Recently Baptist 21 contributor Jon Akin was on the “Calling for Truth” radio broadcast to discuss his recent post “The Gospel and Culture: Taken” (link: http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/?p=2725). In this interview host Paul Dean and Jon discuss the fact that there are themes in every culture, but specifically American pop culture, that mimic the Gospel. These “Gospel themes” in cultural expressions like art and literature are not shocking because God is summing up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10).
The conversation in the interview centers on practical implications for Christians in engaging culture since there are gospel themes in pop culture. Dr. Dean asks Jon to answer the question, “So what?” Why does it matter that there are parallels between the Gospel narrative and the movie “Taken”? Jon discusses the parallels, and then he gives reasons why it is important to understand these things in culture. Some of the reasons discussed are:
- Knowing the parallels gives us common ground on which to engage people in Gospel conversations.
- They reveal the longings of the human heart, specifically longings for a rescuer.
- They reveal the deep desire for a father.
- They sometimes combat the tendency in the church to feminize Jesus and turn him into a “brown headed, bearded Paris Hilton who pets a baby poodle.” This tendency is turning men away from the church instead of presenting Jesus as the Warrior-King.
You can listen to the interview in its entirety here: http://www.callingfortruth.org/cft/content/view/969/10/
“Calling for Truth” is a live, call-in radio broadcast that airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:00 pm. You can live stream it on the net at: http://www.callingfortruth.org.