Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment, By Steve Turner
Popcultured
Paperback
  • Length: 254 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: June 11, 2013
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9780830837687
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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 arecommunicated 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.

"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."Robert Velarde, author of The Wisdom of Pixar
"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."Jeremy Begbie, Duke University, author of Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music
"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 fleetingfad, 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."Bobette Buster, film and story guru, and adjunct professor, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Peter Stark Program
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CONTENTS

Introduction
We've Been Popcultured
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. Advertising: The Hidden Persuader
11. Technology: Rewiring Our World
12: Photography: The Opening of the Eyes
13: TV and Movies: The Image of the Faith
14: What Should I Do?: Consuming, Critiquing, Creating
Notes
Author QA with Steve Turner
Name Index

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Steve Turner

Steve Turner is a performance poet, journalist, biographer and author of critically acclaimed anthologies of children's verse. Among his bestselling books for children are The Day I Fell Down the Toilet (1997), Dad, You're Not Funny (2000) and Don't Take Your Elephant to School (2006). Steve makes frequent guest appearances on radio and television and was visiting lecturer on music journalism at Leeds College of Music 2008-2011. He has been interviewed on Today (BBC Radio 4), Front Row (BBC Radio 4), Breakfast (BBC1), Live Drive (BBC Radio 5), Steve Wright Show (BBC Radio 2), Diane Rehm Show (NPR), Laura Ingraham Show, Entertainment USA, Muse (Bloomberg TV), CBC, CBS, CNN, and MTV.