Engaging With Culture
As Christians, we’re not called to simply sit in a holy huddle, away from the rest of the world. Rather, we’re called to be ambassadors for Christ by going out into the world, living in it and engaging with it! And we do that by speaking for Jesus by being distinctive in the way we live, while understanding the context of our culture. Here, you’ll find resources to help you do exactly that!
A Child-Eye’s View at a Fallen World – An Cailín Ciúin
What springs to mind when you think of your childhood? Childhood memories are little pieces of the past that stay with us forever. By the Grace of God, my childhood was a happy one. However, not all childhoods are free from pain. An Cailín Ciúin, an Irish-language film directed by Colum Bairéad and based on Clare Keegan’s novella Foster, captures the fragile beauty of childhood while showing a child’s perspective of a fallen world marred by neglect, loss, and suffering.
The Traitors – Why are we so fascinated?
Why does a show that is based on lying, deceit and betrayal grip our attention so much? What do we see in this game and in the contestants that tells us of our world today?
Noah Kahan, Authenticity and the Gospel
As humans, we were made for connection and relationship with one another – we know that from the Bible and how God created us, and we seek this community. Maybe even more than ever, Gen Z crave that real, authentic connection that we have lost through the internet and social media, and music like this makes us feel like we are not alone. But what if we, as Christians, identify this in ourselves as we listen to this music, as these feelings come on, and use them to point ourselves and those around us to Christ??
What ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ gets right about enchantment
Our society has slipped into a ‘Disenchanted Age’. Not in relation to bicycles, but in relation to spirituality, and therefore enchantment itself. We don’t really care for it these days.
This leaves us with a nagging question: can anything actually offer us ‘re-enchantment’ on a whole-of-life scale? Is there really any ‘deep magic from the dawn of time’ that could make life beautiful and mysterious and exciting again? Modern society would tell us that we need to get used to the disenchantment – but do we?
Crushing Culture or Creating Culture?
Comedian Bo Burnham hit the nail on the head in his song ‘Welcome to the Internet’, where he caricatures an Apple-esque Silicon Valley CEO:
‘Mommy let you use your iPad; you were barely two. And it did everything we designed it to do. It was always the plan to put the world in your hands.’
The online world may be in the palm of our hands, but have we lost touch with ourselves in the process?