Sometime in 2016, on a well-deserved vacation from the hard work of a small town church ministry, one eye on the kids and the other inactive on Facebook by the grass, more on Tullian Tchividjian’s fall and retirement. it was a revelation. Flashing on my screen in Coral Ridge. He is not guilty of a single case. He engaged in “idyllic” predatory behavior. I was sad, but like most Christians of the time, I wasn’t surprised.
Journalist and editor Katelyn Beaty in her book Celebrities for Jesus: How celebrities, platforms and profits harm the Church, addressing universally accepted questions. The perennial noose of “celebrities” seems to get bigger and bigger. Nobody wants to admit their craving for praise or the disappointment of being cheated on, but nobody seems to know how to stop it, especially in the online world. From Tullian Tchividjian, we have Carl Lentz, Ravi Zacharias and Bill Hybels. Too depressing to continue. Why are there so many?
What is a celebrity?
Celebrities differ from fame known for their accomplishments (think Steve Jobs) or birth accidents (Prince Charles). Quite often we think of celebrities like the Kardashians in the way Daniel Boorstin defined the familiar term. Beaty adds another criterion to this. Beaty writes: “For the purposes of this book, I would like to define a celebrity as a social power without closeness” (17).
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Celebrity for Jesus: How Personalities, Platforms, and Profits Affect the Church
Caitlyn Beatty
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Celebrity for Jesus: How Personalities, Platforms, and Profits Affect the Church
Caitlyn Beatty
press brazos. 208pp.
With the decline of prominent Christian leaders in recent years, the time has come for the church to reconsider its relationship with celebrities. Award-winning journalist Katelyn Beaty explores how fame has reshaped the church in America, she explains how and why celebrities are woven into the fabric of the evangelical movement and the many ways fame has gone wrong in recent years. She shows how evangelical culture is uniquely attracted to the celebrity guru of the institution and helps all of us keep our reputation high by setting a new vision for mediocre loyalty.
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press brazos. 208pp.
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Beaty argues that this happened when individual preachers within American Christendom made a name for themselves beyond the context of their church. For example, Billy Sunday, a nonsensical evangelist, transcended denominational structures because of his talent for attracting crowds rather than a devoted local pastor.
Nobody wants to admit their hunger for praise or the disappointment of being duped by a scammer, but it seems they don’t know how to stop.
Beaty traces the evolution of famous evangelists like Dwight Moody, Mordecai Ham and Sunday like Billy Graham into evangelical celebrities who ultimately set the stage for the Willow Creek disasters, Ravi Zacharias and Mark Driscoll. His investigations are sometimes useful if they are too clean and tidy. Can you really blame Graham for Driscoll? Yet his explanation is insightful. For example, on Sunday he said sarcastically: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, just like going to the garage does a car” (27). His argument was that sinners had to personally believe in Jesus, but the hidden meaning was that they could be other Christians who were not members of the local church.
Billy Graham then insisted on the local church’s participation in his crusade, but said (intentionally or unintentionally) that the larger the crowd and the more people are saved, the greater the glory of God. In all of this, Beaty writes, “a a famous itinerant preacher has replaced the local church as the link between Jesus and sinners “(29).
Why hasn’t this happened other times? Beaty states that “celebrity is a uniquely modern phenomenon” (12). But is it just modern? It could be argued that celebrities have been linked to evangelism since the Great Awakening in the ministries of John Wesley and George Whitefield, and could date back to the 16th century with such reformers as Martin Luther and John Calvin. However, Beaty helpfully noted that while Wesley and Whitefield had fought and fought to save the lost, it was the last decades of television’s switch to YouTube in just one generation that took that danger to unprecedented new heights. True empires, like Brandan Robertson’s empire, are now popping up overnight on TikTok and flourishing, whether they demonstrate orthodox teachings or sexual innocence. The urgent cry to save the lost was sold for personal authenticity in the blink of an eye.
