A Christian view of entertainment

Just the other day, I heard the story of a massive donation of Shakespeare manuscripts and later versions to the Globe Theatre in London. Was this bit of news interesting? It was okay. Was it life-shattering? Not really. Was it a challenge to my Christian living? Not at all.

However, in the midst of the story, one little fact caught my notice: it was that the Puritans had closed down the playhouses of London. The Globe Theatre might have been a thriving concern in Shakespeare’s time (I don’t really know), but the Puritans considered it unfit for an England conformed to the will of God.The theatres weren’t opened again until the Puritans fell from power and Charles II ushered in a new era of sensuality.

That little fact (and, please note, I’ve not done the research to check if it is, in fact, as true or as absolute as the news story suggested) did little more than confirm a popular stereotype of the Puritans as killjoys who didn’t know how to laugh at themselves and who wanted to stop everybody else having a good time as well. However, it also made me ask why I think they were wrong. Leaving aside the possibility of immorality within the acting fraternity of the time, along with immorality amongst the patrons of the theatre, did the Puritan authorities really think there was anything wrong with entertainment itself? And had they missed something about the way we are constituted as human beings?

I wonder whether we need to think a little about a ‘theology of entertainment’—especially given how important it seems to be to those around us. I don’t mean we need to think about what sort of moral constraints should be placed upon the entertainment industry, but what do we think entertainment actually is? And what does it do? Perhaps if we think constructively and positively about the nature and purpose of entertainment, we might be able to take the next step and ask how entertainment might function in the lives of those who recognize the unqualified Lordship of Jesus Christ. Would we expect entertainment to be a feature of the new heavens and the new earth?

I guess we could put my question another way: when we dismantled the Puritan rejection of all such activity as frivolous and sinful, did we put anything positive in its place?

12 thoughts on “A Christian view of entertainment

  1. without necessarily taking a side on the issue… smile
    I once heard a strict fundamentalist preacher support an anti-entertainment position thus:

    The word “amusement” has at its root the meaning of “a” meaning opposite + “muse” meaning to think upon. Therefore, he posited, amusement is to disengage the mind and be entertained without thinking or considering the value and impact of the activity.

    I think there is some merit – in so far as the need for a Christian to carefully consider the difference between restful and restorative recreation and amusing entertainment.

    The proverb says, as a person thinks in their heart so they are (my quasi-translation from memory).

    Entertainment should be evaluated like any other activity. Is it forbidden in scripture? Is it mandadted in scripture? Is it glorifying to God? Is it an occassion for the flesh to sin? Is it profitable for me in my walk with God?

    Then of course there is the (dare I say “balanced”) view of the likes of John Piper, God is most glorified in us when we are most pleased in him. If I can engage in and enjoy “entertainment” that prompts me to glorify God and do so without being sinful, selfish or silly (aliterating to say, force the scripture to accomodate my sin) surely that is profitable?

    e.g. Can I join in with a non-Christian in an entertainment activity and segue into an evangelistic conversation?

    Just a few slightly disjointed, but somewhat related, thoughts that quickly come to mind upon reading your article. Very thought provoking though – much to “muse” upon smile

  2. Would we expect entertainment to be a feature of the new heavens and the new earth?

    Mark, we probably need a definition of ‘entertainment’ from you, or someone. Do we expect to see a purified Globe Theatre in a corner of heaven, advertising Shakespear’s sequel to ‘Macbeth’ (in which Lady Macbeth finally manages to cleanse that rotten spot)? Possibly no.

    But when I read Revelation, there seems to be considerably more song and decoration in the heavenly Jerusalem than the average stereotype of the Puritan would seem happy to allow.

    I personally feel much more concerned about the question of whether Puritans have been fairly portrayed, than over the question of whether heaven will be entertaining. I imagine it will be, but there may be a more profound word than ‘entertaining’ to describe it.

  3. That’s very interesting. I think the corollory of entertainment is boredom… and so, we need to ask, why are we so chronically BORED all the time that we need entertaining? Is boredom a spiritual problem? I think it might well be..

  4. Interesting question, Michael. The relationship between boredom and entertainment (and the way things which once entertained us can quickly induce new rounds of boredom) is fascinating. All the more so when one of the criticisms thrown at Christians (and Christian gatherings in particular) is that they are boring. Some even suggest that God is boring.

