Christian media, sometimes referred to as inspirational, faith and family, or simply Christian, is a cross-media

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

that features a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

message or moral. Several creative

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

formats are considered to be aspects of Christian media, including media organizations, a characteristic film industry,

musical genres This is a list of music genres and styles. Music can be described in terms of many music genre, genres and styles. Classifications are often arbitrary, and may be disputed and closely related forms often overlap. Larger genres and styles comprise ...

radio formats A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

, TV formats, and subgenres.

Characteristics

Themes

The Christian genre often portrays a focus on the teachings of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

the gospel The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefits ...

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

as per the

Great Commission In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16– 20, where on a mountain i ...

, and Christian virtues:

attributes Attribute may refer to: * Attribute (philosophy), an extrinsic property of an object * Attribute (research), a characteristic of an object * Grammatical modifier, in natural languages * Attribute (computing), a specification that defines a prope ...

encompassing

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

, forgiveness,

prudence Prudence ( la, prudentia, Contraction (grammar), contracted from meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of th ...

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

, fortitude,

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, and

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

, along with messages of resurrection. These codes are often played out through depictions of

good and evil In religion, ethics, philosophy, and psychology "good and evil" is a very common dichotomy. In cultures with Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which good shoul ...

through conflicting virtues and vices, or as in the

evangelism In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...

of ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'' with individuals seeking personal growth and redemption. This depiction of

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theology, theologian ...

, in the narrative, contrasts sharply with comparatively impersonal institutions leading to some form of moral understanding. The narrative can be delivered through

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

s, retelling

Bible stories The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

especially the

life of Jesus in the New Testament The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and Nativity of Jesus, nativity, Ministry of Jesus, public ministry, Passion of Jesus, passion, prophecy, Resurrection of ...

, or a

hero's journey In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. Earlie ...

. Witnessing, a term used to describe a personal experience with coming to Christ, is another

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

method that has been a part of the biographies of historical figures and celebrities alike, including

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Priscilla and Aquila Priscilla (; , ''Priskilla'' or ''Priscila'') and Aquila (; , ''Akylas'') were a first century Christian missionary married couple described in the New Testament. Aquila is traditionally listed among the Seventy Disciples. They lived, worked, and ...

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, Mary Stone,

Hani Motoko is considered to be Japan's first female journalist. Born into a former samurai family, Hani was born Matsuoka Motoko in Aomori Prefecture and was baptized a Christian in 1890. She was educated at Tokyo First Higher Women's School and then at th ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

Colonel Sanders Colonel Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 December 16, 1980) was an American businessman, best known for founding fast food chicken restaurant chain KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken (also known as KFC) and later acting as the company's brand ...

Mr. T Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud, May 21, 1952), is an American actor. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series ''The A-Team'' and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film ''Rocky III''. He is also known for his ...

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

Kel Mitchell Kel Johari Rice Mitchell (born August 25, 1978) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was an original cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''All That'' for its first five seasons (1994–1999), where he was often paired a ...

, and

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

. It can sometimes be in the form of

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

as in the

religion in The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. In ad ...

, or through plots including those of

Christian mythology Christian mythology is the body of myths associated with Christianity. The term encompasses a broad variety of legends and narratives, especially those considered sacred narratives. Mythological themes and elements occur throughout Christian l ...

, like those foretelling of the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...

, or

tale Tale may refer to: * Narrative, or story, a report of real or imaginary connected events * TAL effector (TALE), a type of DNA binding protein * Tale, Albania, a resort town * Tale, Iran, a village * Tale, Maharashtra, a village in Ratnagiri distri ...

s about

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s and holy fighters, i.e.

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

, the

Knights of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...

Paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, where ...

s, or the paladin RPG character class. While others use a "Christian magic" that is "neither allegorical nor topical" such as

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's application of

Christianity in Middle-earth Christianity is a central theme in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional works about Middle-earth, but always a hidden one. This allows the book to be read at different levels, and its meaning to be applied by the reader, rather than forcing a single mea ...

found within ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'' and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''.''

'', "Foreword to the Second Edition"

Popularity

Christian art Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative ...

has long been a tradition of the faith, dating back to

early Christian art and architecture Early Christian art and architecture or Paleochristian art is the art produced by Christians or under Christian patronage from the earliest period of Christianity to, depending on the definition used, sometime between 260 and 525. In practice, id ...

and it was a major part of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

eras.

