Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment
There's no avoiding popular culture—we've been enculturated into it. What does it mean to be faithful Christians in a pop culture world? How do we think Christianly about celebrity and leisure? Some Christians try to abstain from "worldly" pursuits, while others consume culture indiscriminately, assuming it has little effect on them. But if Christ is Lord of all of life, then there ought to be Christian ways to engage with and appreciate popular culture. Steve Turner has spent his career chronicling and interviewing people from the worlds of music, film, television, fashion, art and literature. Now he provides an insider's guide to a wide range of entertainment pursuits, with biblical frameworks for understanding pop culture genres and artifacts. Turner explores
- how movies use redemptive narratives and parables
- ways journalistic headlines convey worldview assumptions
- differences between famous people in the past and celebrities today
- what ideas are communicated through clothing and fashion design
- how technology changes our sense of what is real
- and much more
God entrusts culture to us and gives us the ability to critique it, enjoy it and create it. This book will help you become a better cultural critic, consumer and creator.
Introduction
1. Leisure Pursuits: Why We Should Care
2. Popular Culture: Defining the Term
3. Working It Out: Some Biblical Parameters
4. Cinematic Art: The Story of Stories
5. Journalism: Reading Between the Lines
6. Celebrity Culture: The Game of the Fame
7. Fashion: The Language of Clothes
8. Ever-Greater Thrills: The Search for Sensation
9. Comedy: Laughs, Lies and Truth
10. Romanticism: Art?s Shaping Power
11. Advertising: The Hidden Persuader
12. Computers: Rewiring Our World
13: Photography: The Opening of the Eye
14: TV and Movies: The Image of the Faith
"Turner offers not only the tools for critical engagement of popular culture, but also an earnest exploration of what it means to consciously and unconsciously participate and create as Christians in the world."
"If both Paul and Jesus could use their cultures as springboards for the Gospel, why shouldn't we? And if we want to follow their examples, this volume by Turner offers a well-informed biblical and theological guide to how we might do it."
"Many local churches give their members little assistance when it comes to assessing the products of popular culture from a Christian point of view. Those who require help in this area will find much useful material in Steve Turner's Popcultured."
". . . this is a discussion all Christians desperately need to have."
"Steve Turner is our generation's international treasure. Popcultured holds up an entertaining magnifying lens while revealing how the power of pop culture has come to insinuate itself into every aspect our daily lives. Steve reveals how our seemingly mindless surrender to today's trends causes us to breathe the air of whatever wind is blowing--be it in the way that we dress, our taste in music, political consciousness or even our spiritual beliefs. Whatever the fashion, or fleeting fad, we strive to stay apace without stopping to ask ourselves, 'Why?' This is where Steve Turner's Popcultured anchors us in understanding the trends, by providing abiding wisdom and insight so that we might learn to ask the right questions of our times."
"Popular culture surrounds us. Film, television, music and new technologies all influence individuals and society. Learning how to engage pop culture thoughtfully and winsomely is part of our Christian calling. In Popcultured, Steve Turner offers cogent insights and practical wisdom that will help readers understand and evaluate popular culture, encouraging spiritual discernment and theological balance."
"Steve Turner has proved himself one of the most accessible writers on the interaction of faith and culture. Popcultured is a welcome and lively exploration of what is fast becoming a crucial field."
"I do not hesitate to recommend this book heartily. There are precious few good books on popular culture from a Christian perspective, and fewer still that are as ambitious and wide-ranging as this one. Turner provides a welcome addition to a seriously underdeveloped field, a field that requires more attention than it typically gets from Evangelicals. This book deserves a wide and enthusiastic readership."
Product Details
- Title : Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment
- Author: Turner, Steve
- Publisher: IVP Books
- Publication Date: 2013
- ISBN: 9780830895489
Steve Turner is an English music journalist, biographer and poet, who has spent his career chronicling and interviewing people from the worlds of music, film, television, fashion, art, and literature. He regularly contributes to newspapers such as The Mail on Sunday and The Times and his many books include Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts, Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment, Hungry for Heaven: Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption, U2: Rattle and Hum, Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now, and A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. Originally from Northamptonshire, England, Turner?s career as a journalist began as features editor of Beat Instrumental where he interviewed many of the prominent rock musicians of the 1970s. His articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, and the London Times, and he has also written several poetry books for both adults and children. He lives in London with his wife and two children.