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For Immediate Release
RE: Finding the Sacred in Popular Culture
Finding the Sacred in Popular Culture
June 18, 2005
The final session of Christian Reflections on Contemporary Culture was presented by David Dark on the topic of Apocalyptic for the People. Much of his discussion came from his book Everyday Apocalypse (Brazos Press) in which he examines sacred revelation in popular culture.
Dark’s discussion began with an insight into the removed definition of “apocalypse,” a term usually associated with destruction and end time calamity. Taking the word back to its root of “revelation,” Dark sees apocalypse as more of “…a watchful way of being” in the world.
Several times during his presentation, Dark quoted a poster he had seen in a bookstore in Dublin which read “Anyone who tries to make a distinction between entertainment and education doesn’t know the first thing about either.”
“I liked the sound of that, and I still do…. It fit well alongside my conviction that the writing, music, and film I loved wasn’t merely an entertaining distraction, but it’s actually somehow sociologically important.”
Throughout the seminar, Dark sought to prove his point of seeing beyond the literal and recognizing sacred qualities in everyday occurrences. “I never liked it when the writing that rocked my world was reduced to the category of ‘classical literature.’ And I was consistently becoming miffed at the suggestion that The Simpsons was just a funny cartoon. It is that, certainly, but isn’t there something exhilaratingly truthful going on in the delivery?”
Dark draws from the words of New Testament scholars, who wouldn’t think to reduce the words of scripture to a merely spiritual significance, and uses the Bible as his example. “The Word is alive, not to be compartmentalized to the spiritual or the religion section,” he said. “It tells truth or it doesn’t. It won’t be reduced to an object of study because it studies you. Like any media, it bears witness.”
A story, whether delivered through a song, a television sitcom, or a piece of prose, has a message and seeks to persuade. It is more than merely just a story. “The story invites you to find your own soul in its narrative logic,” Dark observed. “How will you respond? Or better yet, how are you responding? You’re already engaged, after all. Are you considering an engagement with culture? Too late. You’re soaking in it.”
Two responses were given following Dark’s discussion by Esther Meek, assistant professor of philosophy, Geneva College; and Hal Bush, professor of English, Saint Louis University.
David Dark is an English teacher at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, TN where he resides with his wife, singer/songwriter Sarah Masen. In addition to Everyday Apocalypse, Dark has published articles and reviews in Prism magazine and Books & Culture.
Recorded sessions are available for purchase at www.christianityandculture.org.
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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