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. Scripture While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally considered literature. Ho ...

is found even in during the

history of early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

, ''

The Shepherd of Hermas ''The Shepherd of Hermas'' ( el, Ποιμὴν τοῦ Ἑρμᾶ, ''Poimēn tou Herma''; la, Pastor Hermae), sometimes just called ''The Shepherd'', is a Christian literary work of the late first half of the second century, considered a valuab ...

'' was a popular story in the early church. Originally Christian art was created under

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

and

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

, today adapted into contemporary creative media and

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...

techniques. The patron-client relationship is a primary analogue for the relationship between Christian as client with God as patron, and it is basis for the terminology

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

. Mass media had one of its earliest success with the invention of the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

and the subsequent printing of

The Holy Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a v ...

, the Christian Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and the first well received mass printing of it was the

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...

. Christian media productions are recognized as a popular film, music, broadcasting, and interactive media format alongside secular counterparts. Early Christian

in works of fiction, such as

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

's ''

'', made an impact on later works of fiction, including

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

' ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...

'' and

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...

's ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

''. ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' is one of the most commonly referenced Christian allegories in media and art, artist

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

was known to have been inspired by the story. Besides ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', other

classic book A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

s in the Christian genre include the ''Divine Comedy'', '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', and ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

'', these four novels are depicted in large stained glass windows at

Princeton University Chapel The Princeton University Chapel is located on that university's main campus in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It replaces an older chapel that burned down in 1920. Designed in 1921 by Ralph Adams Cram in his signature Collegiate Gothic styl ...

. Other books in the

Western canon The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, and ...

from

Christian novel A Christian novel is a Christian literary novel which features Christian media genre conventions. The tradition of Christian fiction Christian novels are works of imaginative literature drawing on Christian themes, theology, and social norms. ...

s, or those drawing heavy inspiration Christian concepts, include ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

'', ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...

'', ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'', and '' Bless Me, Ultima''. This genre's

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

date back to early cinema with adaptions of

Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is ...

's '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'' in 1907 and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

, as well as

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

's landmark religious film ''

The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

'' (1923), and their popular 1950s remakes ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956) and ''Ben-Hur'' (1959). Other popular Christian film and television productions include the '' Superbook''

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

(1981-1983, and rebooted in 2011-ongoing), ''

VeggieTales ''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retelling ...

'' animated series (1993-ongoing), ''

The Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, it is an adaptation of the Bo ...

'' (1998), ''

Bruce Almighty ''Bruce Almighty'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. The film stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains to God ...

'' (2003), ''

The Passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...

'' (2004), ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' film series (2005-ongoing), ''God's Not Dead'' (2014), ''

Duck Dynasty ''Duck Dynasty'' is an American reality television series that aired on A&E from 2012 to 2017. The series portrays the lives of the Robertson family, who became successful from their family-operated business, Duck Commander. The West Monroe, ...

'' (2012–2017), and ''The Chosen'' (2017-ongoing). Wide-ranging

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

including

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

Josquin Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

's "Ave Maria" and

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

'', are a part of

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

music which have a history going back to the early days of recorded music, and

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

encompasses several

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

styles including

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

, Christian hip hop,

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

, and

Christian electronic dance music Christian electronic dance music, also known as CEDM, Christian EDM, Christian Dance Music, CDM, or Christian electronic music is a genre of electronic dance music and Christian music. Its musical styles closely mirror non-Christian EDM; however, ...

. Broadway theatre productions like ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'', recorded sermons by preachers of

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

and

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, along with

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...

shows ''

Adventures in Odyssey ''Adventures in Odyssey'' (AIO), or simply ''Odyssey'', is an Evangelical Christian radio drama and comedy series created and produced by Focus on the Family. Aimed at families with children age 12 and younger, the series first aired in 1987 as ...

'' and ''

Family Theater ''Family Theater'' is a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology radio program which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947, to September 11, 1957. Production history ''Family Theater'' developed from a R ...

'' so too with

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s produced by the likes of

Phil Vischer Phillip Roger Vischer (born June 16, 1966) is an American filmmaker, author, speaker, podcast host, animator, musician, puppeteer, and voice actor who created the computer-animated video series ''VeggieTales'' alongside Mike Nawrocki. He provide ...

and

Phil Robertson Phil Alexander Robertson (born April 24, 1946) is an American professional hunter, businessman (Duck Commander company), and reality television star on the popular television series ''Duck Dynasty''. He is also featured on the television show ' ...

, are sometimes included in this genre.

Distribution

Libraries such as the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

often categorize each media format under its own genre. Due to mainstream appeal of Christian media, it is distributed at retailers like

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 969 stores in 47 US states. Hobby Lobby is owned by ...

