Interaction with Contemporary Culture
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News and views for ministers Number 7, August 2009 Interaction with contemporary culture Contents Editorial...............................................................Amanda Wells .............................................. 3 Essays Interacting with society through film ................... Kevin Ward .................................................... 4 Interaction with film via movie nights .................. Jim Wallace ................................................... 6 Ministers in contemporary culture....................... Martin Stewart ............................................... 7 Considering popular culture and religion ............ Carlton Johnstone ......................................... 9 Making friends with the media ............................ Martin Baker ................................................ 12 Exploring the Twitter phenomenon ..................... Reuben Hardie ............................................ 14 Finding God in comic books .............................. Stephen Garner .......................................... 16 Reviews The Double Rainbow .........................................Reviewed by Jason Goroncy ...................... 20 AES column ........................................................Martin Baker .............................................. 24 About Candour Candour is a monthly magazine about ministry and lead- ership. For more information, contact: “Calvin Rediscovered – New Zealand Amanda Wells and International Perspectives” Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand PO Box 9049 Upcoming Symposium and Son et Lumière Wellington performances in Dunedin The articles in Candour reflect the views of individual ministers or contributors writing in a personal capacity. Symposium They are not representative of the Church’s official Dates: 24th and 25th August, 2009 position. Please approach the author for permission if you Venue: Knox College wish to copy an article. Public Lectures both nights at Knox Church at 7:30 pm Preceded by worship service at 6 p.m. on 23 August at Contributions First Church of Otago We welcome responses to published articles. If you would like to write a piece replying to any of this Son et Lumière production month’s featured articles, please contact: Dates: 20th to 23rd August, 2009 Amanda Wells (editor) on (04) 381-8285 or candour@ Venue: First Church of Otago presbyterian.org.nz For further information, including keynote speakers, local contributors, costs, travel subsidies and registration details, please go to our website Advertising http://calvinrediscovered.wordpress.com/ One-quarter page: $80 plus gst (87mm x 117mm) One-third page: $95 plus gst (87mm x 160mm) These events are heavily subsidized, due to the Half page: $130 plus gst (184mm x 138mm) generosity of our grant providers. Be in early to take Any artwork must be supplied electronically and in a advantage of “early-bird” prices! high-resolution format. Measurements are indicative only and subject to layout requirements. The next deadline (for the September issue) is 31 Ministry Exchanges August 2009. I have received expressions of interest from overseas Ministers wanting to either exchange charges with Glen Innis Vacancies Presbyterian Ministers or serve in Presbyterian parishes. August 10 - 17 Homestead/Cottage August 17 - 24 Cottage Please contact Juliette Bowater for an updated list of August 24 - 31 Homestead/Cottage the opportunities available, or for further information: August 31 - September 7 Cottage [email protected]. September 7 - 14 Homestead/Cottage New opportunity: Bookings for the summer school holidays are open to all ministers, regardless of whether they have school- United Church of Canada – Nova Scotia aged children, from November 1. A minister of a historic church in Halifax seeks a To enquire about vacancies, please email six month exchange from September 2010. The [email protected] or telephone 06 855-4889. church has an average attendance of 150 and serves Ministers are welcome to inquire regarding vacan- a range of people. The church is known for its music cies due to cancellations. and preaching as well as its social justice work. There is refundable $50 booking fee for Glen The minister also lectures in preaching at the local Innis. This fee is payable to Margaret Black and ecumenical theological school. The minister would refunded on arrival at Glen Innis. be accompanied by his wife and seeks an urban or suburban setting. 2 Editorial The trouble with culture Amanda Wells ontemporary culture is hard to pin down. Our me- One interesting expression of community in Wellington Cdia and entertainment diet is so diffuse that no two is film-festival going. I managed a paltry two this year, people are likely to have the same “culture” in mind. A one of which was a documentary called Enjoy Poverty. young female teenager might instantly think of a Hannah It features Dutch filmmaker/artist Renzo Martens travel- Montana-influenced world, while many retirees remain ling around the Congo, attempting to convince Africans plugged into the old media of television and newspapers. that their poverty is a resource exploited by others. They Even the All Blacks, that staple of Kiwi culture, are ap- should be exploiting it themselves, he argues, by sell- parently losing their all-encompassing popularity. ing pictures of their malnourished and war-torn circum- stances to the media rather than letting foreign photogra- It would be better to talk of contemporary “cultures”, phers make $50 a picture. But by the end of the film, he’s though acknowledging this reality raises more questions. seen that approach will fail and is instead urging them to You can’t make sweeping generalisations if you know accept and “enjoy” their inexorable poverty so that they that the number of cultural constructs is closer to infinity aren’t doomed to lives of misery. than one. Unlike 30 or even 20 years ago, New Zealand- ers have a myriad of choices in their work, leisure and Described as “purposely offensive” in film festival cata- media arrangements. I’d suggest that it’s the availability logues, one person did walk out during the Wellington of these choices, more than anything else, that has lead showing, during a scene in which Martens coaches the to the decline in church attendance. would-be Congolese photographers to photograph a dy- ing child, because that’s what sells best to Western audi- The forthcoming issue of Spanz (in parishes in the third ences. He has told film festival audiences overseas that week of August) has a number of articles about churches “he wanted to be in the film himself, as an exploiter, be- offering new choices. Instead of holding only a Sunday cause to try and remain neutral in telling this story is to morning service, they’re trying alternatives at different deny the role of the West in creating poverty”1. “I can times that cater to different audiences, all with meas- never be the saviour or the emancipator because I am ures of success. Perhaps this is one way that the church defined by the structures and institutions that exploit in can reflect contemporary culture; not its content, but its the first place.”2 adaptable variety and multiple entry points. Though lacking coherence at times, the film has a power- If I walk home, I listen to podcasts from the BBC, which ful impact in terms of how, when you leave the cinema, has hundreds of different types of content available for you reconstruct your own society. How do the images free download. You can listen anytime to something and entertainment we consume characterise us as a cul- broadcast on a certain day on the other side of the world. ture? Are the normal answers of aid and relief work only My ability to learn about the religious complexities of feeding the poverty industry (Medecins sans Frontieres Iran or the latest theories on Charlotte Bronte has never and other aid agencies come off poorly in the film). Our been so great. Nearly all my news comes via the Inter- culture has become so complex that analysis can invites net, though sometimes Morning Report and Checkpoint paralysis. How are we called to act as New Zealanders get a look in. TV news, if I watch it, makes me despair. embedded in a fragmented, intensely global culture? Despite pretentions of the “OneNews” type, there is no one “media diet” anymore; I don’t know anyone (apart I’ve had very little feedback about your preferred format from my mum!) who subscribes to a daily newspaper or of Candour, and I’m struggling to know how I should watches the six o’clock news with any regularity. We are interpret that! Please drop me an email and make your a nation of diffuse and diffused consumers. view known – [email protected]. The Sep- tember issue of Candour will have the theme “Ministry Should the Church change to meet this reality? If not, paradigms and hats” and a deadline of 31 August – spon- why not? We’re never going to go back to Sunday morn- taneous contributions are welcome. ing in church being the social focal point of the weekend. Despite people’s enduring longing to belong in commu- 1 http://www.unpackingdevelopment.com/2009/05/13/enjoy-poverty/ nity, they simply have many more options. 2 http://www.artslant.com/ny/articles/show/4443 3 Essays Interacting with society through film Kevin Ward, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dunedin t the end of the film Forrest Gump, Forrest ponders know what questions people are now asking, and where Aover Jenny’s grave, not sure who was right about they are searching