This is one of my favorite books. Written by Fuller Seminary Professors Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor (who both also happen to be involved in the Hollywood world) approach popular cultural with anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and theology to discover the questions of culture, what God is doing in the world today and how Christians can join Him in this work. They inspect advertising, celebrities, music, movies, television, fashion, sports, and art from the perspective of being both artist and pastor. They see a Jesus who walked the streets, of whose ministry we read more of his interaction with marketplace people than synagogue teachings, who was accused of spending his time with “sinners,” with the rejects of the church. In the introduction, the authors write, “We embrace pop culture because we believe it offers a refreshing, alternative route to a Jesus who for many has been domesticated, declawed, and kept under wraps” (p. 9). They introduce a new aspect to hermeneutic and suggest ways to open the church doors to “that bright, passionate audience of young people whom advertisers covet and the church is in danger of losing” (p. 8). Some of their ideas may feel dangerous to the shepherds of the flock and the guardians of truth that want to protect their people from the threatening ideas and philosophies of the world, but they dive in to play with the dolphins and the whales and the coral. More than deconstructing the modern method, they seek to reconfigure and recontextualize. They remythologize the gospels, not in order to create a story devoid of truth, but in order to recapture and embodied heroism and life that invites us to find our community in God’s metanarrative of creation, fall, and recreation. I found this book a refreshing challenge to engage with culture, rather than standing outside of culture waving our parental fingers with a “tsk, tsk.” While not losing the integrity of their Christian heritage, Detweiler and Taylor walk the streets to dialogue, to learn, and to share wisdom, to find God in pop culture.
Book Thoughts: A Matrix of Meanings by Barry Taylor and Craig Detweiler
By hgoodman - Posted on July 3rd, 2006
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