MALENA CARRION
Staff Writer
A well-known Johnny Cash biographer visited Pepperdine Tuesday to lecture and sign copies of his book “Imagine: A Vision for Christians and the Arts.”
Steve Turner stressed that through high quality art, Christians can portray their beliefs and not just by writing church hymns or painting crosses and angles.
“They can change the world,” Turner said, “because they are changing the direction of what society is talking about.”
Many in the audience appreciated that Turner discussed how beauty and truth can be represented by Christians in all art forms.
“I think he did a great job of painting his Christian vision for the arts,” Professor of religion Todd Bouldin said. “He warned us of the pitfalls of Christians who wish to convey the Christian message that lead to the distortion of either good art or the nature of the gospel.”
Bouldin, who teaches a class in religion in art and culture, plans to require “Imagine: A Vision for Christians and the Arts” for his class.
Following the lecture, Turner signed copies of his books.
“He writes about how there isn’t Christian art,” Samuel Mazur, a Christian drummer, explained. “It is just art, period. He takes away the Evangelist burden that Christian artists sometimes carry.”
Mazur, whose wife attends Pepperdine, stressed the importance of identifying as a Christian. “It’s about saying ‘I’m a Christian drummer’ and wanting to serve God by contributing, Mazur said. “It’s about being a Christian artist, not just a Christian.”
While the lecture was open to all of the Pepperdine community, many in the audience were faculty and few students who attended for class extra credit.
Turner also took the time to visit Dr. Michael Murrie’s feature article writing class earlier in the afternoon. Turner gave students insight into the interview process as well as took questions from the class.
“I admire how he used his interest in music to cover a wide range of topics,” junior Rachel Johnson said. “He uses music as an outlet for different types of people.”
Getting his start as an editor for a British rock ‘n’ roll newspaper, Turner accrued a long list of rock music’s big timers on his resume. Turner became an author with his first book, “Conversations with Eric Clapton” in 1976.
With his already incredible list of pop culture figures, Turner interviewed James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin, starting a list of newspaper headliners on his résumé.
However, it was his 1992 book “A Hard Day’s Write” for which the author became extremely well known. The in-depth study of The Beatles’ songwriting sold more than 250,000 copies.
Regardless of sales, Turner’s books about Christianity in the arts earn him the most feedback.
“Surprisingly, it’s not the books that are selling the most copies that people want to talk about,” Turner said. “I suppose it’s because the books like ‘Imagine’ are more personal.”
In “Imagine,” Turner encourages audiences to give each piece of art a chance. “Christians often dismiss art that conveys a message that does not agree with their beliefs.”
Ignoring what contradicts personal views causes them to miss out on part of what the arts are sayings.
“I would say that they first have to ask if it’s technically good, made with integrity, and if it is true. You can have a church hymn with an awful melody or a beautiful painting that is completely wrong. Christians have to look at the world differently and, in turn, understand art differently as well.”
03-01-2007