Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television [Paperback]

Nadia Bolz-Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

A book for everyone who's ever flipped past the religious channel and thought, "I haven't the faintest clue what's going on there," or "That church doesn't seem like my church at all," or even, "Wow, so that's what happened to Kirk Cameron." With the personalities of Christian broadcasting constantly talking about every major issue from abortion to culture to war, and given the amount of influence they have on the political discourse in this country, the more one understands about religious television, the more one understands America's religious landscape. On an average day, the largest religious broadcast channel in the country reaches millions of viewers,featuring programming from figures such as Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Pat Robertson, Paul and Jan Crouch, Jesse Duplantis, Joel Osteen, and others. Yet, despite its presence in well over 50 million households, many people have little concept of what kind of faith happens there.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Salvation on the Small Screen is fast, fresh, funny and filled with surprising twists. It is easy to point out what's wrong with a broad satirical target like televangelists. It is tougher to watch closely, with patience, empathy, and openness. Yet, Nadia Bolz-Weber and her eclectic companions find the divine even amidst the most painful religious programming. Now that is miraculous --Craig Detweiler, PhD, director, Reel Spirituality Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary and author, Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century

Review

"The concept is as clever as it is brave: Spend 24 hours watching `Christian television' programming, and bring friends. Talk about what you see. Let hilarity and poignancy ensue. Lutheran minister Nadia Bolz-Weber gives us a wincing and winsome look through those cable channels that many ignore and many others make their spiritual bread and butter. With Salvation on the Small Screen? in hand, the reader can thoughtfully go `behind the label' and check out the ingredients of the oddly-influential Christian media. Bon appetit!"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Seabury Books (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596270861
• ISBN-13: 978-1596270862
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nadia Serves Up a Delightful Televangelist TV dinner September 26, 2008

By Becky Garrison

Format:Paperback

Nadia Bolz Weber boldly goes where few Protestants have gone before--the prosperity palace. As she samples their titillating theological tidbits, she critiques the ungodly excesses displayed by these religious rock, while also noting the lessons mainliners can glean from these seemingly saccharine shows. Throughout Salvation on the Small Screen, she reminds me that even though TBN shows may be sinful and shameful to one's spiritual health (and they are, trust me on this one), we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. And like these prosperity preachers, I too have fallen short of the glory of God and need Jesus as my savior.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun and surprising read January 21, 2009

By Mort Coyle

Format:Paperback

Nadia Bolz-Weber is a tall, brash, heavily tattooed Lutheran pastor from Denver who speaks with the sarcastic delivery of a stand-up comic. It turns out she used to be a stand-up comic and her blog is entitled The Sarcastic Lutheran. Her writing is in some ways reminiscent of Anne Lamott. I attended a reading from the book by the author and was intrigued enough to purchase a copy. I've just finished it and found it to be a quick and entirely fun read.

The set-up for the book is this: Bolz-Weber, a blogger and essayist on Jim Wallis' God's Politics site, was asked by a publisher to watch TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network) for 24 hours straight and then write about the experience. She asked, "Can I bring my friends?" and when the publisher agreed, she took on the job.

Nadia begins her journal of TBN watching at 5am and concludes at 5am the next day. Throughout that 24 hour period she is joined by a revolving cast of friends and strangers (ranging from seminary professors to gay community workers to her parents to an ex-boyfriend to a Jewish atheist to a Methodist pastor) who sit on her couch and provide running commentary--ala Mystery Science Theatre 3000--on what unfolds on the screen before them. She admits up front that not only has she never watched TBN (other than occasionally passing it while channel-surfing and thinking, "What the...?"), but that she also harbors deep feelings of derision towards Fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity (originating, no doubt, from her upbringing in a Fundamentalist Evangelical home).

One expects snarkiness and mockery, and one is not disappointed.... The surprise, however, is the author's chagrin/discomfort at her own cynicism, her willingness to examine her own attitudes, prejudices and shortcomings and her attempts to find something (anything) of value in the tepid swill served up on TBN.

Rather than walk away from her 24 hour ordeal with a smug sense of superiority, Nadia comes to the realization that her own faith tradition also contains plenty of holes and flaws. She wonders "...what the TBN folks would think of me, a heavily tattooed Christian progressive from a liturgical denomination. How would people in their theological camp respond to my preaching? Would they think, as I do of them, that I misuse scripture? Would they be offended at the aesthetic in the community I serve? Would they dismiss my years of theological education as silly and unnecessary? When it comes right down to it, so many of my criticisms of TBN could go both ways, and if that's true then could it also be true, despite us both, that God is at work in my community and (gulp) TBN?"

Thankfully, she also clarifies that "Allowing for the possibility that God may be at work in both my community and TBN is not the same as conceding that TBN's theology and methods are sound."

