Today one of my new all-time favorite authors, Ted Turnau ¹, is interviewed by another one of my favorite authors. From Pastor Jared Moore’s blog ²:

Ted Turnau (PhD in Apologetics from Westminster) is a college lecturer who teaches Cultural Studies and Religion in Prague, Czech Republic. He’s married with three children. He recently wrote a book titled Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective. I appreciate his approach to popular culture. Instead of Christians enjoying popular culture uncritically or rejecting popular culture altogether, Turnau offers a more biblical approach.

“Popular culture, like any other facet of society, is a messy mixture of both grace and idolatry, and it deserves our serious attention and discernment.”

Further highlights include:

• Turnau’s rebuttal to misunderstanding of 1 Thess. 5:22, which in the KJV says, “abstain from all appearance of evil”. (Readers know this is a frequent charge against Christian fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and more.)

There are really good reasons to believe that it should have been translated “every form of evil” rather than appearance. […] Taken as “appearance,” it puts too heavy a burden on the Christian, not just to avoid evil, but to avoid anything that anyone would suspect of being evil.

• Turnau’s response to the question, What do you say to those who believe Christians are free to participate in popular culture for the purpose of “mere entertainment”?

Entertainment is never “mere.” The pathways of pleasure and desire and play run deep, far deeper than we realize. If you want to know the real heart of a person, or a society, find out what entertains them, what delights them. We need to be aware of our own hearts as we expose them to the currents of popular culture.

• This:

It is very possible to enjoy a secular song or movie, thanking God for the truth and beauty that God has allowed this cultural creator to put in his work. (There were a few times while watching The Avengers that I remembered praying, “God, thank you for allowing Joss Whedon to write that line. That was awesome.”).