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Thinking theologically about Pop Culture
Author: Sarah Arthur
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 0687006570
R.R.P.: £4.99
Available from: Alban Books
Description
A series of youth group sessions aiming to help young people think theologically about popular culture.
The ‘thinking theologically’ series aims to help young people develop a theological framework so they can look at things from God’s perspective and act accordingly. The basis for the series is John Wesley ‘quadrilateral’ approach to theological thinking. It encourages young people to consider Scripture, Experience, Reason and Tradition -the emphasis always being placed on Scripture.
This resource (including a leader’s guide and participant’s booklet) is from the United States of America, so will need to be adapted accordingly to make it suitable for use in the United Kingdom. However, its clear structure, with a good variety of activities, exercises, Bible studies, practical application ideas and discussion questions provides a very good basis from which to adapt.
This is a very practical series and looks at relevant issues such as how we are influenced by popular culture, what causes popular culture to be like it is, and the power of advertising. However, the ‘thinking theologically’ series does what very few other issues-based and pragmatic resources seem to do – it looks at these issues in a way that helps young people create a theological framework.
It’s also worth noting that session four contains a Bible study that aims to provide young people with a series of questions to help them understand any topic from the context of the bigger biblical story, (What was God’s original intent? How did the Fall distort it? How did the Cross transform it? How are we now to live?) meanwhile, session five uses an adapted version of H.Richard Niebuhrs ‘Christ and Culture’ model to encourage young people to think about how they should appropriately engage with culture, (Assimilate, Consume, Engage, Appropriate, Condemn.)
