IntĂŠgritĂŠ: A F aith and Learning Journal Vol. 11, No. 2 (F all 2012): 57-61
T houghts and Reflections C ultural A pologetics: W inning Back the A rts for C hrist Louis M ar kos Houston Baptist University, where I have been an English professor for the last two decades, is about to unveil a new MA program in apologetics that ZLOO DFFRUGLQJ WR RXU ZHEVLWH ³SURYLGH VWXGHQWV ZLWK LQWHUGLVFLSOLQDU\ WUDLQLQJ LQ apologetics so that they understand and engage with contemporary worldviews and FXOWXUH LQ RUGHU WR WUDQVIRUP WKH ZRUOG IRU &KULVW ´ By offering such a program, the university hopes to answer a growing call for what has come to be known as cultural apologetics. While not downplaying the need for apologetical arguments grounded in logical proof, historical evidence, and textual study, the cultural apologist seeks a wider engagement with the arts and humanities. He applauds apologists who defend Christianity as a consistent and all-embracing worldview that has implications for the way we understand philosophy, theology, history, ethics, and science, but he often feels that these apologists leave out the vital role played by literature, music, painting, and film. Too often the arts and humanities²and the impact they have upon our hearts, souls, minds, and imaginations²are considered peripheral to the construction of a Christian worldview. Admittedly, many people in the emergent (postmodern) church have attempted to engage with pop culture in a creative and winsome way. One of the most successful, Chris Seay (who pastors an emergent church in Houston called Ecclesia), has published savvy Christian readings of The Matrix, The Sopranos, and Lost 'RQDOG 0LOOHUœV Blue Like Jazz DQG -RKQ (OGUHGJHœV Epic have identified and appealed to a desire amongst modern Americans to see themselves as part of a greater story, a meta-narrative that is played out, often unconsciously, in our songs, films and graphic novels. Also, there is no dearth of books and DUWLFOHV WKDW VHHN WR GHOYH WKH ³KLGGHQ´ &hristian dimensions of the six Star Wars films, the Batman trilogy, Harry Potter, The Si mpsons, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer²not to mention the consciously Christian Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. Too often, however, the modern, rational apologist and the postmodern, intuitive defender of story operate in separate compartments. If Christians are to win back the culture for Christ, there needs to be greater dialogue between those who uphold the theological truth and historical accuracy of the faith and those who long to discern redemptive elements in the arts. What this means is that high culture and pop culture, the academy and the church, the left brain and the right