Who knows you
For me, the strength of Beaty’s work lies in her willingness to examine the church from the inside. She is not shy about criticizing the Christian publishing industry or the addictive nature of creating platforms she works on. Her tone is soft rather than sharp. She provides an important example of why Christians should embrace the light and dark things of the Christian life. As she writes,
Celebrities are a centuries-old form of power that values human beings. It is not a spiritually neutral tool to be picked up and put down, even for divine purposes. Plans change when celebrities are embraced and adopted with the noble purpose of sharing the good news and inviting others to a prosperous life in the kingdom. And it changes us. (170)
It is a hard pill that Christians in America are called to swallow at every scandal. How secretly the desire of celebrities instills envy and dissatisfaction. We scroll and scour Instagram asking what to do to fix the problem. Pray for more followers.
power and identity
What should we do? Beaty gives two answers to the question. The first is that Christians should abstain from power. He argues that too many Christians are concerned about reclaiming cultural power. He rejects the cry of persecution of “white evangelicals” – the claim that Christians in the West are increasingly marginalized or mute in the public sphere. Fear rather than faith clearly underlies this argument.
However, over the past 40 years, many Christians have begun to feel they are no longer at the center of cultural and political power. They are not even sure if they can sit at the table. They certainly cannot assume that their neighbors (or their national leaders) treat the Christian faith as the norm. Over time, believers can see their victims as part of their identity. (150)
For example, without mentioning the cultural dominance of the LGBT + movement and its impact on Christians in the workplace, Beaty berates evangelicals associated with the political right. But curiously, he does not name Christian celebrities on the left, nor does he mention “evangelicals” willing to accept a version of Jesus that fits almost perfectly with the times.
I wish you would push your review home. The temptation to compromise on Bible authority and the nature of marriage and character is so strong that it buys a seat at the cultural table. Those who compare historical Christianity with the most relevant gender ideology and find that it wants to take a risky path. When right-wing Christians call them out, they are often quick to claim the victim as part of their identity.
Additionally, a more in-depth discussion of power and its legitimate use will help address the root problem of stardom. The ability to influence and educate through writing, for example, is a kind of social power. But if, as Beaty defined, celebrities are social powers devoid of intimacy, should all Christian writers stop writing books that will influence and educate people outside their personal realm? Will publishing this book make her a celebrity?
Christians serve Almighty God, whose power is revealed in the fragility of the world. The renunciation of power, in particular the renunciation of coercion, is often necessary. But power can also be used for a cause of justice for the oppressed. We must be vigilant without denying that the temptation of “social power without proximity” can sometimes advance the mission of the Church in the world.
Did Jesus choose darkness?
Beaty’s second solution to the fame problem is to choose the dark over the fame. As Boo and Beaty argue, power factor is included in the equation, but the key requirement must be known. Being known by a crowd simply to be known is a deceptive temptation, and many have chosen it over the comfort of a holy, just, and merciful God. The answer is Jesus, Beaty points out. He says that Jesus was an unknown man from a remote village (166). His followers were ultimately outsiders who turned away from power. This is the way to go, says Beaty.
Too many Christians worry about regaining cultural power.
His account of the ministry of Jesus and the apostles is as neat and tidy as a description of the phenomenon of a Christian celebrity. Early Christians did not pursue celebrities in a way similar to modern American ideals. It is clearly true. Jesus denied authority according to worldly values and purposes. His life, death and resurrection of him are rave reviews in the celebrity category.
But I wish Beaty would spend more time thinking about the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings. The dark versus stardom dichotomy doesn’t tell the whole story. Jesus did not choose such ambiguity. He preached this message along one of the busiest trade routes of the first century, claiming to be the way, the truth and the life. She was followed by a “great crowd” (Mt 4,25; 8,1; 15,30; cfr 19,2). His apostles preached Christ and he was crucified in a great center of culture and philosophy. They turned the world upside down with their preaching. The point is, they refused to shape the gospel in a culturally favorable way at the time.
Ultimately, we must hand over all that has the power to corrupt and corrupt our worship and obedience to a God who is not far off. We need it on the highways and back roads of our cultural chaos. He has the power to redeem and save. In fact, his main method of salvation is the proclamation of the gospel. This is our most important task as his disciples. So the question is what to do with the power that God has given us. let him know? Or will you let us serve with our own strength?
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