By Mark A. Taylor
What does it mean to write a Christian novel? To do Christian service? To add one”s name to a directory of Christian businesses?
Must a work of art or some other endeavor be called Christian to be Christian? And does that mean what we don”t call Christian, isn”t?
Lynn Gardner and the writers he quotes this week assert that everything the Christian does should be for the glory of God. (Read “Wholehearted Christians.”) They would surely agree with Rob Bell who told an audience in April he believes Christian “is a bit dodgy as an adjective. It”s better as a noun.”
Interviewed at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, he added, “If you”re a Christian and an artist, don”t make Christian paintings. Just make great paintings.”
His advice resonates with Gardner”s quote of Nancy Pearcey, who challenged Christians “to move beyond criticizing culture to creating culture.” It parallels Dave Ferguson”s perspective quoted in this column last year: “The best way to penetrate the culture is to create the culture and not react to it” (“Can the Church Impact Culture?” August 22, 2007). “The church was designed by Jesus to set the pace in cultural transformation,” he said.
“Using Christian as a label misunderstands the nature of creation,” Bell told his Michigan interviewer. “The Bible starts with Genesis 1, not Genesis 3. It”s not a matter of tacking good stuff onto bad to make it good.”
As a graduate of a Christian college and a worker at a Christian publishing house””as a person who prefers Christian friends and drives to work listening to Christian music””I”m more than a little challenged by this line of thought.
Does my work change the world or only pander to those who have isolated themselves from the world? Does my life impact the culture, or has “Christian” become little more than a label””a niche, like Republican or Midwesterner or college graduate””that I mostly keep to myself while I go to the mall or rent a DVD?
If I view “Christian” as a category instead of a consuming call, two results likely will follow: My life will have happiness where I could have had joy, diversion instead of the peace that passes understanding. And my output may be good, but not necessarily excellent; interesting, but not truly creative.
I”m haunted by the possibility that I will settle for the respectable when I could have participated in a revolution.
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