Throughout the book a tally is kept of the amount of money one would spend by purchasing the trinkets, teaching tapes, books, DVDs and other products hawked during each ministry's TBN segment. The 24 hour grand total, revealed at the end of the book, is flabbergasting. Bolz-Weber also ponders such inevitable questions as What is really being sold on TBN?; Are preachers like Benny Hinn sincere in their beliefs?; and What is the appeal of these ministries, particulary to the elderly and shut-ins? The answers to these questions are disturbing, not only because of what they say about those ministries on TBN but also about Western Christian culture as a whole (including you and I).

Salvation on the Small Screen? is put out by a small publishing company with limited distribution. You're certainly not going to find it at your local Family Christian Bookstore. I do hope that it catches on though because it conveys some great observations in a thoroughly enjoyable manner. It's gotten me to thinking that it might be really fun to have some friends over for a round of TBN viewing.

Or not. Read more ›

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Christian Television Without Pity December 8, 2008

By WitherWing

Format:Paperback

It shouldn't be too surprising that a self-identified progressive Lutheran seminary grad and her (usually) mainline and/or agnostic friends find TBN to be strange, offensive, unintentionally hilarious, and at times quite touching. I work in the "Christian-Industrial Complex" she talks about and go through the same motions when watching.

Nadia and her friends witness 24-hours of America's most watched Christian TV network. Through this, she finds massive sets and smiling preachers professing their love to viewers they'll never meet. She also finds out that "commercial free" programming can include selling a lot of bizarre trinkets and kitch. She witnesses hours of asking for money, singing oddly phrased choruses, honorary Doctorates, cheap puppet shows and cartoons, a few confusing prophecies about Israel, and Ann Coulter.

Like numerous other books recently deconstructing pop-Evangelicalism for outsiders (Rapture Ready, Churched, Body Piercing Saved My Life - to name a few), there is the feel of a tourist here. She latches on to what is initially odd or novel and compares it to what she considers normal at home. She asks questions about methodology, and wonders aloud if any one actually believe what they are saying. There are times when her questioning and comments seem like a long pat on the back for her liturgical, "progressive" Lutheran tradition, and some preconceived notions that shatter seem telling. At one point she actually seems stunned that a show with Pentecostal roots has an insightful, balanced look at race relations - as if that issue belongs to her particular bent. On the other hand, she tends to admit things like this, and spends time wondering aloud if her Lutheran tradition is limited due to its desire to separate from Evangelicals.... The result is a graceful view of TBN and those on the network -- critical, but finding hope and ministry in the midst of a lot of silliness. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars even better than the real thing December 2, 2008

By Dave Wainscott

Format:Paperback

Some of the memories my wife and I have of catching fleeting glimpses of TBN and other Christian TV include bizarre moments like a female televangelist interviewing an armless woman...and asking her how she puts on her makeup; and Robert Tilton spouting out "Someone is called to give a million dollars to this ministry;don't think about it, don't pray about it...just call in!"...followed by a long outburst of tongues to confirm the word.

I have a hard time with many of these shows; but I have to dare to believe God is using some (all?) of them, even if...well, you know.

So I was thrilled to hear that one of my favorite Sarcastic Lutherans (check the author's blog name), and a brilliant thinker, had been asked to write a book about the experience of watching 24 hours of Christian television (in the company of some wonderful hand-picked friends)..TBN, to be exact.

I must have prayed for her the moment I heard she had the job.

As hilarious as the book is(it exceeded even my high expectations here), I found it not only appropriately respectful (some will disagree...maybe even the author!), but hugely helpful in many "serious" ways...
It is her humility ("I, too live in a lavish lifestyle funded by the giving of the faithful, and this realization is discomforting. It is undoubtedly the plank in my own eye" -p.67) and wit that grant her authority to note out loud and in public things any of us have noted privately,like:

"I'm fairly certain that the descriptor 'Christian' when applied to music and TV shows is not an indicator of theological content but instead points to what is absent:profanity, homosexuals, liberals, uncertainty--basically anything that would challenge a particular worldview...."

One well-crafted subtheme: ,I must say Bolz-Weber's passing insights about "simulacra" (12, 56) or "hyperreality", which at first glance appear as easy jokes....are incredibly helpful. This is territory that Ian Robertson picks up regarding U2's intentionally ironic and subversive "Even Better Than The Real Thing"/ZOO TV era use of this method (Chapter 6 in the Mark A. Wrathrall edited "U2 and Philosophy").

And finally, how about this? At one point in the 24-hour marathon, a Christian celebrity "sits on a garish sofa talking about how Jesus is better than nightclubs, which is, of course, a false dichotomy. I believe in Jesus and nightclubs,or even Jesus in nightclubs, but that's another story" (133)

Or is it?
Maybe that point is the prophetic punch right through dichotomy to"real reality," and the very story, of this vital book...or the next one she will hopefully write.

Full review:

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