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, and international technology conglomerates such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

Kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

and

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...

food brands usually include Christian media within the scope of their advertisement and marketing campaigns, employing slogans like

Hebrew National Hebrew National is a brand of kosher hot dogs and other sausages made by ConAgra Foods. In 1982, Hebrew National opened a non-kosher division under the name National Deli; it was sold off in 2001, and is now based in Florida. History The ' ...

's " we answer to a higher authority" which appeals to consumers throughout the Abrahamic faiths, and restaurant chain

The Halal Guys The Halal Guys is a halal fast casual restaurant franchise that began as halal carts on the southeast and southwest corners of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. New locations, both food cart and storefront, are being ad ...

has reached a success with Christian consumers due to similarity with Christian-based brands. Some companies associate themselves with Christian media;

In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and the Southwest. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006). The ...

prints Bible verses on their food containers, the name of

Tiger Balm Tiger Balm () is an analgesic heat rub manufactured and distributed by Singaporean company Haw Par Healthcare. It is used for external pain relief. History A precursor to Tiger Balm called Ban Kin Yu ( zh, t=萬金油, l=Ten Thousand Gol ...

and tea distributor Prince of Peace Enterprises, and

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...

plays Christian music at their restaurants. Advertising managers and agencies categorize Christian media in the same

advertising media selection Advertising media selection is the process of choosing the most efficient media for an advertising campaign. To evaluate media efficiency, planners consider a range of factors including: the required coverage and number of exposures in a target ...

community marketing Community marketing is a strategy to engage an audience in an active, non-intrusive prospect and customer conversation. Definition Whereas marketing communication strategies such as advertising, promotion, PR, and sales all focus on attain ...

educational entertainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...

, and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

-style family-oriented entertainment

audiences An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

, including those employed by most major corporations,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and G ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

, and other

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

s, along with locally and regionally relevant

target audience A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to said intended audience. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined ...

s; not to mention other

old media Old media, or legacy media, are the mass media institutions that dominated prior to the Information Age; particularly print media, film studios, music studios, advertising agencies, radio broadcasting, and television. Old media institutions ar ...

and

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

funding options,

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...

s, and

underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

. While there is a prevalence of the Christian media format in popular culture, it is considered to be an

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

to the

concentration of media ownership Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...

. Certain ideas in

Christian culture Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has i ...

, which are sometimes overlooked by mainstream outlets, are often given a pulpit through Christian media; this effect has been historically shown during its effectiveness during the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

and

Jesus movement The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it subsided in the l ...

eras. For much the same reasons as other media outlets, such as the high cost of production and distribution, most Christian publications are converting to

online publishing Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, Online magazine, digital magazines, and the development of digital library, digital libraries and catalo ...

Production studios

Jeri is interviewed by David Brody of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) (2122916210)

Christian media

s and publishers range from

independent media Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Within the United States and other developed ...

mainstream Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso Mu ...

mass media. Many specialize in a particular format, and are noted within their specific field, but some are multimedia

production companies A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, an ...

. Most major production houses have Christian oriented production studios including

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

's Affirm Films,

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Lightworkers Media Lightworkers Media is an American Christian media and film production company helmed by President Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett and owned by MGM Holdings through MGM Television. LightWorkers Media produced the Emmy-nominated ''The Bi ...

, NBCUniversal's Big Idea Entertainment, Lionsgate's partner Kingdom Story Company, and 20th Century Studios former Fox Faith. Whereas some production houses simply produce Christian genre productions like they would any other genre, including The Walt Disney Company with their adaption of ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' or as with Warner Bros. Discovery throughout List of assets owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, their studios such as their acquisition of Warner Alliance and Warner Resound into Warner Music Group proper. The largest Nondenominational Christianity, nondenominational television networks, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and the Christian productions of Hallmark Channel and GAC Family have media franchises that are regularly considered for broadcast syndication; as do Christian denomination, denominational broadcasts by Catholic Vatican Media, or the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist related Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) and LifeTalk Radio. Some of the most watched Christian news programs occur on CBN or TBN, as for print media the most widely regarded Christian news media includes ''Christianity Today'' and ''The Christian Science Monitor'', these outlets are archived by The Library of Congress and have been venues for Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, organizations, segments, and articles. Interdenominationalism, Interdenominational independent media studios make up an important part of Christian media, including both small and large scale producers, such as Camfam Studios, Heaven Sent Gaming, Icon Productions, Mono vs Stereo, and Word Entertainment. In Japan, several media professionals are graduates of International Christian University. The editor and founder of '':ja:Christian Today, Christian Today'' is an alumnus of that university, so is Kaz Hirai who is the former chairman of Sony Group Corporation.

