In terms of defining Christian communication, it's my view that a secular work that has "redemptive" themes does not make it Christian per se. We must not make the definition of Christian media too wide, or else it becomes a catch-all -- a non-category. But we should acknowledge the important contributions of some secular (or better termed, mainstream) works to issues of spirituality, justice and equity, all of which align with Christianity. We can call these works "pre-Christian," rather than "Christian." There are a lot of excellent works that fall into this category and Christians need to exploit these media for the opportunities they provide to share our faith.
Here is how I would suggest we try to define Christian communication, from the perspectives of motivation, content and reception:
Motivation/intention: The motivation of the work is to promote a Christian worldview (which may or may not include "salvation"), whether this is the primary intent or secondary/subtle. I would acknowledge here that for popular media productions, the work itself may be produced by non-Christians, based on a Christian work, such as Hollywood productions of C. S. Lewis or Tolkien novels. If the motivation behind the original work is to advance a Christian worldview (even if indirectly), and if the Hollywood production remains largely faithful to the original material, it would still meet the motivation criteria.
Content: The quality and quantity of Christian content or themes should meet or exceed a minimum threshold. Here is where my definition gets a bit subjective. By quality of Christian content, I mean the Biblical orthodoxy of the message being expressed and this leaves room for theological disagreement. But this is important because a work may have a lot of Biblical themes (e.g. The Da Vinci Code) but if it presents a derogatory view of Christianity or is based on unsound doctrine, then it's not Christian communication. I would add that the messages/themes do not have to be overtly Christian, as C.S Lewis has shown with his Chronicles of Narnia (the work does not need to be preachy or require direct references to the Bible, allowing Christian pre-evangelistic works to qualify). But somehow the work needs to address some of the core truths and tenets of Christianity. I would also like to open this criteria to works that are not necessarily aimed at advancing the Great Commission. The work may be aimed at providing entertainment or be prophetic in terms of addressing issues of justice and equity in the culture, but it would still need to reflect some core truths and tenets of Christianity. The quantity criteria is also admittedly subjective. I would argue that one prayer in a script or novel would not make it Christian. Prayer in several scenes might. There needs to be some minimal amount of Christian content and I propose at least 30 percent of the content.
Reception: This relates to the definition of communication as a meeting of minds, some measure of shared understanding. Christian communication is completed when the intended message strengthens or develops a Christian worldview in the audience and/or leads them to act in accordance with that worldview.
I submit that a work is Christian if it at least meets both the motivation and content criteria explained above.
My guidelines for consuming/selecting media may be summed up as follows: Would you be okay consuming this media with Jesus? If so, what would he say (from the reformer's perspective) about the media you are consuming? Drilling down, here are some specific questions I would ask:
(a) Does this media production include gratuitous violence (violence for the sake of violence, with no moral or ethical lessons)? Even if the violence has a moral basis or simply depicts historical reality, is the level of violence appropriate for the viewer (e.g. kids?). Violence is okay in a media production, but the intent and appropriateness of the violence needs to be questioned.
(b) Does the media production advance unbiblical views of sex, sexuality and relational intimacy? Sexual content is a big factor, because it's hard to critique from a reformer's point of view. By simply (and intentionally) viewing sexual content, I may already have crossed the Biblical line about lustful use of the eye (Matthew 5:28). Content aimed at sex education, if it excludes explicit images and is age appropriate, would however be fine.
(c) Does the media production use gratuitous profanity and coarse language? This is not to say some use of expletives in a media work immediately disqualifies it from my viewing list. But flagrant use (or over-use) throughout a movie that does not have other strong redeeming values, would. So I would be more flexible on this criteria than the sexual criteria -- I can accept some foul language, balanced against the media work's overall merits. Perhaps the foul language makes a moral point or helps advance the story in some way, without overwhelming it.
(d) Does the media production glorify worldly values and false spirituality? This one is a bit of a catch-all for material that does not fall into the Big Three above. It could range from the advancement of New Age and occultic ideas, to crass materialism, to unbiblical notions of love and romanticism. I will confess that my standards have been a bit lose on this one, specifically the last two. I will watch a romantic view with my wife although often it paints a picture of love and marriage that is unrealistic and not Biblically founded.
What are your thoughts? How would you define Christian media and what standards do you use for media consumption as a Christian?
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