Iconoclasts ... blase?

A quick note from the road ....

I've been making my way through Iconoclast by Gregory Berns. I've always been fascinated by the idea of iconoclasm, ever since Professor John Wortley taught me about the infamous Byzantine controversy in his medieval history class. Iconoclasts are image-breakers, a reference in the middle ages to smashing or removing the supposedly blasphemous images of Christ on paintings, coins, etc. Today, Gregory Berns describes iconoclasts in more appealing terms as "a person who does something that others say can't be done".

The driving concept of my doctoral work is iconoclash. Iconoclash is the idea of taking two opposing images/ideas and bringing them together in ways everyone else thinks is impossible. Rock 'n' Roll Preacher is my take on iconoclash, and the unique contrast generated by bringing rock 'n' roll and religion together gives new meaning and dimension to both terms. Music fans love discussing religion. Religious people need to talk about music. You can't really understand rock 'n' roll or religion unless you understand both.

I've been reading Andy Crouch's Culture Making, which is a call for Christians to stop trashing and bashing culture and start cultivating it instead. Right-wing (and left-wing) Christians are notorious iconoclasts - they're infamous for complaining about cultural trends. Maybe they should give up the iconoclast role and embrace iconoclash. Iconclash is the challenge to create something different -- to be constructive instead of destructive. It's Crouch's idea of cultivating culture. Shouldn't be hard for people who believe they're made in the image of a creator.

Culture making ... or culture faking?

One of the best books I've read in a long, long time is Andy Crouch's Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. I'm going to talk about some of Crouch's insights at our MissionFest Manitoba workshop today.

The workshop is called" Leave boring and bigot behind: be a Christian in a multi-faith world". Dave Balzer, the show's host for 10+ years, and Melissa McEachern, the show's producer, are bookending my comments. We'll give our audience a behind-the-scenes look at the creative energy that brings the GodTalk Radio Show to Winnipeg's largest news/talk audience every Sunday night.

MissionFest Manitoba 2009
Grant Memorial Church
877 Wilkes Avenue
11:30 a.m. Rm. 249

Would love to see you there!