Baller 21

Creative Originality and Christians

by Chris Harvey on 01/19/10

Phil Cooke, a writer, speaker, filmmaker, & media consultant, posted on an interesting topic, “Why Can’t Christians Be More Orginial?” The post stemmed from a USA Today online article that discusses the copying of designs and logos from some in the Christian industry. An excerpt from the article states:

“American retailers sell about $4.6 billion worth of Christian products annually, and some are spoofs or spinoffs of commercial logos or brand names. Many such goods are illegal, trademark attorneys say, but companies often are unaware their names are being copied or don’t put up a fight for fear of being labeled anti-faith.”

Phil Cooke adds to the discussion:

“We wonder why Christians don’t make more of an impact in the culture, when so little of what we do is really original and innovative. When it’s easier to copy ideas from the non-believing culture, what attraction is that for them to consider our perspective on faith?

When Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” on the church door at Wittenberg Germany, it sparked an explosion that resulted in the Protestant Reformation. I think it’s time for a new 95 Theses style document that calls Christians to a higher standard of innovation and original thinking. After all, we worship the ultimate creator. So why do we prefer to rip people off?

Let’s have a “Creative Reformation.” Anyone else in?

I’m in. We do worship the ultimate creator and are created in the image of God. We are designed to cultivate culture and reflect the most creative being of all time.

Why do some prefer to rip off others creativity and innovation? Laziness, possibly, for one. Another explanation is that many Christians struggle with balancing out living in the culture verses influencing the culture.

There seems to be a difficulty, generally speaking, of applying the Christian worldview in culture and knowing how to cultivate in the areas of branding, television, film, apparel, athletics, to name a few, that is both creative, innovative, and engaging to the general culture and yet not compromising in Christian principles.

Disengaging culture all together is not the answer (if possible at all because culture is so intertwined into all of life). Continued patterns of not producing creative and innovative work is not at an option either and does not communicate a message that we want to reflect to the world.

The question, again, is: Why do Christians struggle with being more original?

There are many bad examples that we could list, but what positive examples could we list of Christians creatively cultivating in culture? Any examples in branding, television, film, music, and apparel?

What examples, currently or in history, could we list in athletics?

In the field of media and film, how about Sherwood Pictures, a ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church, who created Facing the Giants and Fireproof?

In athletics, how about the originality of the YMCA and one of it’s members named James Naismith?

A resource that has helped me think through this issue better, cultivating culture, is Nancy Pearcey’s book, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from it’s Cultural Captivity.