Mike Cosper - The stories we tell : how TV and movies long for and echo the truth

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THE STORIES WE TELL

How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth

MIKE COSPER

Edited by Timothy J. Keller and Collin Hansen

Foreword by Timothy J. Keller

Mike Cosper helps us make sense of what is true and good in the stories our culture consumes, and he does it without leading us toward syncretism. With the amount of TV and movies our culture devours, this book is a must read.

Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor, The Village Church, Dallas, Texas; President, Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Like Paul at the Areopagus, Mike Cosper walks through the cultural artifacts of our entertainment industry and effectively says, I can tell by your sitcoms and dramas and even your romantic comedies that you are a storytelling people who long for more. Let me introduce you to the Storyteller you dont even realize you long to know. The result is a book that will change how you watch TV and movies. But more importantly, this might change the conversations you have with your neighbors.

James K. A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College; author, Imagining the Kingdom and How (Not) to Be Secular

Cultural engagement is a delicate but necessary balance for all who claim Christ. Mike Cosper insightfully examines narratives in pop culture to reveal the larger story of God at work in the human heart. This book is a must read for pastors and all those who seek to engage the culture with the powerful story of the gospel.

Ed Stetzer, President, LifeWay Research; author, Subversive Kingdom; edstetzer.com

Drawing upon a dazzling breadth of stories told through film, television, and literature, Mike Cosper examinescritically and charitably, wisely and generouslythe culture-shaping power of stories and how all reflect in some way the grand story of creation, fall, and redemption. Skillfully and compellingly written, The Stories We Tell is essential reading for anyone consuming, engaging, or shaping the culture.

Karen Swallow Prior, author, Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me and Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah MorePoet, Reformer, Abolitionist

Mike has showed us the way of participating in culture and discerning where God is in it. It is easy to simply reject cultural creations in the name of purity. Or to receive them uncritically. The Stories We Tell will inspire a new generation of missionaries who seek to live in the world but not of it.

Darrin Patrick, Lead Pastor, The Journey, St. Louis, Missouri; Vice President, Acts 29; Chaplain to the St. Louis Cardinals; author, The Dudes Guide to Manhood

There is no one I would rather read on issues of popular culture than Mike Cosper. This book is not another heres how you find the gospel in Superman project. Cosper analyzes popular culture with depth and with wisdom, seeing both the common grace of conscience all around us and the depths of human sin. As Cosper interacts with popular culture, he models for us how to listen to the voices around us in order that we might engage them with the mission of Christ. This book is about more than the media he analyzes. It is also a training ground for how to pay attention to our neighbors.

Russell D. Moore, President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; author, Tempted and Tried

The stories we tell rattle around in our minds, capture our imaginations, and give shape to our living as they echo the themes of Gods grand redemptive storycreation, fall, and redemption. These are not only the themes of film, literature, and television, but are also the inescapable passages of every persons life. Cosper gives us new eyes to see and new ears to hear the stories we tell and in so doing invites us to celebrate our inclusion in the one story with a happy ending that actually never ever ends. I love this book and I think you will too.

Paul David Tripp, President, Paul Tripp Ministries; author, What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage

Evangelicals are notorious for consuming mass quantities of pop culture behind closed doors and sanctimoniously railing against the culture in public. Its time to stop the hypocrisy and get serious about thinking theologically about the TV shows and films that stir our imaginations. In The Stories We Tell, Mike Cosper plays the role of the Interpreter in The Pilgrims Progress by clarifying our favorite episodes and movies in light of both law and gospel, and urges us, Stay until I have showed thee a little more!

Gregory Alan Thornbury, President, The Kings College; author, Recovering Classic Evangelicalism

Cosper presents a thoughtful, gospel-centered analysis of culture that will resonate with the current generation. Whether you love TV and movies or hate them, they are indeed the central sounds and images of our culture, and they call for discerning theological critique. And this book delivers. Mike Cosper tells us the story about the stories we tell, and does so wisely and well.

Grant Horner, Professor of Literature and Film, The Masters College; author, Meaning at the Movies

CULTURAL RENEWAL

Edited by Timothy J. Keller and Collin Hansen

Joy for the World, Greg Forster

The Stories We Tell, Mike Cosper

The Stories We Tell: How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth

Copyright 2014 by Mike Cosper

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Bryan Patrick Todd

First printing 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-3708-0
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-3711-0
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-3709-7
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-3710-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cosper, Mike, 1980

The stories we tell : how TV and movies long for and echo the truth / Mike Cosper ; edited by Timothy J. Keller and Collin Hansen ; foreword by Timothy J. Keller.

1 online resource. (Cultural renewal)

Includes index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4335-3709-7 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-4335-3710-3 (mobi) ISBN 978-1-4335-3711-0 (epub) ISBN 978-1-4335-3708-0 (tp)

1. StorytellingReligious aspectsChristianity.

2. Popular cultureReligious aspectsChristianity.

I. Title.

BT83.78

261.5'7dc23 2014020600

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For my Dad: Thanks for buying the big TV.