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.
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I am using this blog to expand on a couple of ideas that have been running through my head. I find myself spending time thinking about how things relate to two basic topics: our justification by faith in Christ and now this faith influences how we interact with our culture.
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.
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.
Other examples might be John Grisham and Dorothy Sayers.
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).