A G K Y R A

There is a good reason why I haven’t posted anything new here in the last week. Actually several good reasons. The first is that we have been hosting guests from out of town, and that activity is both more enjoyable and more important than my “blogging” (a word I can hardly bring myself to type, let alone say).

The second is that school started for me on Monday with two days of orientation, and classes begin today. My three courses this semester are Acts of the Apostles, Modern Protestant Theology, and Hebrew Prose Readings. I’m also going to audit Fundamental Theology, a survey of the big issues in Roman Catholic systematic theology. The systematicians in Fordham’s theology department are very interested in Karl Rahner, whose ideas I know very little about, so this course will help me better understand the department and how I can integrate into it as a Reformed Presbyterian.

The third reason why there haven’t been any posts recently is that I have been having to spend lots of time on the infrastructure (the XHMTL template) of this blog. Technorati abruptly and mysteriously stopped indexing Agkyra a little over a week ago, so I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why. This has forced me to learn a lot more about HTML, XHTML, and CSS than I ever wanted, and then put that knowledge to use bringing my code into compliance with current standards (XHTML 1.0 Strict being the ideal). Now that my code is validated, I’m waiting to hear an explanation from Technorati.

First Fordham home football game on Saturday (free admission!) versus Monmouth University. I’ve never been a sports fan, but I’m going to make an effort to get into the spirit this season. Go Rams.

Summary: Does Christian merchandise lead to conversions? Does it represent our culture’s commercialism run amok in the church?

SharperIron yesterday posted an excellent evaluation of Jesus Junk, which I learned of by way of Evangelical Outpost. The author, Jason Janz, derides kitschy Christian products like Scripture mints, golf balls with Scripture references, and t-shirts with cutesy Christian slogans. (Click on the discussion link at SharperIron to see some wacky Jesus junk pictures.) I admit that I can’t stand that stuff either. I used to go sometimes to a Christian bookstore in my hometown but went less often as they gradually devoted less and less space to books and more and more to Jesus junk. It’s the Christian equivalent of tourist souvenirs: snow globes, spoons, miniature statues, and paper weights. And, just like there are junk souvenirs that appeal to every tourist demographic (in terms of age, sex, and income), that’s also the case with Jesus junk.

I’d like to offer my own brief assessment of the phenomenon. I agree with Janz that wearing Jesus apparel does not amount to proclaiming the gospel. Janz cites as one of the reasons why some Christians buy Jesus junk is that they think it will lead to conversions. I’m sure it does sometimes. I have no doubt that there are at least several stories that could be told about how someone’s fish-emblazoned golf balls sparked a conversation that paved the way for a conversion. I suspect that many Christians have a real desire to publicly testify to the gospel but are afraid of putting off non-Christians. Good moral character and clean polo shirts plus a few obvious pieces of Jesus merchandise constitute a lifestyle witness, they might think. It should be obvious that they are Christians, so let anyone who is interested feel free to ask.

The problem is that people don’t usually feel free to ask. Our culture prizes privacy and excludes face-to-face talk about religion and politics from the sphere of good manners. Unless you’re already great friends (and if all your activities take place with either your own family or other Christians, I doubt you could be), it would take a special sort of confident extrovert to strike up that conversation.

The ultimate religious apparel is obviously a religious uniform of some kind. There is a sizable population of orthodox Jews who live near my neighborhood in New York. The men wear yarmulkes and have sidelocks, and the women all have shoulder-length hair held back with a hairband, ankle-length skirts and black leather shoes with a short heel. It’s a religious-cultural uniform. I have no idea what the significance is to the women’s uniform, but I don’t have the courage to ask. I wonder how many people accost one of these young men and ask how to convert to Judaism or strike up a conversation that leads to a conversion? How often does that happen when a cleric walks through the city wearing a dog collar? I was on the subway one time about a month ago when a Franciscan monk got on. He attracted a lot of curious glances, secret stares, and prompted at least one person to roll his eyes, but by the time I got off the train, no one had asked him about his order or beliefs about God.

With regard to what we’ve been calling Jesus junk, it’s possible that some people really do prize and treasure these little items, just like some souvenir collectors really do value those things. I never have, so I stopped buying them a long time ago, and that’s also why I call them “junk.” They’re junk to me. For someone else they might serve as a reminder throughout the day of the God who loves them and watches over them. A person might think twice about mouthing off at the customer service desk when he remembers that he bears the name of Jesus, not only spiritually, but right there on the front of his t-shirt. (On the other hand, if it doesn’t have that effect, it might do more harm than good. Are Christians more courteous drivers if they have an ixthus on their bumper?) Passively testifying to Jesus’ lordship in your life through your clothing or a piece of jewelry might be a first stage in the growth of confident boldness.

Janz also laments the blatant commercialism exemplified by Jesus junk. On this point, I have mixed feelings, especially when it comes to Christian book publishing. So long as good teaching and encouragement is being spread through Christian books, who cares whether Zondervan is owned by HarperCollins, which is in turn owned by News Corporation? I assume (but it’s no more than an assumption) that most of the folks at HarperCollins and News Corp. aren’t Christians, and I really doubt that most of News Corporation’s shareholders are. But, if they want to use their capital to strengthen the Christian church through publishing a few improving titles, let them profit! May God bless them for blessing us.

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