Christian college students’ universal fascination with Settlers of Catan. An excerpt:

Only days before, we’d had a spirited disagreement prompted by the popularity of the music of both Sufjan Stevens and Conor Oberst, and George’s distaste for both. Soon, however, the argument came to include a wide range of artists, musicians, authors, activities and, of course, books. The Brothers K, the novel by David James Duncan, being one of these contentious items. George’s thesis was as follows: Christians in their 20s and 30s have predictable tastes, while at the same time believing that they alone have stumbled upon something unique in secular culture, something that is not stereotypically “Christian.”

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Richard Clark

Richard Clark is the Founding Editor of Christ and Pop Culture. He is also the managing editor of Gamechurch and a freelance writer for Unwinnable, Paste, and other outlets. He lives with his wife in Louisville, KY and has a MA in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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9 Comments

  1. Kind of lame since everything on that list with the exception of the stuff explicitly attached to Christian pop-culture (i.e. Narnia and Bazan) pretty much jives with the average college-aged person anyway. Oh, and U2. I don’t know how U2 became such a touchstone for young people since they make old people music. I’m guessing it’s the Christian connection again. And I don’t know how a book that stole a perfectly good bit of shorthand to refer to one of Dostoevsky’s books could be celebrated by anyone (I’m still furious that if I refer to The Brothers K people might not assume I’m talking about a Russian novel).

    But seriously? Catan and other examples of Eurogaming? It’s a little bit silly to presume that if you like it you’re a 20-something Christian. One might as well pick any other activity with broad-scoped appeal. Like playing ultimate? You must be a Christian. Like crocheting? Christian, for sure. Thought Fight Club was interesting? Christian!

    Bleh.
    .-= The Dane´s last blog ..20090417.teaParty =-.

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  2. Hmmm. I’m not sure Settlers-mania is restricted to the Christian demographic among 20- and 30-somethings. All the grad students in the English department at Penn State, Christian and non, played.

    It’s not exactly making up songs, but we have a tendency to sing “Oh, we like sheep” to the tune of “All We Like Sheep” from The Messiah at some point during every game. Also, we had a friend who would sing “The Long and Winding Road” at me because he was convinced it was my strategy.
    .-= Carissa Smith´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net =-.

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  4. Oh, and yeah. Halo. Ask around at Christian campuses. Odds are, you’ll find that for some reason, Christian 20-somethings love Halo. And the ones that don’t? They probably love World of Warcraft. It seems that videogaming is an inseparable part of the Christian 20-something’s cultural identity. So yeah, take that valuable piece of information and… wait, what was the point of this exercise?
    .-= The Dane´s last blog ..20090417.teaParty =-.

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  8. Yeah, I’m not sure what I’m missing. Most everyone I know loves Catan, but I’ve played it a few times and was not particularly interested. I don’t think I enjoy board games in general. Too slow to enjoy the gaming; too involved to enjoy the conversation.

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