    I wonder whether this large umbrella term ‘entertainment’ needs qualification. After all, I find my children entertaining very often but I would never describe them as my ‘entertainment’.

    More to muse over, I guess.

  5. Just one more thought.

    Hasn’t God made creation inherently entertaining?

    For example:

    Job 39:13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?  14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,15   forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

    16   She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, 17 because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.

  6. As a kind of side issue, but definitely related to entertainment – have we ever stopped to analyse Western culture.  What makes us think that the day is for work and the evening for idle entertainment?  What makes us think that we work five days a week and have the weekend for fun – when God clearly commanded six days of work and one day of rest?

    I’m not advocating a six-day work week, on the contrary, I think that there is plenty of work in ones own home that needs to be done…  But entertainment has become a predominant feature of our lives – should we be spending more hours a week on idle entertainment than personal prayer, Bible study and worship?  More hours being entertained than in corporate worship, Christian fellowship and reaching out to the lost?  I would guess that most Western Christians would spend more hours in a week being entertained than they would on all those listed activities combined.

  7. Excellent article that leaves me pondering more and more the role of entertainment in the Christian life.  The comments are especially insightful and will have me on my knees reflecting on God’s glory in relation to the issue.

  8. Michael’s right: entertainment exists, in part, because of boredom.  But I think there’s more to it.  Entertainment is escapism, not only from boredom, but from the real grief and frustration of a world under sin.  Why do we like stories where the good guy wins, and gets the girl, and they live happily ever after?  ‘Coz in the ordinary drudgery of life, the good guys lose, relationships are painful, and everything decays and dies. 

    I find the Bible entertaining—it has ironies, unexpected twists & turns that make me laugh—like Eglon and his goons in Judges 3; Dagon falling on his face in 1 Sam 5; the way idols are mocked in Isaiah 44; and the way the disciples just don’t “get” Jesus in John 4:31-33 and 11:11-12, 16. 

    Good secular entertainment doesn’t just entertain; it also communicates a world view.  It is happy escapism, but not just happy escapism; it affirms some sort of morality, some sort of teleology.  Perhaps we should work towards redeeming entertainment, and using it as a vehicle for communicating the Biblical world view.  Perhaps we could do what C. S. Lewis did in Narnia: not just predictably parrot the gospel story, but set up a world that is based on a Biblical world view, and get characters to have adventures in it. 

    What d’you think?  Any budding playwrights out there…?

  9. Hopefully I am on the topic.
    I assume entertainment is one aspect of pleasure.
    There is a thoughtful article by Jim Packer reproduced in the 1994 Briefing (such a long time ago!!). Someone may be able to arrange a link.
    Interestingly Jim refers to the Puritans and quotes one of their leading song writers Isaac Watts: ‘Religion never was designed/To make our pleasures less’

    There is also a reflection on pleasure by Phillip Jensen in his book ‘By God’s Word’ where he concludes ‘Pleasure is a by-product, not an end goal. Pleasure is found in things and in people, but people must matter more to you than your own pleasure if you are to find true pleasure in them. He who pursues God will rejoice and be glad in all the good things God has given him – from football to ballet, from gherkins to steak. And the greatest pleasure of all he will find in the person of God himself’.

    I suggest that once we work out the place of pleasure, then re entertainment, a good place to start might be ‘Be holy as I (God) am holy’ 1 Peter 1

  10. I remember encountering a strand of pietism that prohibited reading novels and other fiction, particularly fantasy, on the basis that it was an escape from reality and a rejection of the way the world is as God has created it. It made me think carefully about the sort of literature I read. What is it selling? What hope does it portray.

    I wonder if it’s the possibility of false or disproportionate hopes that’s the problem. In the case of fantasy, the Biblical promise of heaven is nothing short of “fantastic” and hearing and believing it is an important use of our imaginative capacity. To buy into other fantasies and abandon that hope as I pursue entertainment would be tragic.

  11. @Russell
    You’ve just reminded me of others I know who also take the same stance (no fiction reading) but on the basis of the fact we become so absorbed with it that we can neglect our responsibilities and that it makes us long for an impossible reality (a handsome prince to whisk us away to his castle).  And time “wasted’ on frivolous entertainment could be better used for service or learning.  I guess it depends even on whether you think reading a novel is purely entertainment or whether you can have some other benefits from reading…

Comments are closed.