May 1, 2007

What's In A Word? A Heritage Worth Saving

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Just about everything that enters our minds — through reading, watching, or hearing — has been edited. It is not simply a matter of adding clarity to garbled syntax or fixing commas. It entails a deliberate decision about what gets in our consciousness, at least through the window of whatever media we are digesting — from television and newspapers to radio and magazines.

Editing is peculiar work, because it is invisible, behind the scenes. Yet the work is forceful, as it shapes (edits) the very media being offered to the public.

No one is fooled any longer that media can exist as a purely objective and unbiased agent. One need only flip through the various cable news networks or major newspapers to see this fact. Ideologies abound, and they are often contending. In a very real sense, then, editors push ideologies. Some push environmentalism, some push feminism, some push compassionate conservatism. Our cause, however, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is in this that we have common cause with one another. We have the privilege of orchestrating the whole sound of the magazine, and we often learn what does and does not work from you. The relationship is reciprocal.

The only way to shape media honestly is to face up to the fact that media is, by definition, advocacy. In other words, it serves to argue for one cause over another. Of course, this is to be done in a principled way, without lies or distortion. But make no mistake: we have an agenda.

You will notice underneath the Tabletalk masthead on the front cover the words: “from Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul.” That is, the magazine itself represents the ideologies of both those entities, and it is the work of its editors to ensure that this is done. Whether it be regarding some doctrine of the church or controversy facing it, what you will find in the magazine is an interpretative presentation. We do not pretend to be offering unbiased facts; we are not concerned with being politically correct as we are with being apostolic, evangelical, and Reformed.

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Chris Donato

Chris Donato is director of communications at Trinity International University and editor of Perspectives on the Sabbath.

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Worldview

Resources about the Christian’s engagement with the world, including: the arts, economics, education, ethics, government, philosophy, and science.