When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I felt that I could confidently, and without hyperbole, declare, “God is Dead.” American Christians had condemned the faith by actively promoting this narcissistic demagogue, or failing to mount a significant opposition. But my last slumbering kernel of Christian faith pointed me to minister friends who were “in the trenches” opposing rampant racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia, often at great risk to themselves.
Arthur Stewart, co-editor of Are You Still Watching? is one of those friends. I thought he was part of an endangered minority of Christian ministers until I started listening to his talk show The Two On One Project with Stephanie “Spiff” Kendell. Though Arthur and Spiff may claim they became partners on this project because of a shared love of Sondheim, I personally believe that it was, in fact, due to their unparalleled dedication to justice ministry for underrepresented populations. In other words, I was able to add Spiff to my short list of heroes.
After reading Are You Still Watching? from cover to cover, I think I may have finally abandoned my religious pessimism from 2016, and for that I want to thank, in order of their contributions to the book, Daniel Lyvers, Colton D. Lott, Rae Karim, Travis Smith McKee, Larry J. Morris III, Jason Reynolds, Diane Faires Beadle, Delesslyn A. Kennebrew, Shane Isner, and Whitney Waller, as well. Not only was I able to add these authors to my list, but they gave me hope that there are many more dedicated anti-bigots out there than I had originally thought.
Humor is the door that leads into this collection of essays, and it starts in the Introduction with a paraphrase of Matthew 7:7: “So, I say to you, ask, and it will be given you; Search, and you will find; Quarantine and eventually you will start a podcast” (1). But the content is deeply serious, and, I would argue, incredibly important for people today.
Are You Still Watching? is at its best when contributors directly confront bigotry. The intention in these essays is not to clobber back, per se, against the clobber texts used by the power majority to debase, destroy, and erase the power minority, though clobber back they do.
In Diane Faires Beadle’s chapter titled “One Body, Many Members,” an important distinction is made between homosexuality and how Paul would have understood same-sex intercourse: “For Paul, the only examples of same-sex intercourse he knew were not consensual, committed, mutual relationships between equals, but a means of exercising power over another person. It’s this self-serving coercion, which humiliates and demeans those considered less important, that Paul speaks out against…” (85-86).
Larry J. Morris, in his essay, “The Sun Gazed on Me,” quotes Song of Songs in saying, “I am black and beautiful” (1:5), and in so doing, he speaks truth to power. He opposes the slave owner’s Christianity that justified the forced labor and dehumanization of capital B Black people, finding, instead, love for the dark skinned individuals who made up the majority (or, some might argue, totality) of Biblical characters.
Within Are You Still Watching? there is calm confidence in the truth that Jesus is fully with and fully embodied in the disempowered. The book contributes to a new status quo, where all of this is already understood, and instead of an epiphany moment, we just nod and say, “Of course, these populations, trampled under foot though they may be, have always been the beloved of Jesus Christ.” It’s much like the intentionally inclusive world Daniel Levy created in Schitt’s Creek, which Arthur references in his essay, “The Town Where I Currently Am”: “I will not show [anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry] at all, because I think the people learn through experiences…if you take the hate out…you’re only left with joy” (72).
It was an absolute joy to read Are You Still Watching?, even though I read it wrong! The book is intended as a year-long study, so you can spend time reflecting, both on the questions at the end of each chapter, but also where you see yourself, your community, and your calling in the pages. Instead, I “binged” this book, just as many of us have binged the shows, movies, books, and music catalogues of the artists referenced in every episode of The Two on One Project. I think the podcast and book find their first audience in people like me who were trained for Christian ministry, but because of the content and approach, what Spiff calls the hermeneutic of curiosity, humility is emphasized over correctness, and this invites an ever growing audience. If you, like me, need to be saved from modern woes, both through escapism (popular culture) and confrontation (justice ministry), I believe this book is a conduit of hope for the future, and I have faith that it will help you do the work you need to do.
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A delightful read!
This delightful book—containing 12 essays on how God shows up in popular culture via TV, Music, & Movies—blows open the doors of the once-strictly-kept division between sacred and secular. And it does so with heart, challenge, and a lot of great questions. For Kendell and Stewart, God is present in all of our lives, especially in the art & media we consume, and particularly with the background of a global pandemic that saw most of us staying home and binge-watching/listening/absorbing whatever we found meaningful. The essays that used some of my favorite shows (Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, Queer Eye, & the musical Next to Normal) we’re particularly enjoyable, but I also found incredible insight and meaning in the essays for the things I haven’t seen or heard yet (plus it gave me more to add to my to-watch/listen lists such as: Foundation, Lucifer, The Harder They Fall, Get Back, & Loki). Each essay author presents their connection between a piece of popular culture and scripture adeptly, making connections that are both profound and entertaining/eye-opening to think about. I look forward to Volume 2 and more ways to find God in the midst of our lives and popular culture!
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2022
This delightful book—containing 12 essays on how God shows up in popular culture via TV, Music, & Movies—blows open the doors of the once-strictly-kept division between sacred and secular. And it does so with heart, challenge, and a lot of great questions.
For Kendell and Stewart, God is present in all of our lives, especially in the art & media we consume, and particularly with the background of a global pandemic that saw most of us staying home and binge-watching/listening/absorbing whatever we found meaningful.
The essays that used some of my favorite shows (Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, Queer Eye, & the musical Next to Normal) we’re particularly enjoyable, but I also found incredible insight and meaning in the essays for the things I haven’t seen or heard yet (plus it gave me more to add to my to-watch/listen lists such as: Foundation, Lucifer, The Harder They Fall, Get Back, & Loki).
Each essay author presents their connection between a piece of popular culture and scripture adeptly, making connections that are both profound and entertaining/eye-opening to think about. I look forward to Volume 2 and more ways to find God in the midst of our lives and popular culture!
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