Christ and Pop Culture

Richard Clark finds something to like in an underrated pastime.

In his debut post, Scott Schultz finds that where Christian hip-hop fails, Mos Def succeeds.

Alan Noble gives Grand Theft Auto a chance.

Carissa Smith just watched her first episode of American Idol… and she’s really into it.

Ben Bartlett rains on our American Idol parade, but we probably deserved it.

About three weeks ago, Ben and I sat down and discussed American Idol, including the morality of American Idol’s infamous audition episodes, whether or not Christians should embrace and support Idol Gives Back, and more. Also, we give out our Christ and Pop Culture Awards for Voting Shows.

David Dunham kicks off CAPC’s American Idol week by praising honest evaluation in an age of “Idol” words.

Carrissa Smith may not be as crazy about Expelled as you are.

Bill Reichart wants us to know it’s okay to watch Lars and the Real Girl.

Here at Christ and Pop Culture, we don’t want our readers to think we just sit around watching movies and arguing about visual morality. We like to read, too, and thought it might be helpful to review the latest book on the interaction between our faith and our spot in history. Here, then, is my review of D.A. Carson’s, “Christ and Culture Revisited.”

Alan Noble shares some practical ways for Christians everywhere to help improve the state of Christian music.

The recent Masterpiece Theatre version of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility gave the harshest portrayal I’ve ever seen of the character Willoughby, who seduces, impregnates, and abandons a young girl. This leads me to ponder two things: (1) Why, in our era of “tolerance,” does Willoughby suddenly get the shaft?; and (2) Is it important for us, as Christians, to forgive fictional characters?

Alan Noble concludes a two-part series on how we can keep from getting carried away by this whole Pop Culture thing.

Alan Noble begins a two-part series on how we can keep from getting carried away by this whole Pop Culture thing.

Ben Bartlett on why Dan’s advice industry should go on hiatus for a while.

If there’s one thing that most of us can agree on, it’s that popular culture has gone too far in the area of sexuality. For the sake of freedom of speech, showing off beauty, and putting to use “what God gave ya’”, men and women have bared it all. And we all know what this is really all about.

The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. First, there was director Andrew Adamson’s promise (clearly supposed to excite us) that the movie would be “battles all the way through.” Then there was the screenwriters’ post on the official film blog indicating that they would be exploring the psychological difficulties faced by the Pevensie children as they deal with the transition from being Kings and Queens in Narnia to being schoolchildren in England. Blech.

We’ve already got quite a few excellent articles queued up for this coming week. Expect them to begin early tomorrow. In the meantime, Tony Kummer over at Said at Southern has tagged me for the Spring Reading Days Meme.

Over the past couple of years, with the aid of Netflix, I’ve been working my way through the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows. The show focuses on the on-stage and off-stage lives of the New Burbage Festival, a sort of fictionalized version of the Stratford Festival in Western Ontario. In real life and on the show, the Festival’s main fare is Shakespeare, and each season of Slings of Arrows centers around a production of a Shakespearean tragedy: Hamlet (Season 1), Macbeth (Season 2), and King Lear (Season 3).

Bill Reichhart on the dangers of a 24 hour news cycle.