Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age

In "Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age," Tony Reinke offers a biblical response to dealing with the overwhelming stimuli of visual spectacles that capture our attention. What I love about all of Reinke's writing, is that he is quick to acknowledge his shortcomings, has a gentle tone, makes room for Christian freedoms, and centers everything all on Christ.He gives examples of numerous, everyday spectacles that vie for our hearts; like politics, body image, scandals, gaming, social media, and horrific displays. "...spectacles want something from us. 'Consuming' is part of it, but we don't merely ingest spectacles, we respond to them" (17). "[They] make demands on us, they want ourself-image, our time, our outrage, our attention, our hearts, our wallets, and of course, our votes (38). Because we live in an ever increasing visual culture with limited time to feast our eyes on all the things, our focus has consequently been conditioned for 15 second video clips and gifs, memes and retweets.But what's better is how Reinke masterfully points the reader to the greatest Spectacle of all, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because "...you don't become like Christ by beholding the Internet all week...You become like Christ when you behold the glory of Christ," as reveled in Scripture (Platt quoted, 140-41). "The Christian's battle in this media age can be won only by the expulsive power of a superior Spectacle" (145). Reinke gives the reader the hope of Jesus for our digital age. "We are free to center our lives on him, to enjoy him, and to glorify him by fixing our attention on things above, where we find our superior Spectacle, our greatest treasure" (144).I would recommend this book to all people: news watchers, gif senders, meme creators, social media onlookers, retweeters, Netflix-bingers, and all digital consumers. This is a helpful book for Christians to evaluate the extent of our consumption, and an opportunity to gaze more intently at the greatest Savior of a Spectacle there ever will be, and too look forward to the eternal Spectacle of seeing Christ face to face. "When we turn our attention to Christ -- our ultimate Spectacle -- all the flickering pixels of our culture's worthless things and beloved idols grow strangely dim" (154).

I’m a screen addict. My eyes are hungry for the breaking news, the twitter banter, the neighbor gossip, the photos of friend’s #blessed life, and the late night escape into whatever show everyone is talking about. I shamefully binge when the kids go to bed and wake up tired and regretful, only to get sucked into the digital delights all over again the next evening (or sooner, lunch break). I delete apps on my phone only to indulge in them on my smartTV. I close social media accounts only to get lost in the 24-hour news cycle. I disconnect from means of communication with people I know only to indulge in lives of celebrities and strangers. My eyes are incessantly glaring at the glow, constantly seeking screened spectacle. I am an eyeball in the pinball machine of media.All that to say, Tony Reinke’s Competing Spectacles is a deeply personal, profound, and precise diagnosis of my eye’s insatiable hunger for drive-thru distraction, while laying before me a banquet of better beholding. What’s better, because my eyes have been trained to snack on sound-bites and morsels of media all day, his book is arranged in small stimulating thoughts that I can chew on without choking on a meal too big for my easily distracted mind. If I wanted to binge, I could read the book in a sitting, but if I want to digitally detox, I can sip at Competing Spectacles chapter by chapter or thought by thought every time I’m driven to ogle my iPhone.Reinke awakened me in 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You. Now that my eyes are open, Competing Spectacles gives me something, or rather, Someone, to set my hazy eyes upon. The psalmist said, “turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and revive me with your Word.” In a world of flashing then fading optical illusions, there’s nothing better than satisfying my sight with the enduring image of God in Christ.I want to underline, highlight, reference, and revisit this book as much as I refresh my news feed, remembering to behold what’s better until my faith is sight.

Competing Spectacles is a book that many Christians of this generation should read. It gives great information on how our spectacle indulgences affects our eyes and what we value. Ultimately Tony wants Christians to understand that we should have our view on the biggest Spectacle of this world, Jesus. Focusing our eyes on Christ and what he's done can help Christians from falling into the worldly spectacle rabbit hole. In summary, Reinke is not saying that Christians shouldn't enjoy the spectacles of sports, gaming, movies, or media. Reinke wants Christians to know that Christ should be our deepest vision of beauty and we should fix our eyes on him during this media age.

Reinke has stirred me to examine myself: Have I become bored with Christ? All Christians must examine themselves and ask the same. What do our eyes love to see? What do our hearts adore? How will we seek God above all the noise and distractions? Reinke has provided Christians with a valuable resource.

Competing Spectacles is a timely watchman warning call to help us move from flashy eye grazing soul distraction to fruitful eye feasting Christ enrichment. Tony Reinke’s historical examples, walk through the book of Colossians, great quotes and word choices are helpful in opening our eyes to the seriousness of “incurious gaze”. He alludes to James 4:4 when he writes “Whoever would make himself a BFF of digital spectacles makes himself an enemy of God.” Sobering truth. Great graduation gift book.

This book helps you to take a step back from the optical illusions of this world to see the lies and effects of the digital age on our lives.It doesn't prescribe a solution, but opens the mind to think carefully about how we should handle life in the digital age.Though not prescriptive in smaller actions, it does a fantastic job of showing Jesus to be the most spectacular, the chief Spectacle.

People please read this book- especially if you value time and want to guard your spirit. I am paying more attention to what takes my attention after reading this little book