Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment

by Steve Turner

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 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian, Cultural, Music, Art, Pop Culture

254 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2013

About the author

Steve Turner is an English music journalist, biographer and poet, who grew up in Northamptonshire, England. His first published article was in the Beatles Monthly in 1969. His career as a journalist began as features editor of Beat Instrumental where he interviewed many of the prominent rock musicians of the 1970s. He subsequently freelanced for music papers including NME, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone.

During the 1980s he wrote extensively for British newspapers and magazines on a range of subjects as well as producing his study of the relationship between rock music and religion, Hungry For Heaven, and co-authoring U2: Rattle & Hum, the book of the film. In the 1990s he began devoting himself to full-length books, the first being a best selling biography of British music star Cliff Richard, Cliff Richard: The Biography, in 1993, which stayed in the Sunday Times bestseller list for six weeks. At the same time he has written a number of poetry books for both adults and children. The first of his books for children, The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, has now sold over 120,000 copies, and total sales for his children's poetry collection now exceeds 200,000.

His published poetry books for adults are Tonight We Will Fake Love, Nice and Nasty, Up To Date, The King of Twist and Poems. His published poetry collections for children are The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, Dad, You're Not Funny, The Moon Has Got His Pants On, I Was Only Asking and Don't Take Your Elephant To School.

He now combines his book writing and journalism with poetry readings, lecture tours of America and Europe and consultancies. He lives in London.
Hungry for Heaven: Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption(1988)
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now (1993) Van Morrison
Cliff Richard: The Biography (1993) Cliff Richard
A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (1994; updated in 1999 and 2005)
Jack Kerouac: Angelheaded Hipster (1996)
Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye (1998)
Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts (2001)
The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend (2004) Johnny Cash
Amazing Grace: John Newton, Slavery and the World's Most Enduring Song (2005)
The Gospel According to the Beatles (2006)
An Illustrated History of Gospel(2010)
The Band That Played On (2011)

Reviews

[Joel Wentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Turner is a brilliant journalist, particularly regarding the intersection of Christianity and pop culture. His earlier book, "Imagine", had a profound impact on me during college, and I love the way he analyzes the "Christian response" to areas of pop culture that tend to make people nervous. Regarding this book, which is organized into chapters which deal specifically with many subjects: film, journalism, fashion, comedy, and others, some specific chapters stand clearly above the rest. Specifically, I appreciated his analysis of both journalism and stories, and would actually be interested in reading a full book from him on those topics, which summarizes my problem with the book as a whole: I wanted more from it. Each chapter felt like a surface-level summary of the topic. Turner does provide a very helpful "further reading" section after each chapter, which I plan to take advantage of, but I simply wanted to hear more from him! If you haven't thought much about how to deal with pop culture from a Christian perspective, I highly recommend this book as an intro to the subject. Other readers, who are more well-versed in popular culture, would probably find the bibliography just as helpful as the book itself.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

At one point I was prepared to more or less dismiss this book over theological differences. Which sounds impressive, but really I just mean that Turner and I interpret some passages of scripture differently, and as a result we think differently about some of the topics presented here.

However, by the time I had got to the end I had placed this book in the worthwhile reading category, for the simple reason that it's an excellent conversation starter. I don't think Turner provides the definitive answer to very many questions, but he certainly steers the conversation in a worthwhile direction. He needs a stronger theology of culture, leisure, and beauty, and this would clear up his thinking in a lot of areas, but I valued his research and insight into the motivations of the creators whose work we consume everyday: the fashion designers, the comedians, the directors.

Too many Christians mindlessly consume or reject, and we need to get to the place where we can redeem our culture.

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turner, who has written for both secular and christian media, authored books on the Beatles, rock and roll, the arts and other similar themes along that vein here covers the larger encompassing scope of pop culture. Chapters delve into various themes from a Christian perspective including movies, tv, fashion, journalism, photography, music, etc. with excellent application and discussion questions.

[Tomi Ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Turner burrows deep into the nook and crannies of popular culture to identify the place of Christian - are consumer or a shunner. His argument gives no clear rule book (which is good), but provides enough insight for you to make personal decisions about how you consume, what you consume and how you may also be a creator of pop culture in a godly manner. Great book.

[Josaías · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outros livros lançam bases e se aprofundam mais em um ou outro tema. Mas esse é mais divertido, vai direto ao ponto, tem otimos insights e cobre muitas áreas (algumas que nunca ou raramente aparecem em livros desse tipo).

Talvez eu tenha sido injusto com os outros livros que ganharam quatro estrelas mas enfim..

[Marcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Turner, an aged and accomplished journalist, has written a primer for Christians interested specifically in how people of The Faith should interact and intersect with Pop Culture. Turner provides a vision of the Christian life that is reflective and open to dialogue. He also recounts varied experiences, including meeting David Bowie and others who've made their mark on mainstream culture. He consistently examines the latter in light of his faith and is to be commended for that. This is an interesting social commentary, covering an array of stimulating topics- from fashion to photography. The great weakness was Turner's attempt to offer the church as one way of propping up a collective popular culture, rather than this pop culture propping up The Kingdom and being pruned where necessary. Because of this, he ran into some pedantic cul de sacs and offered little more than surface criticisms.

[Dakota Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and everything about it. The book provided some deep insight into things and really made me think about things that surround pop culture. It was a refreshing take on thinking about things from a Christian perspective. I loved how the book tied things to Christianity and wasn't focused on pop culture is bad or whatever. I enjoyed reading a book that mashed together my passions the arts (theater) and Christianity. This book is really great all around and I've already recommended it to several friends and family.

[Cher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s alright for those who are interested. It is not as good as Movies are Prayers by Josh Larsen though. Too many examples and unnecessary details.

[David Cowpar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

I like a lot of what I read, it usually gets me thinking...

Nothing has set my mind on fire quite like this... Christians and Pop culture may become my Thesis topic for my Masters because of this book. I just have to do some more research to see if there is a problem there, and enough information to answer it.

I recommend this book to any Christian who has interests in popular culture (especially those who are authors like myself and wish to be culture creators).

[Philip Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very helpful overview of culture, journalism, photography, technology, film, advertising etc from a Christian perspective. I think this book should be read by all parents and pastors.