Christian Celebrity: An Oxymoron?

Can anything good come from Nazareth? Watts? Orange County? Doubleday?

While we are crucified with Christ, some of us are also pitchmen for Christ—such is the fate of the Christian publicist. Carol DeChant is head of DeChant-Hughes & Associates, a leading public relations firm in Chicago. Her ruminations are excerpted from BOOKS & CULTURE, a companion publication of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Ushering a bishop into a big autographing event, I give him a four-inch button imprinted with the title of his book. He winces. "Won't wearing this be incredibly self-serving?" "Yes, of course," I nod, grinning.In 20 years as a publicist, I've seen changes in how media perceive religion. Faith was once a talk-show taboo. Media now realize religious topics can hook audiences, especially when advocates become hostile. Many media, however, also appreciate our longing for inspiration. What builds ratings today reflects this ambivalence of seeking heroes yet being suspicious of the noble. Working with inspirational books, I am enmeshed in this conflict.

The pastor didn't project the energy which radio producers believe lights up the phone lines. ("We love religion," one of them says. "It makes people fight.") And the pastor declined to let me use what would have been the headline material—the Names who had abandoned him. I had to sell what they call a soft segment: a good man's faith helped him endure evil and forgive his unnamed persecutors. Sales of his book were modest. The PR was handicapped by humility.

A publicist in my office sits beside an eager-to-learn intern, who is soaking up the real and often peculiar PR world beyond the classroom. The publicist hangs up after talking to a lawyer who had hired a ghost writer to package his story. "So, what was the matter?" asks the intern.

The publicist explains, "He's disappointed because the guy who interviewed him for the radio show hadn't read his book."

The intern is puzzled: "Why? He didn't write it!"

A Chinese woman wants feedback on a press release for her pastor's book. It's about holiness, heaven, wisdom. Media won't buy these abstract notions, I warn. Americans need to know: how does that impact me?

No, it doesn't matter that your pastor has hundreds of thousands of followers abroad; what can he say to people in Nashville? Unless … are there any famous followers? Is there a Richard Gere or a John Travolta?

She wants me to understand that her faith is grander than this. I explain that in America, she needs a hook. She blinks. Embarrassed, I tell her the comic's bit about the evolution of our culture as seen in our magazines: from Life to People to Us to Self. She wonders how she will explain this to her people.

Perhaps our ambivalence about heroes indicates vestiges of a culture that identified heroism with the once-manly courage of attack. Onto that cultural heritage add today's worship of self-actualization—make that speedy self-actualization. Perseverance and humility now seem like wimpy virtues. "Blessed are the meek"? Not on this planet. In volume 3 of his Companion to the Summa of Aquinas, Walter Farrell notes that when we let others provide our heroism, we resign ourselves to abandoning the possibility of the heroic in ourselves. For my heroes out there I cheer, "Go for it." To the hero in me, I mutter, "Chill out."

Yet vicarious heroism is always unsatisfying, Farrell points out. "Courage is as necessary for the living of human life as air, food, or drink; not only the courage of the venturesome, but also that principal courage that holds on, even when holding on is the best [a person] can do." Human life is the real adventure, and genuine heroes are those who possess "the courage that refuses to relinquish the good."

As a publicist, I notice how often after Jesus healed, resurrected, or exorcised he said, "See that you don't tell this to anyone" (Mark 1:43). It was a tall and always impossible order. (How does one respond to "What happened to your leprosy?" or "Weren't you, uh, just dead?") So those who were healed publicized the matter, and then "Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere" (Mark 1:45).

I see myself in the leper and in the crowd. I hope to encounter the incarnation of all that I might strive toward. I seek truth and charity in this world. Worthy books and humble authors are often a source. Still, I'm attuned to the buzz of that skeptic in the wings. Can anything good come from Nazareth? Watts? Orange County? Doubleday?

When I use the Bible as something other than a weapon for my petty agenda, I find stories of incredible human courage, of valor that amazes even the frail people who exhibit it. The ultimate Hero asks me to build that courage within my vain, idol-worshiping, fearful, mean, impatient self. Heroism is within our power, through grace. It allows us to seek out and to accept no substitutes for the good and the true in our sorry, silly, and sometimes wonderful world.

To subscribe to BOOKS & CULTURE: A Christian Review, call 1-800-523-7964.

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

1998 Book Awards: Our panel of judges shows a little shelf-respect: Here are 25 significant books from A (for autobiography—Billy Graham's, which tops the list) to Z (for Zondervan, his publisher). This year's specialty? Alliterative titles: Defeating Darwinism, The Fabric of Faithfulness, A History of Heaven, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Subversive Spirituality.

Our Latest

News

Amid Fragile Cease-Fire, Limited Aid Reaches Gazans

Locals see the price of flour rise and fall as truce is strained and some borders remain closed.

News

Federal Job Cuts Hit Home as Virginia Picks Its Next Governor

Meanwhile, the GOP candidate draws from Trump’s playbook to focus on transgender issues in schools. 

Religious OCD and Me

Scrupulosity latches onto the thing we hold most dear—our relationship with God.

Why ‘The Screwtape Letters’ Is Uncomfortable to Watch

The two-actor play uses C. S. Lewis’s classic work to warn people—especially Christians—about the dangers of lukewarm faith.

News

Fewer Hong Kong Youth Interested in Seminary

Many feel disillusioned about the church and its lack of engagement amid the turmoil of the past few years.

The Just Life with Benjamin Watson

Tiffany Loftin: How Everyday People Win Big Change

A conversation about the challenges of sustaining joy while fighting injustice.

Public Theology Project

A Real Revival Is Not Controllable 

It implies a movement of the Spirit, not just a boost in numbers.

From Our Community

For Vince Bacote, the Black Evangelical Story Has Something for Everyone

The theologian behind a recent documentary on what compelled him to tell a challenging and beautiful story.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube