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The (Magic) Kingdom Of God: Christianity And Global Culture Industries

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Michael Budde uses both professional and ecclesial acumen to exposit the contemporary cultural and Christian landscapes in The (Magic) Kingdom of God. Budde weaves three threads throughout his book. The first is descriptive. Budde describes the flourishing of "global culture industries" in a largely capitalistic world. The second thread is analytical. The contemporary cultural ecology is hostile to Christianity as it "presents new and imposing barriers (beyond those typical of earlier eras) to the formation of deep religious convictions" (14-15). The third thread is prescriptive. Budde prescribes practices by which the church can consistently combat the disordering influence of global culture industries.

Throughout his book, Budde explores two themes: reproduction and cultural power. Reproduction is relevant to both inside and outside the church. Regarding the "political-economic order," it pertains to creating new consumers and maintaining adequate levels of consumption. Regarding "religious reproduction," churches need to train children, initiate converts, and educate adults. Regarding cultural power, Budde considers the church a cultural actor. Thus, he explores the nature of the church's power as a function of its ability to influence culture and absorb the impact of conflicting cultural influences.

Within the new "worldwide political-economic transformations," propagators of capitalism depend on having a significant stake in forming culture. Major corporate players engage in the "`politics of identity'-a struggle to define or affect self- and group perceptions in ways congenial to profitability, regularity, and social control" (18). Everyone is "limited and framed" by dominant cultural powers (20). In their push to stimulate consumption, corporations pursue a strategy of "flexible accumulation" (25). This process utilizes decentralized production activities to manufacture smaller-market products. These products are consequently sold globally through ubiquitous and seductive advertising methods. Additionally, industries manufacture new appetites for consumption. Despite its grand scale, these capitalistic juggernauts are able to keep their targets largely ignorant of their methods.

For Budde, the real problem is that the prevailing cultural ecology threatens "the capacity of the church to survive as a movement committed to a distinctive vision and practice rooted in Christ" (54). Budde claims that the church's survival rests in its ability to be "transmitted, passed on, received, and lived" (66). To do so, the church must call its members to "`critical readings'" of the ubiquitous media. More importantly, the church must foster a lifelong catechumenate-a partnership demanding commitment of both "communities and to persons-in-community" to reinvest their resources back into a passionate commitment to the "choices, priorities, and dispositions of Jesus"(7).

Budde writes with a keen cultural fluency. His use of neostructuralist thought as a means of exposing Christianity's cultural competitors, or perhaps "the powers of this dark world," creates a thicker understanding of the threats facing the church (Eph. 6:12). A "minimalistic Christianity" cannot stand against such formidable cultural enemies (145). Consequently, Budde rightly sets high expectations for the church and its ability to reproduce its primary commodity-impassioned followers of Jesus. However, I believe Budde's account could be balanced by a richer description of God's constant work on behalf of his bride, the church (John 5:17; Rev. 21). Certainly, members of Christian communities are called to perform good works, actively warring against the disordering powers in the world (Eph. 2:10; 6:12; cf. James 2:17). Yet, a revival of a purely social gospel, which Budde may border without an adequate theology of God's activity in the world, is also impotent to wage such a war against such foes. Both the church and God must join together in revolt against dominant cultural powers attempting to de-radicalize the church.

As a seminary student reading Budde's The (Magic) Kingdom of God I realize he is making a case for how the people who come to church are being formed by global culture industries before they ever walk through the doors of a church. I think this is an important discussion for someone who has never considered how insidious cultural values are, in America or any other nation. I personally resist nationalism in many of its forms, while still appreciating that I am privileged to live in a wealthy country with extensive personal liberties afforded to me, specifically ones that allow me to practice any religion of my choosing without government interference. I am also very aware that my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world do not often live with these same privileges and much of the responsibility for this can be laid at the feet of global forces, including the "culture industries" that Budde speaks about in this book.

However, it's essential for Christians to remember that Christ in his crucifixion was more powerful than all these forces. With church attendance being more by personal choice than community expectation in our post-Christian world, we must note that the people in church are potentially more personally invested in being there. And the church is looking at social justice issues, environmental concern and holistic living more than in any previous generation. (While some of this is faddishness, I do believe there is a genuine shift happening from witnessing about personal salvation narratives to working toward God's "kingdom" coming to earth). When I studied sociology at university I became tired of the viewpoint in so many of my classes that we are so deeply ingrained with the values instilled in us by "global culture industries" that we can't think for ourselves.

