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Recently I've seen a lot of news stories that talk about evangelicals actually embracing books such as Harry Potter. Christianity Today recently published a Weblog item on its website in which it reiterated that most evangelicals are supporting the books. Where does this reality fit in your paradigm?

It's important to distinguish between evangelicalism and the more conservative fundamentalist traditions. Historically, evangelicalism arose in the early part of the 20th century as a reaction against fundamentalists being too removed from culture. And evangelicalism said, "We need to be about embracing what's good in culture and encouraging people to negotiate with culture, as opposed to just rejecting it."

Where the fundamentalist groups thought that they needed to hole up and be separate from the culture overall, evangelicals have always kind of been involved in a struggle with how much of popular culture to accept and how to draw boundaries. But there is a contingent within evangelicalism that leans more toward fundamentalism. That's probably where the misperception comes from.

What's the significance of your findings for youth ministers and parents?

It's important for adults to look beyond the immediate media content that they may find objectionable, because teen culture is always about shocking parents.

It's easy for adults to become very worried about the violence and the sex—and that's understandable. But parents and youth leaders who are savvy are able to say, "Yes, there's sex and violence in some of these stories, but there's also a larger myth there. And we can tap into what's meaningful to young people if we can get them to talk about that." For example, punk music arose out of a dissatisfaction with consumerism in middle-class culture.

Young people, when they hear critiques from adults who are just reacting to their popular culture, hear it as a criticism of themselves. Teens aren't able to sort that out. That's the job we need to take on as adults and as youth leaders.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also appearing on our site today:

Evangelicalism's Dark Side and Popular Culture | Evangelicals may feel that stories of supernatural battles between good and evil belong to them, but they cannot control how these stories will be reconfigured once they enter the realm of entertainment media.

From Angels to Aliens can be purchased at Amazon.com and other book retailers.

Oxford University Press has more information on From Angels to Aliens, including the introduction, first chapter, and index.

Lynn Schofield Clark's website at the University of Colorado also has information about the book, including Clark's speaking schedule.

The Boulder Daily Camera also examined Clark's book.

See our earlier coverage of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Matrix, Harry Potter, "mooks and midriffs," and other pop culture phenomena.

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July (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47