Media franchises

Radio dramas were among the earliest to feature the transmedia storytelling of modern media franchises. The ''

'' of Mutual Broadcasting System and ''

'' of Focus on the Family were some of the first successful syndicated broadcasts within Christian media. Family Theater was digitally remastered and continues to be broadcast by EWTN. ''Adventures in Odyssey'', using the naming of ''Radio Theatre'', has made radio adaptions of ''Les Miserables'', ''Anne of Green Gables'', and ''

''. '' Superbook'' is a 1981 Japanese

series produced by Tatsunoko Production for Christian Broadcasting Network and TV Tokyo, it was rebooted in 2011 by CBN in collaboration with Asia-based animation studios; the original voice cast included Billie Lou Watt, and for the reboot it includes Sam Vincent (voice actor), Sam Vincent the voice of Edd from ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' and Andrea Libman the voice of Pinkie Pie from ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. In both the original and reboot, the episodes follow a couple of kids and their robot friend named Gizmo, as they a teleported to various Bible stories by technomancy within the Superbook. A series referred to as the Visual Bible had several adaptions of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles, they were called ''The Visual Bible: Matthew'' and ''The Visual Bible: Acts''. There were some interactive media mini CDs in the late 1990s which contained trailers and behind the scenes footage of the movies, these clips were later added to DVD releases of the films. The ''

'' direct-to-video series became a media franchise, with recognizable characters including Bob the Tomato voiced by

and Larry the Cucumber voiced by Mike Nawrocki; it has two feature-length films ''Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie'' and ''The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything'', Netflix spin-offs ''VeggieTales in the House'' and ''VeggieTales in the City'', and the series was rebooted in 2019 by NBCUniversal and Trinity Broadcasting Network as ''The VeggieTales Show''. Phil Vischer documented some of his experience with the show in the novel ''Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables'', he previously hosted a podcast titled ''The Phil Visher Podcast'' with Sky Jethani and Christian Taylor, and he now co-hosts ''The Holy Post''. ''Left Behind'' is a series of

apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic novels that had adaptions into graphic novels, film adaptations, and video games. The spin-off novels ''Left Behind: The Kids'' follows a format more akin to Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian fiction, and the video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a real-time strategy game. ''Bibleman'' is a 1995 superhero franchise originally produced by Australian Christian Channel as a low-budget film, low-budget live-action Children's television series, ''Bibleman: The Animated Series'' is an ongoing cartoon series started in 2016, the franchise has had numerous action figure depictions, tabletop games, video games, comics, and uniquely Christian tie-ins such as a Christian devotional literature, devotional study Bible. In the series Bibleman's alter-ego was originally Miles Peterson, and his friend Josh Carpenter eventually replaced him as Bibleman, he is joined by fellow heroes Biblegirl and Melody. Against the villains Dr. Fear, the Baroness, and the Master of Maybe. The duck call company Duck Commander has several media productions, and the children of

and Kay Robertson are celebrities associated within Christian media. Their original shows, sponsored by Benelli Armi SpA based on the ''Duck Commander'' and ''Buck Commander'' brands, were featured on the Outdoor Channel. This sparked interest by A&E (TV network), A&E to produce the

television series, which highlighted Willie Robertson and his wife Korie Robertson as they ran their family business, alongside Willie's brother Jase Robertson and Uncle Si Robertson. The show sparked spin-offs including a music album titled ''Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas''. Duck Commander has their own ''Duck Call Room'' podcast featuring Si Robertson with Martin and Godwin, while Blaze Media helps to produce ''In The Woods'' with Phil and ''Unashamed'' with Phil and Jase, Willie and Korie's daughter Sadie Robertson created the podcast ''WHOA, That's Good Podcast''. Miss Kay released a ''Duck Commander Kitchen Cookbook'', and Phil has released several Christian novels. Si Robertson has an autobiography titled ''Si-cology 1'', and Jase and youngest brother Jep have a 2022 metal detector, metal detecting television series produced by Fox Nation called ''Duck Family Treasure''. ''The Chosen (TV series), The Chosen'' is a crowdfunding, crowdfunded television series about Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament, the series is directed by Dallas Jenkins and has been adapted into Bible study (Christianity), Bible studies, novels by author Jerry B. Jenkins, and children's picture books.

