Christian pop culture

At Experimental Theology, Richard has been reflecting on Christian pop culture. Today, he ponders Joel Osteen's best-selling book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.

No doubt there is a therapeutic facet to the gospel, it is wonderful to feel loved and to self-identify as a Child of God. The concern is when the therapeutic focus is made the focal point of the Call of Jesus and, ultimately, getting stuck there. Church leaders know this. People flock to churches for emotional healing but rebel if church starts, after a time, making discipleship demands. We come to church broken and want to stay broken. We want to be comforted. Always. Who wouldn't?

And this situation creates problems when the Christian message begins to be filtered through the media and markets. Why? Because these outlets are consumer driven. We, then, via consumer choice, get to pick the gospel. Our needs shape the product. It becomes the message that I want to buy.

Again, it's not just the market facet that worries me, but the consumer needs (which I've argued are psychological) that are driving the market. Because the problem with the market is that it cannot shape or challenge those needs. It just meets the needs. It just reflects the needs. The market is not a master but a mirror. And that's the root problem. The market cannot challenge or shape us, it cannot produce Christ-followers. This is the problem with Christian retail. When I walk into a store I'm unlikely to find Christ there. Unlikely to purchase the true cross. Rather, as I slowly turn 360 degrees in my local Christian bookstore, I'm more often than not immersed in human needs, the gospel reflected through what will make me happy.