92: Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | Pop Culture Parent

Grace Enough Podcast: Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | The Pop Culture Parent

Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | Pop Culture Parent

Ted Turnau, PhD, teaches culture, religion, and media studies at Anglo-American University in Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author of Popologetics and the coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent. (Twitter: @tedturnau)

Jared Moore, PhD, serves in pastoral ministry and cohosts The Pop Culture Coram Deo podcast.

Jared also served as second vice president of the Southern
Baptist Convention.

He is the coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent. He and his wife, Amber, and their four children enjoy popular culture together. (Twitter: @JaredhMoore )

Ted Turnau and Jared Moore join me to discuss how becoming familiar with pop culture and discussing it with our children actually helps them engage their world for Christ.

Questions Ted, Jared and I Discussed:

  1. (5:14) What led you to write the pop culture parent?
  2. (9:24) How do you define pop culture?
  3. (10:41) Christians tend to avoid or forbid anything related to pop culture, whether it be R-rated movies or secular music, what are some of the dangers in taking that approach?
  4. (12:18) Ted you’ve said, “Popular culture shapes imagination and inner worlds. It creates connections between them and their friends. They need parents to help them see how the gospel shines in contrast to what the world offers. They need training in discernment and wisdom as ambassadors of Christ to their friends. They need to learn the cultural language of the land to which God calls them: their own culture.” How can we go about engaging popular culture with our kids now to help them see the gospel in contrast to the world?
  5. (22:40) For the parent of a toddler or early elementary child that may be listening, provide an example of how they can engage their child in their interests now to begin laying a foundation for more spiritual conversations later?
  6. (33:34) Will you walk us through the 5 Simple Questions to ask about popular culture? 
    1. What is the story?
    2. What is the moral and imaginary world?
    3. What is good, true, and beautiful in this world?
    4. What is false and idolatrous in this world?
    5. How is Jesus the true answer to this story’s hopes?
  7. (41:21) What final encouragement do you have for parents?

Quotes to Remember:

“Popular culture is not the equivalent to bad culture, which is what a lot of Christians take it to mean.” -Ted

“This is a popular culture world that we live in. Do we want to train our children to live in this world? Or do we want to train them to live in a world that doesn’t exist? You can’t evangelize in that world that doesn’t exist. We live in this world and so let us train our children to be in this popular cultural world but not of it.” -Jared

“Be willing to sit down with your kids and enjoy popular culture with them.” -Ted

“You can show the gospel as something distinctive and special by filtering it through popular culture, by holding it up against popular culture.” -Ted

“I realize that it’s easy to just draw hard lines, and say don’t watch a certain rating of movie and don’t listen to secular music. That may be easier. But the question is not what is easier, it’s what is best for our children?” -Jared

“The best way to to train our children is not to wait until they adopt a contrary worldview, and then try to bring them back. The best thing is to teach them Scriptures. Try to teach them the truth.” -Jared

“Even though the image of God and mankind has been marred due to the fall, the fingerprints of God are still present in the creative work of His image bearers.” -Jared

“When you have a parenting fail, you can entrust your child to one whose wisdom is far greater than yours or mine. So don’t be beating yourself up. Just enjoy the process, and learn as you go and trust God with the results.” -Ted

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

Episode Sponsor:

Heather M. Dixon | Author, Speaker, Bible Teacher

BIBLE STUDY: Renewed: Finding Hope When You Don’t Like Your Story

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Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | The Pop Culture Parent Quote
Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | The Pop Culture Parent Quote
Ted Turnau & Jared Moore | The Pop Culture Parent Quote
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