Denzel Washington and Culture

It’s always difficult to find an example of an artist who might be characterized as Christ and Culture in Paradox. This is because eventhough they believe their faith does not directly influence their art. They live in two worlds at the same time- the world of their faith and the world of their art. They are a Christian artist only insofar as they are an artist who happens to be a Chrisitan.

This might be true in the case of Denzel Washington. Today I listened to an interview with him on NPR’s Fresh Air. Near the end of the interview he mentions that he is still active in the same type of church his father was a preacher in (the Church of God in Christ). He talks about how his beliefs help him live his live, but doesn’t talk so much about how his faith influences his art as an actor beyond his faith helping him understand the truth behind the world he lives in. For instance, he wrote “the wages of sin is death” on the script for Training Day because he thought this to be a true principle that applied in this circumstance.

Of course, this it is hard enough to characterize people from history in terms of Christ and Culture, but even harder to characterize them if they are still living (unless they take the survey). Part of this is because engage our culture in different ways at different times- and no one consistenly portrays any one perspective. It would be great if Mr. Washington were to take the Christ and Culture survey, but in the meantime we have to listen to his interview and speculate for ourselves.