Slightly dated but very helpful C.S. Lewis-ish take on Christians in pop culture. ( )

This book is a must read, because,"We cannot afford to be indifferent about culture any more than we can afford to be indifferent about the toxicity of the water we drink or the air we breathe." ( )

This ranks as my favourite book on the subject of Christians and Culture. While maintaining a thoroughly biblical worldview, Myers departs from the naive applications of the cultural mandate which is so often the weakness of many worldview thinkers today. While charging Christians to act as leaven in the culture, and to propagate the gospel through spiritual means, he warns that the forms of popular culture inherently cancel whatever Christian content we may try to pour into them. Popular culture must be viewed in the same manner as fast food -- something to be enjoyed at times, but with an awareness of the dangers posed by overconsumption and improper use. His analysis of popular culture's historical and sociological roots should be considered by all who seek a better understanding of this subject which is so fraught with tensions between obligation and application. I highly recommend this book! ( )

Theme: popular culture: where it came from, how it affects us, how do we then live
Type:
Value:
Age:
Interest:
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Synopsis/Noteworthy:

xiii how versus what we think becomes the issue/focus
xv popular culture (pc): immediate, what please me at the moment, 114, 120, 126, 183
18 worldliness, a parallel culture
30 culture: human effort giving structure, working out beliefs in life 39, 42
37 Israel's culture somewhat restored holy Eden
49 do not be sequestered
50 our current calling re culture: participate, enjoy life 51, 52
55 Pascal on unhappiness: "[Men] have a secret instinct which impels them to seek amusement and occupation abroad, and which arise from the sense of their constant unhappiness."
61 pc presupposes absence of community
62 modernity pushes out God in its diversions
64 new is better
67 credit cards--constant gratification
68 immediacy--tv and rock
68-9 broken tradition
69 liberalism
80 art is to form to created reality
82 good art stretches us 96-other perspectives
86 popular art depicts life as we would have it
92 receive in art, first
95 aesthetic good defers from moral goodness
98 wisdom
101 culture--in Christ and not in self
104 the sixties, 124-concentrated modernism
107 evangelicals and culture 108, 181, 186
109 rebellion zeitgeist
110 modernism, 114
119 one thesis failure of high culture
120 pc contrasted with high culture
122 problem with pc is lack of transcendence
131 medium is message--content not as important
133 rock music obliterated non-sensual aesthetics 134ff, 137, 149-rock enlivens boredom, 151-objected to, 153-drives self, 155-objected to
140 romanticism reacted to rationalism
157ff tv 165, 171, 176
162 images versus words
164 pictures don't/can't establish propositions
179 liberation from images
180 possible to enjoy pc legitimately
180 purpose of book: attempt to explain the nature of pc in relation to other aspects of creation, and esp in relation to the history of American culture and society
181 sum of historical development
181 sensibility
182 cultivate self-denial of immediacy
183 fashionable
183 transcendence
185 deal with timeless (with children)

Ethan 68-71 lost family and church heritage because popular culture offers no disapproval if you only take part of its program
CBC xii-persecution; 133-rock, 171-tv/entertainment analysis
Elijah 181. 183-4
K 79-article, 183

X 153 stats prove science, 182 efficient versus effective, 212 typo ( )