Associate Professor of Theology Dr. Justin Bailey was inspired to write his latest book, Interpreting Your World: Five Lenses for Engaging Theology and Culture, partly because he was looking for a resource to use for his Christianity and Popular Culture class.
“There are a lot of books that deal with Christian engagement with culture, but they either are too specific or are overly general, concerned with not being conformed to ‘the culture’ in the abstract,” explains Bailey. “I wanted a book that split the difference—a book that didn’t date itself through frequent references to pop cultural artifacts that might be passé as soon as the book came out, but also a book that modeled concrete cultural interpretation through different lenses.”
The result is Interpreting Your World, a book that explores five dimensions of culture including meaning, power, morality, religion, and aesthetics. The book, which was released by Baker Academic in September, is intended to help readers recognize the ways culture shapes our perspectives as they learn “to engage culture with greater fluency and fidelity in response to the triune God.” Bailey has a similar goal for his class.
Bailey has taught Christianity and Popular Culture three times, and each time he’s had his students provide feedback on drafts of Interpreting Your World. This semester, though, students are required to read the book. Bailey made the book available on reserve at the Hulst Library, and he’s offered to students who can’t afford to purchase the book that he will give them a copy.
Students say they enjoy getting to learn from the author of their course textbook.
“I think it provides more depth and context to the book and the course,” says Elanor Gesch, a biology major. “When we discuss topics, they directly tie to the chapter and vice versa, which gives us more to think about and questions to ask.”
Christianity and Popular Culture is a popular class, not only because it fulfills a core requirement for students but because of the subject matter.
“I have really appreciated the fact that we are taking something that many people might think is superficial or frivolous and taking a close look at it,” says Jemmie Dyk, an environmental studies major. “Popular culture is all around us and is shaping us whether we like it or not. I think it is awesome that we have the opportunity to think deeply about how this connects to our faith in a discussion-based class like this.”
As they examine the relationship between Christian faith and popular culture, the class considers critical theory and cultural studies as well as sketches a theological account, rooted in the reformational emphasis on creation, fall, redemption, and renewal.
We ask, ‘What are some distinctly Christian approaches to culture? And does it reflect flourishing?’” says Bailey. “The whole class is shaped by a reformational perspective. The idea of worldview and looking through lenses to see what’s going on and how that’s distinctive is very reformational. I want them to listen carefully to name what’s good and to give thanks to God for what’s good, but I also want them to be discerning – to say, ‘What are the ways in which this is reflecting a different vision of what the world is like than the one we see in Scripture?’”
Original source can be found here.
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