WORLD & CULTURE


FROM WWJD TO TESTAMINTS Christian Media W


e are a media-driven society. When Christ


walked the earth He used the hot button lingo of the day, per audience—fishing, carpentry, agriculture—hitting them where they were most familiar and versed. Today it's media. Social, Film and Television, Web and Mobile, Stream and Broadcast, Music and Video, icons, logos, bumper stickers...and oh the glory of graphic tees. But the question surfaces


often. What is the quality of Christian media and does it help or hinder when it comes to


sharing the gospel? We asked a few folks around Jessup to weigh in:


DAVID TIMMS (Dean, Faculty of Theology / School of Christian Leadership)


Merchandise is media. It communicates. Crosses and crucifixes, t-shirts and trinkets, doves and angels, bumper stickers and rubber bracelets. When has Christianity ever had so much merchandise? The local Christian bookstore or your favorite online retailer can provide everything from “Walk with Jesus” baseball caps to “Jesus and Mary” bookends. Just let your imagination run wild, and someone will have run wild there before you -- and made a dollar from it already.


16 JESSUP MAGAZINE KEEPS


CALM AND


CARRIES ON


Does this help or hinder the gospel?


Has free-market capitalism hobbled the Cross? I’m all for wearing our faith publicly. “Wear it loud; wear it proud,” they tell us, as they take our cash and offer change. But merchandizing the faith does something intrinsic to the faith. Think briefly about this at two levels—


sociologically and theologically. Fifty years ago (1964), Marshall McLuhan famously concluded that “the medium IS the message” noting any extension of ourselves has personal and social consequences. When we wear a message, it says something (perhaps other than what we had hoped) about the importance of the message. But theologically,


might something else be happening? The trivialization of the divine. There’s a reason why God


instructed the ancient Israelites to have “no graven images” (Exodus 20: 4-5). When we reduce Him to platitudes, clichés, bangles, and baseball caps do we not strip away some of the reverence, awe and mystery that belongs to Him? A ‘god’ whom we honor with faded stickers or fancy Jesus-jeans seems rather common and ordinary—a god less than we need or want. Some Christian gatherings feel


strangely too similar to baseball, football, or hockey games; the team clothing, jewelry, and


signage. Does this help or hinder the Gospel? You be the judge. But I think I’ll put my Testamints and my Armor of God Pajamas back in the drawer for a while.


RICKY BORBA (Filmmaker and ’10 Alum)


In May 2012, alum Ricky Borba formed his film company M3G Pictures. He is just months away from shooting his first feature film. Borba has hosted a nationally syndicated television show and acted in and produced nearly 15 films. Ricky shared his perspective on this topic regarding Christian filmmaking:


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36