The Greenbelt Festival
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THE GREENBELT FESTIVAL A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNICATION AND EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY RICHARD P. B. WALLIS Dissertation presented for the degree of B.A. (Hons) Communication Studies at Sunderland Polytechnic. 1983 To cite this article: Richard Wallis (1983), The Greenbelt Festival: A Case Study of Communication & Evangelical Christianity. Unpublished dissertation (BA Communication Studies) Sunderland University. Terms and conditions of use: This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form requires the written permission of the author. The author does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents is complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of the content should be independently verified with primary sources. The author shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Author contact: Richard Wallis Senior Lecturer The Media School, Bournemouth University [email protected] Contents Page Synopsis Acknowledgments Chapter One Evangelical Christianity in perspective 1 Chapter Two A diversity within the unity 3 Chapter Three An introduction to the case-study 7 Chapter Four The Greenbelt Festival: a history 9 Chapter Five A weekend at Knebworth 11 Chapter Six The 'sacred' and the 'secular': a dichotomy 15 Chapter Seven Communicating an alternative vision 17 Footnotes 20 Bibliography 21 Appendix I 24 Appendix II 26 Appendix III 29 Appendix IV 31 Synopsis The Greenbelt Festival is an annual Christian arts festival held on August Bank Holiday at Knebworth Park, near Stevenage. In an investigation into the origins, development and purpose of the festival, I attempt to relate it to a long tradition of Evangelicalism. I examine some of the tensions and problems evidenced within Evangelicalism today, and then look more specifically at the views of organisers, artists and visitors to Greenbelt. I note different attitudes towards the Christians’ task of evangelism and examine a wider problem that the festival has to face - that of communicating an alternative vision of society through the use of currently popular means. ---oOo--- Acknowledgements I wish to thank the many people who contributed in one way or another to this project. Special thanks to Dr Mike Sweeting, Roger Forster and Dr Jim Beckford who helped with guidance in the early stages of my research. For the co-operation and advice of members of the Greenbelt Festival's executive committee, the Deo Gloria Trust, and in particular: Tom Poulson, Clive Frampton, Jonathan Cooke, Heidi Mronz, and other artists and organisers who allowed themselves to be interviewed. To Teena Acland and Judith Moir who gave up a lot of time at the Festival to assist me with the questionnaires. My thanks also to Rev. Peter Collinson and to my uncle, Rev. Dr George Beasley-Murray for their theological and overall advice; to my parents for their continual interest and helpful comments, and to my sister, Ruth Ward, for her extremely efficient typing of the manuscript. Finally, my special thanks to Judith Chaney for a year of wise counsel and competent supervision. ---oOo--- 1 Chapter One Evangelical Christianity in Perspective The watchword of the early Reformers, ‘ecclesia refomata sed semper reformanda’ is translated ‘the church reformed yet always being reformed’. A currently popular evangelical slogan paraphrases this as ‘constant change is here to stay’. Change, whether it be due to Christian reformation or processes of de-Christianization1, has certainly marked the face of the evangelical movement of the past twenty years. The purpose of this paper is to outline the characteristics of this change, and examine some of the tensions and problems that surround the communication of a ‘sacred’ message in a ‘secular’ society. As a case-study, I have selected the Greenbelt Festival which is essentially a Christian arts festival with a strong bias towards popular music. There are three main reasons for choosing Greenbelt, First, it is the largest annual gathering of evangelical Christians in Britain, Secondly, it is highly publicity-orientated and attracts a large amount of national attention. Thirdly, it draws Evangelicals from across a wide range of denominational and independent groups. Although it is no more than one small segment of a worldwide expression of the Christian Faith evident in all continents and among all confessions, the Greenbelt Festival does lend itself well to examination of evangelicalism in Britain, both generally and particularly in relation to modern culture. I shall begin by clarifying what is meant by Evangelical Christianity. The term ‘Evangelicalism’ derives from the Greek word ‘eugelion’ which translated means ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’. As it is adopted by Christians, therefore, it is intended to indicate a conformity to the basic doctrines of the New Testament2. Evangelical Christians in general would hold to ‘the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, personal conversion experiences, Scripture as the only basis for faith, and active home and foreign evangelism’. (Encyclopedia Britannica p.1010) Since the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, the term has been applied to various groups with different emphases at different times. According to E. J. Poole-Connor (1951), the decline of the ancient church, the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually the Dark Ages had slowly submerged civilized Europe into intellectual stagnation. Christianity became simplistic, ritualistic and eroded by irrational superstitions. At a Council of the Church in 992 it was asserted that there was scarcely a single person to be found in Rome ‘who knew the first elements of letters’ (E. J. Poole-Connor 1951, p.16). John Wycliffe (1329-1384), best known for his instigation of a translation of the Vulgate into English, earned for himself the title of ‘Morning Star of the Reformation’. His prolific writings, in which he asserted that the Scriptures were the only authoritative guide for faith and which challenged many of the existing practices of the institutional church, branded him ‘the evangelical doctor’. Many believe that the so-called Christianization of Europe led largely to the thorough corruption of the Church: 2 From 1471 to the end of the century the papal chair was filled with a trio of base and bloodthirsty profligates; the last and worst being the notorious Alexander Borgia, who united in himself the infamy of the persecutor, the plunderer, the assassin and the debaucher. (H. Cowan 1896, p.153) The resurgence of interest in the Biblical manuscript came as part of the revival of scholarship in the Rennaissance. The preoccupation with Greek culture illuminated the need for an adequate Greek text of the Bible. As a result Desiderius Erasmus (prob. 1469-1536), the first teacher of Greek at the University of Cambridge, published in 1516 his celebrated edition of the Greek New Testament. The desire to challenge the profound ignorance of Christian doctrine in both clergy and laity led to the translation of Erasmus’ colume into English in 1525 by William Tyndale (1494-1539). The person commonly considered as the Father of Protestant evangelicalism is Martin Luther (1483-1546) who championed the cause of the Reformation with ‘sola fide’ (faith alone), ‘sola gratia’ (grace alone) and ‘sola Scriptura’ (the Bible alone). Luther and the other Reformers were not innovators so much as renovators. They saw themselves as simply restoring adherence to the forgotten Biblical doctrines. That is, they were ‘evangelici’ as distinct from ‘pontifici’ (those retaining allegiance to the pope and scholastic theology). To this day the Lutheran Church in Germany is known as the ‘Evangelical Church’. Since the sixteenth century, the term ‘Evangelical’ has been applied in the English speaking world in a wide sense to all whose primary loyalty is to the basic doctrines of the New Testament rather than the preservation of a religious institutional structure. It has also been applied in a narrower sense to label particular denominational groups. Initially it was applied to those who preached the doctrines of revival and in the early stages of Methodism, the label ‘Methodist’ was virtually interchangeable with ‘Evangelical’. Others then began using the label such as the American protestant group, the Albright Brethren, who became known as the Evangelical Church. There was soon a proliferation of protestant denominational and independent groups that adopted the term. By 1846 a body calling itself the Evangelical Alliance had emerged. Its purpose was to: associate and concentrate the strength of an enlightened Protestantism against the encroachments of Popery and Puscyism, and to promote the interests of a Scriptural Unity. (Oxford Dict. of the Christian Church 1974, p.485) These specific uses of the term Evangelical are valid if they do not blur the wider meaning of the word. While it is certainly useful as a term of group categorisation, it is also problematic when applied to the individual Groups that are Evangelical in name may cease to be so in practice. Alternatively, non-evangelical churches may contain large numbers of evangelical individuals within their congregations. To refer to any entire denomination as evangelical is likely to be a generalisation. It is a reference that transcends institutional boundaries. In his article ‘Evangelicalism: A Historical Perspective’, A.S. Wood (1971) writes: Authentic evangelicals have no love either for party names or party stances. We do not seek to monopolize the title evangelical as a narrowly exclusive label. We prefer to regard it as descriptive of what the whole church must inevitably be if it is aligned to the biblical pattern in doctrine, worship and. spirit. (p.20) 3 Chapter Two A Diversity Within the Unity Having considered that which unites Evangelicals through a single definition of the Christian Faith, I will now consider some of the tensions that exist.