We Cannot Speak to a Culture We Despise

Tomorrow I have the privilege of speaking at Innovate. One of the quotes I’ll be sharing is from the book Movies that Matter: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith by Richard Leonard. The first 25 pages is worth the price of the book. Mr. Leonard, a Jesuit priest with a PhD in Film and Theology (wow, what a combination!), says the following…

"Given the power of media, becoming conversant with its mixed messages is an essential tool for Christian life. This involves the process of inculturation—discovering where Christ is already active within a given culture. Inculturation has traditionally been about uncovering Christian resonances in faraway places and exotic rituals. Yet the risen Christ sends us out to our media-saturated culture as well, and in it we labor with Christ to expose the signs of God’s saving love already present there. We cannot speak to a culture we do not know or one we despise…we have to learn its language and discover how Christ has already gone ahead of us, inculturated in some of media’s values, stories and style."

More on this at Innovate.