From Kate Shellnutt: Several years ago, I was invited to speak to theology undergrads at Liberty University about Christian cultural engagement. I had been surrounded by thoughtful examples at Christianity Today: At the time Andy Crouch—author of Culture Making—was executive editor, and Alissa Wilkinson—now a movie critic at The New York Times— was our movie reviewer.
 
After the class, one of the professors commented on the pieces of entertainment I had referenced. He told me that Liberty students couldn’t watch R-rated movies under their code of conduct. My talk had overestimated the benefits of engagement with pop culture and probably underestimated the reasons Christians restrict or avoid certain works.
 
I appreciated my colleague Kate Lucky’s take on the dilemma for Christian viewers around how to engage our faith as we engage culture—without requiring everything meet biblical standards or reflect something about our beliefs: “Our job is not to justify our taste in culture but to explain what we see from a vantage point oriented to Christ.”