Laura Turner

Laura Turner is a writer and editor living in San Francisco. In addition to being a regular contributor to Christianity Today’s “Her.meneutics” blog, she has also written for publications such as Books & Culture and The Bold Italic. She is interested in the intersection of church and culture.

All Stories by Laura Turner

Beyonce’s ‘Drunk in Love’ is today’s Song of Solomon

By Laura Turner — January 27, 2014
The book of the Bible extolling sexual love and Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love" have more in common than you might think.

2014 Grammys: What you missed

By Laura Turner — January 27, 2014
The 2014 Grammys were full of strange performances, gimmicky weddings, and some bonafide musical highlights. Here's what you missed.

Interview: Joni Eareckson Tada voice behind Oscar nominated song

By Laura Turner — January 24, 2014
Joni Eareckson Tada, a well-known Christian writer and quadriplegic, is the voice behind this year's biggest Oscar upset, the song "Alone Yet Not Alone" from the film of the same name. She talks about her surprise at the song's nomination, singing on half-capacity lungs, and what she would wear to the Academy Awards.

Katy Perry on God, aliens, and praying for bigger boobs

By Laura Turner — January 23, 2014
Katy Perry believes in God and aliens, and once prayed for bigger boobs. Wish granted. Why does that matter for her public persona?

The church of Kanye West: ‘Yeezianity’ and humanism

By Laura Turner — January 22, 2014
A new religion based on Kanye West is not as radical as it seems.

Megachurch drama coming to your TV

By Laura Turner — January 17, 2014
NBC has ordered a pilot called "Salvation, set in a Texas megachurch and rife with "faith, family and corruption."

TV’s good news: More are 16 and (not) pregnant

By Laura Turner — January 15, 2014
I confess I’ve only been able to watch a few minutes at a time of the MTV show 16 and Pregnant. It isn’t necessarily that it’s always painful to watch, though at times that’s the case. It’s more that it displays the tedium and difficulty of raising a child, and my television tastes skew toward the […]

Golden Globes: The more the women change, the more the men stay the same

By Laura Turner — January 13, 2014
“This red? It’s my blood.” With that, Emma Thompson won the hearts of women all over America whose love/hate relationship with high heels ended, inevitably, in their removal. Thompson’s moment aside, last night was remarkable more for upholding the status quo than breaking any barriers in terms of race or gender. In her opening bit […]

Lance Bass’s mother says “Bye, Bye, Bye” to homophobia in the church

By Laura Turner — January 9, 2014
Growing up in the late ’90s and early aughts, I didn’t know a single girl who didn’t try to learn every move to the “Bye, Bye, Bye” dancer, or who wouldn’t have given her right arm to run her fingers through Justin Timberlake’s spring-curled hair. (The arm/finger thing might have presented a problem, but that […]

Colbert Report talks Pope Francis, economic injustice with chaplain Jim Martin

By Laura Turner — January 8, 2014
“If you have a problem with Pope Francis, you have a problem with Jesus.” — Father Jim Martin on The Colbert Report In the wake of Pope Francis’s remarks about the destructive nature of capitalism and the Christian imperative for the rich to give to the poor, the Catholic Church is in danger of losing […]

Why “Wolf of Wall Street” is a profoundly moral film

By Laura Turner — January 6, 2014
It set the record for most uses of the ‘F’ word in any film (506, if you’re counting). There are more drugs than you could shake a stick at, and with the drugs come sex–lots and lots of sex. In one particular moment of triumph (spoiler alert), Jordan Belfort’s (Leonardo DiCaprio’s) wife opens a limousine door […]

2013’s top moments in religion, entertainment, and religious entertainment

By Laura Turner — January 1, 2014
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” No, TS Eliot did not say these words in 2013. But they’re a good place to start as we think about this most recent trip around the sun and […]

Katy Perry “not Christian,” and why that matters

By Laura Turner — December 31, 2013
Going to a Christian college in Santa Barbara, it was hard to escape the shadow of Katy Perry. Every third person had known her growing up–they were in elementary school together, or sang in the same church choir, or took dance classes together. I even ended up at the same party as her sister once, […]

Dinesh D’Souza wanted you to buy this Christmas tree

By Laura Turner — December 30, 2013
The end of the year is a great time to think back over all the American human race has accomplished. There will be no shortage of retrospectives across the Internet: Celebrity deaths, strangest letters to Dear Prudence, best Longform reads, top Christian songs. Tomorrow, I’ll share a retrospective of my own in the form of some […]

Kenan and Kel’s Kel Mitchell still loves orange soda, God

By Laura Turner — December 28, 2013
If you’re anything like me, there are few words that warm your heart on hearing them as much as these: “Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?” The voice behind the words was Kel Mitchell, one half of sketch comedy’s most brilliant duo, Kenan and Kel. Together, Kenan […]
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