Today, Phil Cooke asks an interesting question:
If you could produce a TV program that would impact people's lives with a message of faith - the kind of program you would watch - what would that look like?
This is my answer.
I'm not sure exactly what this might look like, but I think there is tremendous potential to construct a TV program that fleshes out C.S. Lewis's famous quote from "Is Theology Poetry?":
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
About this statement, Alister McGrath explains:
"For Lewis, the Christian faith was like an intellectual sun, illuminating and irradiating the rich conceptual landscape of the natural world, enabling the observer to make sense of, and hence appreciate, the intricate patterns of the tapestry of human experience and thought. Cultivating the art of seeing is the key to unlocking the meaning of the world." Alister McGrath, A fine-tuned universe (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 21.
It would be, I imagine, a documentary, or perhaps even a talk show that speaks to various topics concerning Christianity, culture, vocation, the arts, the Bible, etc. The primary goal would be to, as McGrath says, "cultivate the art of seeing."
I think it would be important to have a diversity of Christian perspectives represented in the show. Of course, no program can ever be completely unbiased, but Christian television seems to often be very one-sided (and mostly right-wing conservative). It would be cool to have a program that fosters dialogue, building bridges of understanding between Christian faith traditions. Perhaps end the program not with a "This is the way it is!" but with a picture of the possibilities. And perhaps most importantly, end the program with a prayer imploring the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see, and ears to hear, thus acknowledging, together, before each other and before the Lord, that we will never be able to figure all of this out by ourselves, but we are utterly dependent upon God's grace to light our path, and his mercy to pick us up when we stumble.
Image: Seated woman viewing red Western Sun (2008) installation by Mark Handforth, Miami Art Museum, Florida
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