Media formats

Books, magazines, and newspapers

Evangelicalism doesn't have a central authority, so publishers like Zondervan, LifeWay Christian Resources, and ''Christianity Today'' are considered de facto gatekeepers of theology. Christian books are a segment of Christian media which typically communicates the core elements of the Christian faith to non-believers, or publishes books to help develop and inform the beliefs of adherents. While these Nondenominational Christianity, nondenominational publishers appeal to a wide variety of Christians and non-Christians, there are denomination specific publications including the Catholic Church's ''America (magazine), America'' and Seventh-Day Adventist's Amazing Facts. Other publishers include ''Concordia Publishing House'' and ''David C. Cook''. Christian magazines are one of many special-interest categories within the magazine publishing industry. Christian magazines often focus on groups within Christianity, such as men or women, youth, or certain denominations. Many Christian magazines are published by denominations and independent ministries as an outreach to the unchurched or to the organization's supporters, frequently at no cost to the reader. One of the most well known is "Guideposts" magazine, published by Guideposts non-profit since 1945. Examples of denominational magazines include ''House to House Heart to Heart''. Other Christian magazines are published commercially for a profit, and sold by subscription or by single copies through bookstores and other retailers. Examples include ''Charisma (magazine), Charisma'', ''Relevant (magazine), Relevant'', and ''Spectrum (magazine), Spectrum''. Newspapers are a segment of Christian media which typically communicates news to members of the denomination or group which publishes the paper. Such newspapers often published weekly, rarely more frequently and often less frequently (bi-weekly, monthly). Examples include the Southern Baptist Convention, whose various state conventions often publish weekly or bi-weekly newspapers, ''Christian Examiner (California), Christian Examiner'' and ''The Christian Post.'' Sometimes individual congregations will publish newspapers; one example is Southeast Christian Church, a megachurch in Louisville, Kentucky which publishes a weekly newspaper distributed throughout the metro area. ''Christian Science Monitor'' is a general interest newspaper that has an appeal beyond Christian audiences, it is owned by the Church of Christ, Scientist. Independent publishers have produced Christian newspapers, often aimed at a specific group such as Roman Catholics. Christian poetry, Poetry produced by Christian poets can often find its way into the popular consciousness, an example includes "Footprints (poem), Footprints". Another sub-format is Christian devotional literature which usually has Christian publishers, celebrities, and pastors giving their testimony or sharing ideas, either as Devotional Bibles, Devotional Calendars, or other literary formats. Devotional Bibles are a subgenre of the Study Bible format.

Comics, animation, and graphic novels

''Davey and Goliath'', '' Superbook'', and ''

'' are some popular Christian animated series. They were referenced as an inspiration for television writer Len Uhley, regarding ''X-Mens Nightcrawler (character), Nightcrawler and Wolverine (character), Wolverine when the characters' faiths were featured in an episode of the X-Men: The Animated Series, 1990s animated series. Len Uhley later worked on popular Christian animated series ''Friends and Heroes'' and the ''Superbook'' reboot. ''The Gospel According to Peanuts'', written by Robert L. Short about the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz, discussed the Christian themes of the comic strip. In the television special ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' the character Linus Van Pelt would directly quote Luke 2:8-14, with "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Spire Christian Comics, part of Baker Publishing Group and Archie Comics, which ran from 1972 and 1982 were a Christian spin-off of their larger franchises. They featured characters from Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', and ''Josie and the Pussycats (comics), Josie and the Pussycats''. During the 1990s, Marvel Comics partnered with Thomas Nelson (publisher), Thomas Nelson to create a series of Christian themed books including comic book adaptions of ''The Screwtape Letters'', ''

'', and created a Christian superhero called ''Illuminator (Marvel Comics), Illuminator''.

Film and television

Many forms of Christian films are widespread, from full length, feature films to short and discussion orientated clips. Christian television includes broadcast television, cable television, and streaming television channels whose entire broadcast programming schedule is programs directly related to Christianity, such as Trinity Broadcasting Network (the world's largest religious television network), Three Angels Broadcasting Network, Christian Broadcasting Network, God TV, SAT-7 and Emmanuel TV or individual shows including comedy, action, drama, reality, dramatizations and variety shows, movies and mini-series; which are part of the overall programming of a general-interest television station. Some Christian streaming services have emerged in the interactive media space, such as PureFlix which is owned by Sony Pictures. Family oriented Christian streaming service Yippee TV received distribution rights for ''The VeggieTales Show'' reboot from NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and Trinity Broadcasting Network, TBN from 2019 to 2022, and afterward would be broadcast by the Minno streaming service.

