Theodore A. Turnau, Ph.D., M.Div.

Lecturer Journalism, Media & Visual Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
ted.turnau@aauni.edu

Letenská 120/5
118 00 Malá Strana

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Raised in rural Pennsylvania, Ted Turnau attended the University of Virginia (B.A. English), where he met his wife, Carolyn. He then pursued an M.Div. and Ph.D. at Westminster Theological Seminary (his dissertation is on Paul Ricoeur and popular culture). During his time there, he and Carolyn had three : Roger, Claire, and Ruth. After completing his Ph.D. in 1999, the whole family moved to Prague and have lived there since. He is a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. He also teaches at Union School of Theology in Wales. Ted published Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective in 2012, and is currently working on two more books. They currently have two cats and a rabbit.

Specializations

Culture Studies, Popular Culture, Religion, Worldview, Fandom

Publications & Other Activities

  • “Dialogues Concerning Cultural Engagement,” essay in two parts, Foundations 70 (Spring 2016) and 71 (Fall 2016). Part one available online at http://www.affinity.org.uk/foundations-issues/issue-70– article-2—dialogues-concerning-cultural-engagement-part-one. “
  • Displacing the Sacred: Thoughts on the Secularizing Influence in Hollywood,” Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology 64 (Spring 2013). Available online in March 2013 at http://www.affinity.org.uk/foundations-issues/issue-64-article-1— displacing-the-sacred-thoughts-on-the-secularising-influence-ofhollywood.
  • Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective, Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 346 pp., May 2012. “Popular Culture, Apologetics, and the Discourse of Desire,” Cultural Encounters 8:2 (Winter 2012): 25-46.
  • “On Being Wise as Serpents: Why and How Christians Should Engage Popular Culture,” The Evangelical Magazine (Evangelical Movement of 5 Wales), September/October 2010. Available online at http://www.emw.org.uk/magazine/2010/10/on-being-as-wise-asserpents/ (accessed 13th November, 2010).
  • “Review of Eyes Wide Open: Searching for God in Popular Culture,” Journal of Popular Culture vol. 42, no. 3 (June 2009): 581-83.
  • “Life in the Twittersphere,” The Gospel and Culture Project website, April 2009 (now defunct). Archived online at http://www.turnau.cz/content/life-twittersphere.
  • “Popular Cultural ‘Worlds’ As Alternative Religions,“ Christian Scholar’s Review vol. 37, no. 3 (Spring 2008): 323-45.
  • “Jack Be Evil, Jack Be Quick: Reflections on the Necessary Evils of ’24’”, in Minding Evil: Explorations of Human Iniquity, edited by Margaret Sönser Breen (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005): 109-25.
  • “Inflecting the World: Popular Culture and the Perception of Evil.” The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 38, no. 2 (November, 2004): 384-96.
  • “Equipping Students to Engage Popular Culture.” Article in The Word of God for the Academy in Contemporary Culture(s). Edited by John B. Hulst. Budapest, Hungary: Károli Gáspár Reformed University, Faculty of Theology, 2003: 135-57.
  • “Reflecting Theologically on Popular Culture as Meaningful: The Role of Sin, Grace, and General Revelation,” Calvin Theological Journal, 37, no. 2 (November 2002): 270-296. Available online at the Ransom Fellowship http://www.ransomfellowship.org/publications/ebook_turnau_reflecti ngtheologically.pdf.
  • “Speaking in a Broken Tongue: Postmodernism, Principled Pluralism, and the Rehabilitation of Public Moral Discourse.”Westminster Theological Journal 56 (Spring 1994): 345-77.