional Catholic paintings (the real thing, not prints). Sadly none of the real paintings pass muster for my wife (and none light my fire enough to make me say, “We MUST have THAT one”). Maybe next year
Remember the early Christians who converted the world did so without any art. “They’ll know who we are by the love, by the love. Yes, they’ll know who we are by the love…” Sigh, where did all that wonderful Christian music go? 😉
One thing I can imagine myself falling into is this:
At first I would buy and wear a Christian T-shirt because it is a good witness and it is, in some small way, a difficult thing for me to do. It is me stepping out of my comfort zone.
But then, I am tempted to subliminally judge “how I’m doing” by the fact that I’m wearing the Christian t-shirt. I don’t actually think, “I’m a good Christian because I wear this t-shirt.” But I do in some sense feel that way. And it could be dangerous if I don’t guard against it.
So wearing the t-shirt is good. But I have to be careful not to let myself use that to bolster my self-evaluation. I need to try to see myself as God sees me, from the inside.
This could be true for any public expression of our faith, a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, praying in public (at a restaurant, for example), anything. It is good to do these things. But not to put too much weight in doing them.
. we should ask ourselves, where is today’s Pieta? Chartres Cathedral? Mass in C minor? Crucifixion of St. Peter? If we don’t create the masterpieces of our age, who will?
Ever hear of the BBC series/book “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger?
Start there.
“If we don’t create the masterpieces of our age, who will?”
Another question for thought is: If what I’m seeing and hearing strikes me as profane or ugly, what am I being called to do?
I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of years now, since I listened to a choir singing a beautiful hymn that one of them had written – someone untrained in reading notes or musical theory, but with a good ear and an understanding of the Bible.
I think the latter is the key. Have you read Aquilina’s “Signs and Mysteries”? He gives the background on symbols commonly seen in Christian architecture and art. One of his themes is Christians who don’t recognize the symbolism. I was rather taken with the book because I moved to an area in which the symbols and the art is so very different. Although I recognized a few, I mistook some of it as references to the area’s nautical history.
In a very round-about way, I’m saying that part of the problem is a sort of illiteracy. As an example, think of the strange and lovely choral piece “Jerusalem” which is used as a soccer anthem. I wonder if the “masterpieces” to come will be accepted only as ironic or as a background to commercials.
I’m sorry if I’ve run far afield from your point, Tim.