Radio and music

Christian radio is a radio format of music and programming that, within itself, includes several sub-formats. These include

, Urban contemporary gospel, Southern Gospel, inspirational music, children's programming which include ''

'' and Patch the Pirate, talk radio, and formats which include primarily preaching and/or instructional programming. Christian music festivals and camp meetings are held worldwide including The Experience (gospel concert), The Experience in Nigeria and Sunza Rock Festival in Japan, and some are sponsored by companies like

as a part of community outreach including McDonald's Gospelfest, while others are sponsored by churches and Christian music labels like that of Creation Fest. The American popular music industry first began with the distribution of Christian hymnals and gospel music. The

of today is still rooted in Christian music and church music, but includes

and Christian hip hop music. Christian and Gospel record labels are usually founded by artists within the field. TobyMac started the label Gotee Records and Lacrae is the founder of Reach Records. Musicians in Christian music groups often have prominent solo careers as well, Michael Tait wrote the book ''Living Under God'' with former DC Talk bandmate TobyMac. Fred Hammond started out with the Commissioned (gospel group), Commissioned gospel music group, and has become one of the most influential contemporary gospel musicians. Some secular musicians convert to Christian music,

known for his Latin rock music infused Latin Christian music into the sound following his conversion in the early 1970s, Kanye West with his Sunday Service Choir have had success with a single called "Jesus Walks" and the music albums ''Jesus Is King'' and ''Jesus Is Born'', and Korn band member Brian Welch has a Christian metal band called Love and Death (band), Love and Death.

Video games and interactive media

One of the first Christian video games was ''Bible Computer Games'' which first appeared on the TRS-80 Color Computer in 1982, it was ported in 1983 to Timex Sinclair and TI-99/4A, then released on the Apple IIe, Commodore 64, VIC-20, and the Kaypro CP/M computer platforms in 1984, and finally on MS-DOS 1986 by PC Enterprises. Many of the early Christian video games have become highly valued collectables, because they received smaller distribution at Christian bookstores and magazines instead of typical distribution at video game retailers, one such example is the 1983 Atari 2600 title ''Red Sea Crossing (video game), Red Sea Crossing'' which has become one of the rarest video games of all time. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, video game developer Wisdom Tree made several unlicensed video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo that have since been ported to numerous platforms, including ''Spiritual Warfare (video game), Spiritual Warfare'' and ''Super 3D Noah's Ark''. While Christian video games may have at first been misunderstood by the video game industry, the topic of religion and video games has since been accepted as a part of the mainline video game culture. Major AAA (video game industry), Triple-A media franchises, including ''The Legend of Zelda'', ''Castlevania'', ''Assassin's Creed'', and ''Halo (series), Halo'', prominently feature Christian concepts to varying degrees. Crave Entertainment had ''

'' video games officially released on PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance, a game based on reality show ''

'' was published by Activision on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo 3DS, and the MS-DOS Wisdom Tree games were brought to Steam (service), Steam and Humble Bundle by Piko Interactive using DOSBox and a ''Wolfenstein 3D'' source port. Christian game developer Scott Cawthon launched a major success outside of the Christian media field with the survival horror series ''Five Nights at Freddy's''. Christian interactive media includes Biblical software such as YouVersion's Bible mobile app, The SWORD Project, and Logos Bible Software, along with various forms of church software, as well as websites such as BibleGateway.com and Crosswalk.com.

Sub-formats

Holidays

Christmas

Christmas by medium, Christmas media is a well known sub-format, including its own List of Christmas films, films, List of Christmas television specials, television specials, Christmas music, music, and Christmas in literature, literature. The Nativity of Jesus is depicted in Nativity of Jesus in art, art, Nativity scene, scenes, and Nativity play, plays. Characters including the Christmas gift-bringer especially Santa Claus are common within the Santa Claus in film, film format, as are related additional characters like Mrs. Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Various Christmas stories have inspired other fictional works, such as ''A Christmas Carols Ebenezer Scrooge being the original inspiration for Scrooge McDuck, a cornerstone of

's Mickey Mouse universe related Donald Duck universe, with Christian messaging still featured for McDuck focused productions Mickey's Christmas Carol, DuckTales and the DuckTales (2017 TV series), DuckTales 2017 reboot.

Easter

The Resurrection of Jesus is a common Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art, motif in works of art, and other themes are explored in List of Easter films, Easter films and List of Easter television episodes, television episodes. The Easter Bunny, Easter eggs, and Easter baskets are universal icons of the holiday, due in large part to Christian media.

