Fréttatilkynning/Press Release

Christ and culture revisited in conference paper given by Rev. Prof. Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm

In the second paper presented to delegates presently attending the second Theological Conference of the Porvoo Communion, being held in Skàlholt, Iceland, Rev Prof Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm of Uppsala University in Sweden offers comments on popular culture's relation to Christianity by using the five types of interaction between the two suggested by Richard H. Niebuhr in his volume Christ and Culture (1951) - Christ against culture, the Christ of culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture in paradox and Christ the transformer of culture.

Prof. Bråkenhielm begins his paper by stating:

Popular culture is ocean - and particularly an American ocean, which has flooded almost every continent and culture of the world. My own interest has been directed towards world views or - preferably - life views in contemporary film, i.e. not only popular movies, but also art movies. I think it is clear that besides television and music, film could be regarded as one of the most important factors in shaping modern consciousness. Take The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, The Passion of the Christ - just to mention a few examples.

Going on, he focuses in particular on the response of teenagers to programmes and films relating to the supernatural:

One overall, albeit not very surprising, result is that most teenagers know that stories of angels and aliens in popular culture are entertainment and that it should not be taken seriously. But angels and vampires have a history in our culture, so at points the obvious an natural distinction between entertainment and religion breaks down. How do the teens deal with this 'interface' between traditional religion and popular culture? They handle it with an 'openness to possibility'.

Against this general background teens come to grips with the supernatural in the mass media in different ways. The resistors interchange stories of religion fantasy as part of a rebellion against dominant culture. The traditionalists perceive a big difference between their beliefs and what they meet in popular culture. The mystical teens bring their religious beliefs into the context of different activities. The experimenters are stimulated by popular culture to make contact with the realm beyond. And the intrigued found it difficult to understand the distinction between the mediated supernatural and their beliefs.

Professor Bråkenhielm goes on to put this into a more historical context. He suggests that the attitude of Christians toward popular culture has historically been divided between the extremes represented on the one hand by William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, remembered for declaring "Why should the devil have all the best music" , and on the other by Clement of Alexandria, who wrote, in the second century "as for us, we make use of one instrument alone: only the Word of peace by whom we a homage to God, no longer with ancient harp or trumpet or drum or flute which those trained for war employ".

Prof Bråkenhielm goes on to identify similar attitudes in the twenty-first century, referring to examples such as Michael Medved's book, Hollywood vs. America , in which it is claimed that " The dream-factory has become the poison factory" .

In summing up, Prof Bråkenhielm says:

The basic thesis of this presentation is clearly in line with William Booth - and at odds with Clement. Culture including popular culture is and ought to be a toolkit for discipleship .The suggestive images that appear through mediums such as film, television and literature could and should be used to make the Christian Gospel more lucid for a wider audience. It would be profitable to confront high academic culture with modern popular mass culture, since modern film and literature make an effort to capture the wider imagination of the present population and manage to articulate important insights in the viewers and readers. As such they should be the concern of the churches and the Theologian since they provide an indispensable toolkit for discipleship.