Prophetically Incorrect: A Christian Introduction to Media Criticism

This academic volume is intended for Christian journalists and communicators, but might be more useful to pastors and ethicists wanting to engage contemporary culture critically. The authors, who teach at Michigan's Spring Arbor University, examine the mission and method of Old Testament prophets and propose ways modern-day Christians might embrace a similar message. The book's strength lies in its clear articulation of contemporary society's dominant consumer ethos: buying, using, and throwing things away. It explains that popular media, whether television, movies, or the internet, maintains and reinforces this consumerist ethos and that the technological tools at our disposal are not value-neutral. Writing for a church audience, Woods and Patton insightfully point out that evangelical emphasis on conversion leads to a veneration of technology, leaving little room for a critical or prophetic word. While the writing is sometimes clunky and the examples used occasionally miss the mark, the book is a useful and honest appraisal of how Christians might be more faithful to the ancient biblical messengers. (Aug.)