Halloween

Several works of Bibliography of Halloween, fiction, List of films set around Halloween, film, and List of Halloween television specials, television specials center around Halloween, and its associated All Saints' Day, Allhallowtide, All Souls' Day, and Day of the Dead. Its original intent was to celebrate the anticipated

and a jubilant Prayer for the dead#Christianity, prayer for the dead, and to celebrate the lives and works of saints, the Apostles in the New Testament, apostles, disciple (Christianity), disciples, and one's interpersonal relationships. Halloween costumes were originally from Celtic Christianity and were based on

and folklore, they have since come to encompass supernatural fiction. Horror fiction has some of its roots in Halloween fiction story ''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'', as do horror's later multimedia adaptions to Horror comics, comics, Horror film, film, and Horror game, video games.

Televangelism

Televangelism is a popular sub-format that usually features sermons by television hosts like Pat Robertson of Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Virginia Beach, author Joyce Meyer, and preachers including Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, the televangelism sub-format can include radio rebroadcasts including those of Bishop T. D. Jakes of The Potter's House Church, Dallas, The Potter's House Church in Dallas and Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary Chapel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque. During the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Jakes along with pastors Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar had three of the largest churches and television audiences in America. While there are many benefits to this popular sub-format, as most televangelism broadcasts are simply sermons and theological seminars, there are controversies involving Word of Faith-style prosperity theology, including a senate probe that led to an investigation of six televangelists. Several popular televangelists and preachers have shunned the use of prosperity theology, and instead rely on #Popularity, traditional means of funding for their ministries.

Impact

There is a misconception of Christian media being a form of proselytism and Christian terrorism, extremism. The concerns are taken very seriously within the field, as it is not the intent or goal of the genre, and the issues are combatted by those within both the Christian and secular media industry, media industries. The common intent and goal behind most Christian media is often that "entertainment doesn't have to be shallow and devoid of meaning ... values-based media can still be entertaining and engaging." According to the former head of Religion and Ethics for the BBC, Michael Wakelin, "journalists often assume that they understand Christianity simply because of its popularity. As a result, reporters are often more willing to 'take swipes' at Christianity in newspaper and television reports, while other religions are treated with more caution." Another concern of the genre is a perceived secularization of religion and the McDonaldization of reducing faith to a fad, which are similar to criticisms of various approaches to evangelism and mass media in general. Most criticism about Christian media comes from the prior misconceptions and concerns, and when it isn't a Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster it often receives the same criticisms as other Independent media, independent and Low-budget film, low-budget media due to the typically subculture nature of the productions, but as such it likewise receives the same types of cult followings as other mainstream fandoms and sleeper hits in small press, independent music, cult film, and indie games. Despite the decline of Christianity in the Western world the genre has shown resilience giving

prominence within global popular culture, and even increased the number of those identifying as Christians regardless of church attendance. Much of this approach was mimicked by technology evangelists to improve the perception of technology in the Information Age. Which in turn inspired the digital spread of

with virtual accessibility of the ministry of Jesus, causing the growth of personal Bible study (Christianity), Bible studies, Christian contemplation and Christian meditation. Christian media has a broad demographic reach. Asian peoples, African Americans, indigenous peoples of the Americas, women, Hispanic and Latino Americans, within nondenominational Christianity, nondenominationalism/evangelicalism are among the fastest growing audiences and creatives of Christian media, and this is reflected in the popularity of Christian leaders across the growing panethnicity, panethnic Christian population growth, Christian population. These leaders include Renee Begay, Kristina Button, Francis Chan, Roma Downey, Layla de la Garza, T. D. Jakes, Sarah Jakes Roberts, Mario Lucero, Isabel Lucero,

, Joseph Prince, Siouxsan Robinson, Samuel Rodriguez, Michael Todd, CeCe Winans, Randy Woodley, and Danny Yamashiro.

Society

The genre is influential within conservatism in the United States, American conservatism, but because creatives with both Christian conservative and Christian left, liberal viewpoints are involved with media productions, the most common stance is "taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems" as per ''Christianity Today''. A side-effect of that is Christian media outlets being well known for their journalistic objectivity, journalism ethics and standards, ethics, and standards, and research has found that independent and Christian media publications help in government accountability, exposing corruption, and encouraging the separation of church and state in the United States, separation of church and state. The media industry in general has an issue with sexual harassment and sexual assault and much of it goes unpublicized at secular institutions; preventing such corruption at Christian media organizations, Christian outlets even self-report the appearance of impropriety to help repair and prevent such issues. Influential leaders in Christian media were at the forefront in fighting against racial segregation in the United States, and it has continued to lead in the topic of Christian egalitarianism and Christian feminism, feminism; women in the Bible are depicted in Christian media, ranging from prophetess Miriam, Israelites, Israelite Biblical judges, judge Deborah, List of monarchs of Persia, queen Esther, to the women in Church history such as Mary Magdalene, Saint Joanna, and Susanna (disciple), Susanna, and married couple

