Karl Barth once advised young theologians “to take your Bible and your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” PreachingToday.com asked Kevin Vanhoozer, editor of Everyday Theology (Baker Academic, 2007) and professor of theology at Wheaton College Graduate School in Illinois, how preachers can do what Barth advised.
Why is it important to exegete the culture and not just the Bible?
While preachers are doing what they can to inform and transform their congregations, they only get them a few hours a week. That means six days out of the week something else is spiritually forming our people—shaping their thought patterns and behaviors. Who is forming our children? Who is forming us? There’s a lot of research that indicates people watch TV more than they read their Bible. The culture is where people get their vision of what the world is really like.
How does the imagination factor into this?
Imagination is the ability to grasp things together in a meaningful pattern. Imagination is at work when a scientist develops a hypothesis that enables her to see how something causes something else. We all do that. We all look at the world with a framework of belief and interpretation, and that happens on the level of the imagination. The question is, are we doing it with biblical categories or are we just following cultural templates?
Preachers should not only be trying to take every thought captive to God’s Word, but also every imagination. The imagination is the core out of which we live. The problem with culture is how it captures our imaginations through indirect communication. We can spot direct anti-Christian communication; that’s easy. It’s the indirect propaganda that’s harder to spot.
So preaching can help transform our interpretive grid?
A pastor may get people to agree with a sermon on Sunday, but teaching biblical truth is an empty victory if the culture is what’s shaping their imaginations and therefore their decisions the rest of the week. That’s why preachers must exegete the culture as well. It’s not about being relevant for relevance’s sake; it’s not about being cool. Preachers exegete culture for the sake of deepening people’s understanding of what’s really going on.
Your book speaks of “cultural texts.” What is that?
I call cultural objects or trends “texts” because they usually have a maker or author who instills their creations with meaning. Lots of things have meaning that aren’t literally made of words on paper—talk radio, advertisements, store displays, even buildings, cars, and shoes. I we want people to ask, “What effects are these having, and what does they mean?” Ultimately we want people to read cultural texts through the lens of biblical texts.
Overall, should preachers be optimistic or pessimistic about the culture?
Some people are optimistic when they look at popular culture; they see the image of God and the knowledge of God bubbling up everywhere. Others focus on original sin. They’re pessimistic about what popular culture is doing. These are both true Christian doctrines—the image of God and original sin—so we are left to wrestle with the tension. My advice: don’t be in a hurry either to condemn or to condone. You need to assess cultural texts on a case-by-case basis. That’s harder work.
Where can preachers begin?
A video produced by the PBS show Frontline called “The Persuaders” is one of the most important things I show my class every year. It reveals how marketers give meaning to their products by targeting the imagination. It’s really about how cultural texts are created; how a shoe carries more meaning than we realize.
Science fiction—even if it’s set in the future, is always about the present, about our culture’s worries and neuroses projected into the future and imagining, what will it be like in a hundred years if we keep doing this? I’m interested in science fiction because I’m interested in the present. It tells me what people’s dreams and hopes and fears are, and that’s very helpful for every preacher.
—The full version of this interview and Preaching Today‘s review of Kevin Vanhoozer’s book, Everyday Theology, is available at www.preachingtoday.com
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