Jesus has overcome the world. In allowing himself to be crucified, he turned the world upside down. While it's important to realize the systemic sin around us, and analyze our life choices accordingly, we also have to remember that Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. If a person/corporation/nation doesn't realize it is lost, it will not be sought and saved by him. It's important for church leaders to look at these forces as they affect the people in our congregations and our culture, but it's also key that we do not become afraid or timid in tackling the issues brought up by the influence of these industries. With the renewing of our minds, we can be transformed, and we can help the body of people entrusted to us to know God's holy and perfect will as they strive to live blamelessly in His sight.

Beyond the sex and violence most easily visible in the market place, Michael Budde puts a spotlight on the less perceivable and more damaging effects of capitalism's ever increasing need and ability to shape the desires, thoughts, and beliefs of the world. Full of convincing evidence and argument, Budde shows how the global culture industry, the one that tells you "between love and madness lies Obsession", not only creates desire solely to fuel consumerism at the expense of true life, but also detrimentally creates in the mind of the viewer, reader, and listener unreal expectations that life is made up of fragmented highlights. The audience becomes impatient and bewildered during the "slower" times in life that can be marked by struggle and necessary for growth. At the same time, symbols and historic events are usurped by the global culture industry to represent new, shallow, and even counter meanings which further disconnect people from the past that would normally develop and characterize them.
Christianity is to be an alternative to the world and thus Budde shows how important it is for the church to be aware of the culture industry's ability to homogenize not only would-be disciples of Jesus with the rest of the world, but also the church in its practices. Budde warns of the church's likeness to commercial enterprises because the church may find itself trying to serve both God and the economic/political demands necessary to maintain their own similar culture industry; and at the same time creating and gathering massive numbers of followers incapable of the patience, dedication, hard work, and suffering necessary to be followers of Christ.
This book is very good, informative and insightful of the difficulties Christians and particularly Christian leaders face with the global culture industry. Budde offers similarly insightful leads on how to live in such a world we are not called to escape. There are places in the beginning of the book, particularly chapter 2, which might require extra work and dictionary time to get through for those not familiar with political economy, like myself, but understanding what you can of it may be a tremendous help to you and those in your community trying to live and share the kingdom of God.

I was enlightened when I read Budde on several points related to ministry and how to be more effective within our culture. I related to the point he makes on how we live in a culture that is no longer invested into our community as we once were. A debilitating bi-product pertaining to the Christian life is that the passion is lost to share the good news with your neighbor. Budde spends a fair amount of time establishing why this passion has waned and how to either get the passion back or how to proceed ahead in a culture that has lost its passion about the gospel. Some concepts of our culture that Budde cites as reasons for the lost pursuit of our gospel mission is how culture is being shaped by economic structures, commercialism, and politics. These factors, called Global Culture Industries (GCI), threaten the ability of the church to be the extension of Christ in the world. He contends that society used to be committed to investing in developing disciples and in Christian formation, from which the faith would be carried forth to the next generation and beyond. But the GCI, television being the main source of dissemination, have monopolized the culture of today to where the time and energy spent for church has drastically diminished. Budde promotes a radical Gospel, Radical Church, one that creates a space for the Holy Spirit to work within, to bring society back into the fold of Christ. He calls for a "media detoxification" that I, as a future leader of Christ's church, see being accomplished within the family structure, where parents can teach and guide their children into healthier habits other than what the GCI is promoting. The church can make a difference by partnering with parents on this and other endeavors such as leadership. As Budde points out, the better church leaders are at bringing up future leaders and disciples, or as he puts it "recruiting and training shepherds and not sheep," increases the chances of reshaping lives back to the ways of the gospel and away from the spell of the GCI.