. Their stories are common subjects dating back to Christian literature in the 1550s onward. Women in Christianity play important roles in Christian media, including musicians Aretha Franklin, Amy Grant and Faith Hill, as well as businesswomen J.D. Dewitt, Robin McLain, and Sadie Robertson. ''The Handmaid's Tale'', by author Margaret Atwood, warns of a disregard for Christian egalitarianism, egalitarianism, fictional televangelist Serena Joy manipulates complementarianism to help build the dystopian government in the story. Christian denominations are taking various stances on Christianity and homosexuality, homosexuality or Christianity and sexual orientation, sexual orientation and some List of Christian denominations affirming LGBT people, Christian denominations affirm LGBT people, so the same is happening within Christian media as well. There are some LGBT Christians that have had success in the Christian music field, those include Grace Semler Baldridge, Semler, Jennifer Knapp, Everyday Sunday frontman Trey Pearson, and Vicky Beeching. LGBT Christian media personalities differ heavily from the mainstream media portrayal of LGBT people, in that the Christian LGBT community focuses on ''agape'', the love of God in Christianity, Love of God and love of Christ, particularly encouraging committed relationships and opposing promiscuity while moreover strictly denouncing hookup culture. Lesbianism in Christianity is a particularly influential topic that was suppressed after Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire, for example suppressing how Sappho's poetry and Sapphic stanza positively impacted the writings of Christianity in the 1st century and Christianity in the ante-Nicene period, in the ante-Nicene period, though after the Renaissance the topic began to be explored again with Christian literature discussing lesbian experiences of women in Christianity, including nuns and Minister (Christianity), ministers/clergy.

Pop culture

Eugene_O'Neill_Theatre_-_Book_of_Mormon_(48295951286)

Like most pop culture and subculture movements, Christian media personalities and businesses have been the subject of feature story, feature stories and been featured on talk shows such as breakfast television and late-night talk show, late-night shows. One of the earliest pop worship groups The Joystrings first gained popularity performing on Cliff Michelmore's BBC ''Tonight (1957 TV series), Tonight'', a trend which continued with other night programs;

band Relient K made appearances on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', and celebrities like those from ''

'' made appearances on ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' and ''Conan (talk show), Conan''. In ''The Simpsons'' there are recurring characters that are usually used to discuss and parody Christian topics, those being Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy. ''South Park'' had several episodes that parodied Christian media topics. One comparing Mel Gibson to Daffy Duck following the success of ''Passion of the Christ'', another about fictional Christian rock band called Faith Plus One, and both Jesus and Satan are recurring characters; in South Park episodes that feature Jesus or Satan, the show pays Homage (arts), homage to Christian media story-telling by teaching some type of Christian virtue. Matt Stone and Trey Parker included an episode in South Park about Mormonism, and later produced a Broadway theatre musical ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'' to both parody and pay homage to Christian missionaries and particularly Mormon missionary, Mormon missionaries. ''Futurama'' had an episode entitled "Godfellas" which is the first win for an animation with the Writers Guild of America Awards 2003, Writers Guild of America Award, for tackling deep theological and religious topics. Including a science fiction take on the idea of predestination, Grace in Christianity, grace, Repentance in Christianity, repentance, and Salvation in Christianity, salvation from a Judeo-Christian perspective. The show ''Drawn Together'' was a cartoon which parodied most animation genres and styles, for the Christian genre they parodied the ''VeggieTales'' characters as extremists called The VeggieFables. In the ''Rick and Morty'' episode "Never Ricking Morty" the characters of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith both Repentance in Christianity, repent and turn to Jesus, at which point Jesus and various Christian media character parodies rescue them. The season 1 series finale of ''Smiling Friends'' parodied the ''Divine Comedy'', particularly Inferno (Dante), Dante's ''Inferno'', as the character Charlie must make Devil in Christianity, the devil smile in order to be return to Earth; Charlie fails to make the devil smile in the end but God, played by Gilbert Godfried, saves Charlie for having Courage, confronting fears.

References

Sources

* {{Christian music articles Christian media, Christian culture Fiction by genre Genres Radio formats Media formats