Oasis of Imagination: Engaging our World through a Better Creativity

by Ted Turnau

Publisher:

IVP

, 2023

What should creative Christian cultural engagement look like?

Too often, it has been marked by political strong-arming or fearful withdrawal into the "Christian bubble." There is another way: using our imaginations to plant 'oases' in the desert, breathable spaces that refresh, challenge, and draw together Christians and non-Christians alike. Oases refresh the soul, provoke discussion, challenge assumptions and lead the imagination to a new place.

In Oasis of Imagination, Ted Turnau lays out the Biblical mandate for engaging culture, and why the imaginative path holds promise. He explores the nature of the imagination from both Scripture and nature. He asks, "What does a Christian imagination that resonates with non-Christians look like?" He explores examples of Christian creativity done well from video games to movies to music to The Lord of the Rings.

He challenges the church, artist and non-artist alike, to be intentional about their own imaginative lives, how we can support each other, as together we engage in building bridges and being cultural ambassadors to the wider community.

In-depth and wide-ranging, Oasis of Imagination equips and encourages Christians, whatever their calling, to consider how to imaginatively enter into the broader cultural conversation.

Contents

Gratitude and Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I - THE CASE FOR OASES
CHAPTER ONE - Why Engage Culture? Calling, Holiness, and the New Creation
CHAPTER TWO - How Not to Engage Post-Christian Culture: the Path of Culture Warring
CHAPTER THREE - How Not to Engage Post-Christian Culture (When Actually You Should): the Path of Pietistic Withdrawal
CHAPTER FOUR - How to Engage Post-Christian Culture: the Path of Cultural Creativity (Exploring Oasis-Building)

PART II - FRAMING A MYSTERY: WHAT IS THE IMAGINATION?
CHAPTER FIVE - Framing a Mystery, Part I: A Biblical Theology of Imagination
CHAPTER SIX - Framing a Mystery, Part II: The Testimony of (Human) Nature about the Imagination

PART III - SHARPENING OUR FOCUS: CONSIDERING CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION AND ART
CHAPTER SEVEN - Contours of the Christian Imagination
CHAPTER EIGHT - Christian Art and the Pitfalls that Derail It

PART IV - THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION DONE RIGHT: EXPLORING SUBVERSIVE CULTURAL RESONANCE
CHAPTER NINE - Towards a Subversive Christian Popular Culture: Learning from the Blues
CHAPTER TEN - Dark, Ferocious, Honest: The Music of David Eugene Edwards
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Sho Baraka: Speaking Truth and Hopeful Protest to Church Family and Beyond
CHAPTER TWELVE - Being Present in the Broken Dance: The Improvisational, Pointed Art of Ruth Naomi Floyd
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - "Becoming Transparent": Sharing Pain and Hope in That Dragon, Cancer
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Contagious Evil and Hope against Hope: Tolkien's Middle-Earth
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Rumors of Grace in the Christ-Haunted World of Krzysztof Kieslowski's A Short Film About Love

PART V - REFORMING, REFRESHING, AND SUSTAINING THE IMAGINATIVE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FOR THE COMMON GOOD
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Worship as a Resource for Shaping Imaginations
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - The Artist as Resource for Church and World: Zookeeper of the Imagination and Loving Cultural Guerrilla
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Bridging the Chasm: The Christian Community as Resource for Creatives

CONCLUSION: ENDGAME

Product Details

• Title: Oasis of Imagination: Engaging our World through a Better Creativity
• Author: Ted Turnau
• Publisher: IVP
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781789744774, 9781789744750, 178974475X, 1789744776
• Resource ID: LLS:9781789744774
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-01T00:12:51Z

About Ted Turnau

Ted Turnau teaches culture, religion, and media studies at Anglo-American University in Prague, Czech Republic. He has a PhD from Westminster in apologetics and wrote Popologetics (2012) to help Christians engage popular culture. Ted Turnau authored The Pop Culture Parent. He and Carolyn have three grown children. Ted enjoys jazz and blues, movies, games, and Japanese culture.