On How to Get Him
Listening to my colleagues Eric Kohn, Anthony Bradley, and Noah Gould discuss the recent Superbowl ad from the ‘He Gets Us’ campaign on this week’s Acton Unwind episode “He Gets Us. But Do We Get 'He Gets Us'?” got me thinking about how to market religion.
The greatest marketers of religion have been their scriptures and their saints.
I think Byrne Hobart is onto something when he describes religious scriptures as ancient forms of broadcasting:
Broadcast as a general concept has existed for a long time (it's arguably not just pre-printing press but pre-literacy, given that some older texts—the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Odyssey, etc. were oral traditions before being written down, and seem to have had some level of mass distribution without needing to be a mass-produced text.
These scriptures are written for reception, refined in reception, and continue to be recited because they communicate effectively. As St. Paul says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
The saints contextualize and recontextualize this message for every age through their thoughts, words, and deeds. Their examples are transformative for, “Whatever actions great persons perform, common people follow. Whatever standards they set, all the world pursues.” (Bhagavad Gita 3.21)
God does advertise, Superbowl ads are not His usual means.
"For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out." - Ezekiel 34:11