pedestalic celebrity culture
have you noticed a pedestalic [word I coined to describe how people are put on a pedestal] phenomena among the Christian subculture, that the books certain people write, or if a certain name is on the billing for a conference or seminar or event, then the masses will come to hear.. thought echoed from http://www.covchurch.org/cov/news/item2609.html:: “The quality that most impresses me is humility,” said [Philip] Yancey in reflecting on life overseas. “That’s not natural for us as Americans. A country like Japan values that quality, and it’s a deeply spiritual quality. We’re a celebrity culture and that even goes in our churches. …”
this is one reason I like blogging, it unleashes publishing and gives voices to anyone and everyone, rather than putting the controls under the empowered elite editor or publishing company..
Rachel echoed a similar thought today, posting a quote from The Heresy: Blogging… from monologue to dialogueBut Asians are equally as guilty as Americans when it comes to “hero-worship” of this sort. I can’t count the number of times someone has said to me, “So-and-so is coming to town! You MUST go and hear him speak, he is such an anointed speaker!” I always ask, “What is he going to be speaking about?” and they sometimes can’t even answer me!