Competing Spectacles Quotes

“Our world says that seeing is believing, but for us to behold the deep glory of the cross, we must see as God sees rather than as man sees. We treasure what is invisible and that is perhaps the greatest source of the spectacle tension in this age and of the Christian life. The great spectacle of Christ crucified is a spectacle for the ear, not a spectacle for the eye. For faith comes not by seeing, but by hearing.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“The human heart bends toward what the eye sees.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“Why do we seek spectacles? Because we’re human—hardwired with an unquenchable appetite to see glory.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“The cross was not Christ’s defeat but his triumph, his march of victory—like a decorated general on a two-wheeled chariot riding through the city before boisterous crowds, flaunting wagons full of foreign spoils, flying banners painted with triumphant war scenes, and parading his defeated foes in chains.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“We are now more media obese than we are physically obese. And we are not happier. We are lonelier. We are more depressed.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“Praying without ceasing claims the momentary transitions in our day, the rare empty moments of silence, and turns our attention on God himself, moments now plundered and carried off by digital media.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“Our natures must be completely changed and renewed by grace if we are to have a taste for Christ. Only when he becomes sweet to us can we be freed from the mass appetites of the world’s pleasures.”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

“Images trigger response. Images create impressions. But images are ambivalent. Images cannot carry an argument or imply a critical interpretation. We just bring the criticism ourselves. So every time we see spectacles of military power, or terror-driven bloodshed, we can ask our Acela: What do these images want from me? And who grows more powerful if I give it?”
― Tony Reinke, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age