Thursday, July 15, 2004

Christian Kitsch

There is simply something wrong and deeply troubling with this statement:

Still, retailers are turning up the volume on figure-hugging clothes with Christian messages.


It comes from an article covering a segment of the young evangelical wave of Christianity. The article which produced that disturbing sentence focuses on the marketing of kitsch. I find it very telling that when someone from outside the church world looks in on a new wave of evangelicalism they see an advertising niche being filled with newer and “hipper” versions of the Bible, clothing and body piercings.

No wonder we are not making an impact on the world! No wonder the culture thinks it is basically Christian and yet looks less and less like Christ all the time. It is, in my opinion, because the Church looks less and less like Christ and more and more like the surrounding culture all the time. In far too many ways the evangelical movement has looked to pop culture for its inspiration and direction instead of more divine and lasting teachers.


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