Danielle Steel Transforming Culture
Posted: June 24th, 2009 | Author: david | Filed under: Christ & Culture in Paradox, Christ Above Culture, Christ Transforming Culture, examples | 4 Comments »
I was surprised to read in last week’s Newsweek about Danielle Steel‘s faith and how it made her want to help the homeless. When I think of Steel I think of smutty, unrealistic romance novels (and the Beatles song, Paperback Writer)- I had no idea she was a believer.
According to the Newsweek article, she is not only a believer, but her faith has legs that are working to help the homeless.
This is a good example for our discussion of Christ and Culture. As I have mentioned before, although it is tempting to put people in one category or another (as my survey attempts to do) a better way of approaching this is circumstantially. In other words how we engage culture depends more upon the circumstances than our committment to any one perspective. Steel is a good example of this. As a believer who writes pulp fiction she is expressing a Christ and Culture in Paradox perspective- she keeps her work separate from her faith. While she engages culture in this way with her work, when it comes to homeless people she is trying to make the world a better place for other people- an example of Christ Transforming Culture. The circumstances change the way Steel engages her culture as a Christian.
One might argue that Steel could be more consistent, and use her skills as a writer to transform culture. That would not mean that she would begin to write Christian romance fiction. That genre is an example of Christ Above Culture for using a category of culture to promote Christ. That would not mean that Steel should begin writing a series about the life of Jesus either, as Anne Rice did. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with writing a series of novels about the life of Christ, but an author that attempts to transform culture is one who uses their skills to make the world a better place for everyone because of their faith whether or not someone is converted as a result.
I’m a little confused…I read the article in Newsweek as well, but I didn’t come away thinking that Danielle is a believer. I think she was looking for something to fill the hole left in her life after her son commited suicide. The article was interesting, but it does not portray the Gospel Rescue Mission side of the equation. Her words reflect poorly on shelters, and she never talks about visiting any faith-based organizations. The Missions I’ve seen and been involved in are known for being Christ’s hands & feet to the homeless. Offering help and hope in the name of Christ.
Don’t get me wrong, Steel’s efforts are needed and certainly valiant. But she’s not the first to reach out to those in desperate straits. And doing so doesn’t make her a Christian any more than walking on the street makes you homeless.
For the purposes of discussion the interaction between Christ and culture, I have defined “christian” with broad strokes. Since Steel’s desire to help the homeless occurred while she was at church, that’s good enough for the purposes of this blog.
It’s outside the scope of this discussion of whether or not I personally agree with the theology (or lack thereof) of someone’s church.
I get your Christ and Culture analogy, but I too haven’t seen anything in Danielle Steel’s writings to make me think she’s actually a Christian. Another writer who might fit the category better might be Algis Budrys who wrote among other things A Clockwork Orange and The Wanting Seed. He also wrote the screenplay for a miniseries on Jesus of Nazareth. His books center around the Augustinian-Pelegian controversy, but the violence and sexual content don’t look like any Christian writer I’ve ever seen.
Other examples might be John Grisham and Dorothy Sayers.
Bill, I can’t believe you admitted that you’ve read Danielle Steel! I haven’t but the reference to her Christianity comes from the statement that she attends church, according to the above mentioned newsweek article.
I am not familiar with Budry but it sounds like he falls into the Christ Above Culture camp for using culture to promote Christ. The same might go for Sayers- who I also haven’t read but am familiar with by hearsay. Grisham is an example of Christ and Culture in Paradox because he happens to be a Christian who writes, but his faith is not necessarily promoted by his writing nor is he trying to change culture through his writing (which are more pulp fiction than novels).