Pause for thought...

"It is not right to learn only to do art as a tool, as a means to a narrowly conceived evangelistic end, because artistry in God's world has its own proper task of giving joy, its own peculiar ministry of healing, its own God-given gift of serving nuanced insight for one's neighbour". Calvin Seerfield - Redemptive artistry in contemporary culture.



I don't know how it was with with you, but I was raised on the escapism of the screen. My parents used to love Hollywood musicals, melodramas and epics, so that was the standard fare for weekends in my childhood. In my teens, after the joys of Gerry Anderson's TV21 universe, I discovered well considered Science Fiction - movies like Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still, and reveled in the better quality stories of Trek, the Outer Limits and the Twilight Zone. During my last three decades, my pleasure in movies and good shows has expanded across most genres, and I relish opportunities to consider or reflect on some of the best work done in this field.

Which brings me to the rising tide of new Christian movies.
Now, don't get me wrong - it's certainly not all bad news. Recent well-made studio productions such as 'Risen' are well worth a look, and private creations like the Documentary,  'Patterns of Evidence' are superb for looking at the veracity of the Biblical message, but there are a whole batch of movies, predominantly created by Pure Flix, which, whilst doing huge box office, are effectively only catering to an in-house market rather than being genuinely good and entertaining films for a wider audience.

I understand that the goal in such productions is to convey a message - the message - that the faith is true and needs to be heard, but if we seriously believe that, we have to convey this in such a way that it is palpable and convincing because the fiction being portrayed 'speaks' to the reality of life.
I'm not saying such films cannot be evangelical - most good movies are trying to say something, just that the poor quality of what's being produced seriously needs to be addressed if we want to offer work that is going to come across as worthwhile through this genre.

Here's a video that looks at this issue in detail.
If you have any thoughts on the subject, let me know.