jonathan stegall

Since the latter part of the 20th century, one of the things that has been common in all developed countries and the vast majority of developing countries is the presence of an underground culture, or subculture. This has manifested itself in any number of forms, from the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s to the punk and Goth movements of the 1970s and 1980s to the metalheads of the 1980s and 1990s, and various others that began to develop in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Many people agree with me that these subcultures marked the beginnings of postmodernism outside of universities and other academic settings, so the significance of these movements is easily missed, even aside from the fact that they provided a unifying vein of culture from San Francisco to Warsaw. In any case, cultural changes always start on the margins of a society, and then they move toward the center. Postmodernism, or whatever term you prefer (post-postmodernism, emerging culture, postcolonialism, The Age of Interconnectivity, etc.) has proven to work the same way.

Where are they now?

You may ask what is happening to these subcultures, now that culture is transitioning. I am indebted to my friend Peter Wohler, as well as numerous conversations and observances, for the idea that they are transitioning as well.

Consider the Gothic subculture (as it really is, not as it has occasionally been portrayed). I have been, to varying degrees, part of this subculture since I was a freshman in high school, and have a great affection for it. I resonate with the music, the art, the fashion, and the thought patterns and worldview much more than any other subculture.

However, it finds itself a bit less defined than it was in the 1990s. There is significantly more crossover with other genres, and the clubs and festivals and concerts and music stores and catalogs have fewer “purist” Goths and Goth bands. As I said, I love Goth culture, but I in the last few years I have tended to find a lot more metal that I enjoy, because of the shifts that have occurred in Goth music.

Other subcultures, from punk to metal to the various reincarnations of the hippie movement, have fared similarly, blending with various other subcultures and reshaping themselves in recent years.

What about the rest of the culture?

In addition to this internal reshaping, as the culture as a whole has transitioned, it finds itself having more and more in common with subcultures. Everyone feels like they are marginalized, lonely, and misunderstood.

This transition manifests itself across culture, from art and music to business and technology. Those of us who are trying to be a part of the reshaping of the church, in its language and its theology and its culture, can see this clearly in the growth of the emerging church movement, the new monastic movement, the house church movement, and any number of other developing and converging streams.

As I’ve said before, many of these movements have their beginnings in the thoughts and dreams of the past few decades of introducing Jesus to people on the fringes of society. These thoughts and dreams are moving inward, and they are reshaping the church.

The power of this reshaping lies in the fact that the church can finally hope to detach itself from the miserable facade that is Christendom, and really be faithful to the radical nature of Jesus. It is this that makes now an exciting time to be alive, and to be a part of this transition.

From Greg Boyd:

This is the kind of power the omnipotent God of the universe uses against his enemies. And this is the kind of power we’re to use against our ‘enemies.’ It’s the power of Calvary-like love.

I’d love to get a copy of the poster he’s blogging about.

Update

Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, there are several blog posts floating around that are incredibly critical of the Jesus that this poster is presenting. In light of this, I want to take a look at what is being said by the poster. At face value, we have Jesus washing the feet of a series of world leaders, one of whom is Osama Bin Laden.

Theologically, the footwashing is an incredibly significant passage. In it, Jesus does the duty of a slave, and washes the dirty feet of several people who in various ways will abandon him in the coming hours and days, and tells them to do likewise. Service in love. Service without regard to what is going to be returned. Fair enough. Why not serve someone who, whatever one’s political beliefs about Bin Laden may be, is certainly not a servant of Jesus?

But, fine. It’s not specific enough. How about this?

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

There is a lot of debate about the implications of this passage. Many believe that it has nothing to say to the actions of a nation-state with regard to its enemies, but only speaks to an individual. Many believe it does, and that all followers of Jesus should promote pacificism. I don’t want to get into that discussion at the moment. Let’s say this passage only speaks to an individual. Fine. A follower of Jesus should love her enemies. He should do good to them.

According to most mainstream media outlets, there are few greater enemies to the American people than Bin Laden. If we look at this passage from a purely individualistic perspective, we at least are told to love people like him. To do good for them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

I’ve been thinking, recently, about why I dislike American Idol so much. I’ve wondered, “Is it just me being cynical?” “Is it me being afraid of user-generated content?” (what a geekish question to even ask) “Is it just because I don’t like the style of all the stuff they perform?” And so on. Today, though, it finally hit me.

Art - a creative discipline

First of all, I believe passionately that art should be done with creativity, or it shouldn’t be done at all. This includes music, film, design in all its manifestations, television, literature in all its manifestations, and so on and so on. Understandably, this means that I don’t like a lot of what culture puts out as art.

In American Idol’s case, you have a show. Its contestants are, in all likelihood, performing works that:

• They didn’t create in the first place.
• The person who did create them probably didn’t do so out of a great love for art.
• Are not particularly unique, original, or beyond the status quo.
• And the contestants performing them aren’t either.

Mediocre Art

If one were to discuss American Idol with someone who is known for being a virtuoso vocalist, or a voice professor, or someone who understands music theory at all, it’s very likely that that person would not have a high view of the musical skills of the contestants, or of the musical knowledge of the American people.

And here, we get into one of the problems with MySpace. We have the general population creating “webpages,” when they’re not qualified to do so. On American Idol, we have the general population judging musical talents when they’re not qualified to do so. Logically, we’re going to end up with the musical equivalent of moving pink backgrounds with white text on top of them.

I’m all for user generated content, to an extent. I just feel like it should be generated by users that have some knowledge of what they’re generating. I think this is why niche sites like Digg and countless others end up with, on average, items that are more relevant and more intelligent to the people using them.

I think those are my major issues with the show. I could rant about the idea that this art is being performed for the wrong reasons, but that may occasionally not be the case. And even if it is, there’s a great deal of amazing art that’s been produced throughout the ages by people who really don’t have any interest in the subject matter they’re dealing with.