Budde's book is a historical and economically driven examination of the power of global culture industries and how those powers come into conflict with the message and purpose of the church. He presents a case for developing and/or re-discovering effective methods of conteracting the influence of culture industries. As a Catholic layperson and professor of political science, Budde frames his argument by discussing the changes in the world political-economic system from boundaries to culture industries and lays out a systematic progression of the shifts of these industries and the implications on American culture. He asserts that the survival of the Christian faith requires that it must be able to transmit its message and develop disciples, but that it cannot be accomplished by patterning itself after the marketing and promotional techniques of culture industries. Budde instead calls Christians to embrace the radical nature of Jesus and seek to continue to embody His countercultural nature.

The economic and political approach to the issue of "Christ v. Culture" was certainly an interesting and new way to frame and work with this topic, as many recent texts on this topic instead tend to deal with popular culture and art. The development of this framework may occasionally mire the reader, especially if the reader has a background in disciplines that do not often interact with the study of economics. Budde's argument seems to create a clear through-line and it is clear that he is passionate about this topic, evidenced his emphatic tone. There were times, however, that his approach felt more vehement than persuasive, and there is a possibility that younger church leaders may automatically resist the material because of his tone. That being said, this is certainly a text that can be used to begin to explore the tension between the church/Christ and culture and the need for the church to determine what should be its response.

Many persons in religious settings intuit that consumerism affects the people in their congregations. Michael Budde employs his social scientific ken to illuminate how the contemporary American economy necessitates that people be formed into consumers. Budde writes as a political economist, a Roman Catholic, and most importantly, a lover of the church. The (Magic) Kingdom of God describes how "culture industries" deliberately shape the social order for the purpose of creating particular values - values that stimulate spending. After describing the political-economic landscape, Budde engages the work of George Lindbeck in order to uncover how religions function as cultures in their own right. Thus, it is no exaggeration, according to Budde, to say that a competition for the hearts and minds of the people in the pews is occurring today. The final chapters invite the reader to consider how the church can be faithful in its cultural context without withdrawing from the world.

Readers who approach the text understanding that Budde is calling for faithful engagement, not sectarian retreat, will benefit most from (Magic) Kingdom. His theology touches the surface, and in that sense, it merely introduces Lindbeck's complex philosophy of religion. On the other hand, his more technical account of political economy requires a bit of work from the reader. Although Budde directs his work toward a Roman Catholic audience, all leaders in the church, mosque, or synagogue who are concerned about how culture forms the faithful will find that he provides a useful resource that will deepen one's understanding of the conflict between faith and consumer capitalism.

Author Michael Budde states: "Whatever power the Catholic Church wields in today's world is ultimately a reflection of its cultural power [...] The Church operates primarily as a cultural actor in the contemporary world". It follows, therefore: "How is [the Church] affected by those actors who are most dominant in the exercise of cultural power [...] the global, trans-sectoral culture industries"? That is, how does the powerful and all-pervasive media culture impact the culture of the Church?

Budde argues that "narrative theology" holds the key to countering the negative effects of the culture industry. He quotes John Navone to argue that our lives are shaped by "models, metaphors, stories, and myths". Since these shape our lives above all, it follows that the solution to the culture industry lies in "embodied religious narratives, learned and internalized through strong ecclesial structures and experiences". In short, "spiritual formation" presents the solution to the culture industry.

One reservation above all comes to mind. Budde describes the vast and growing impact of the culture industry, which would seem to overshadow any impact that spiritual formation might hope to have. As one example, the average Catholic spends "three and four times as much time" before the TV than the Church's most committed 3% spend at Church. Thus he would appear to make his own argument for the inevitable failure of his stratagem. In the words of his publishers, he (merely, in my view) replaces "religious education" with "lay formation". I cannot see how this should offer anything significantly new.

He seems close to a real alternative when he discusses the notion of Robin Gill, that WORSHIP is "a key feature in doctrinal formation". However, he prefers to settle for the "narrative" alternative - viewing "the process of becoming religious as similar to that of acquiring a culture or learning a language".

How does the powerful and all-pervasive media culture impact the culture of the Church? Budde's answer is a decidedly negative one, if not alarmist. In a worst case, the Church as Church may "dissolve", and may not "survive". Yet he fails, in my view, to present a convincing answer to the problem, except to suggest redoubled efforts of spiritual formation, with all that this might imply for disillusionment in the priesthood, questions of control and manipulation, and continuing failure to shore up the cultural power of the Church.