How do images affect teens? John Murray is the author of the recent book, In Whose Image? Image-bearers of God vs. The Image-makers of Our Time. In this fascinating interview, Murray shares classroom research, his interview with Charlton Heston, and four ways that images affect us. Learn practical ways to talk about image and identity in the classroom and around the table. It’s no surprise that the Socratic method is one of the most helpful tools to help teens!
A graduate of Vanderbilt University (BA, 1990) and Dartmouth College (MALS, 1995), John Murray is a leader in academia with over two decades of independent school experience in teaching and administration–including 17 years as a Head of School. As a thought-leader in regard to equipping children and parents to impact modern culture, John has extensive experience in impacting the broader public through film-making, writing and speaking. His award-winning documentary, Think About It: Understanding the Impact of TV-Movie Violence was nationally distributed by Active Parenting from 2000-2010. His enhanced e-textbook, entitled In Whose Image? Image-bearers of God vs. The Image-makers of Our Time, prepares teens to understand what it means to be an image-bearer of God, while equipping them to recognize and avoid being re-created by the image-makers of our time–covering such areas as identity, body image, race, media discernment, history, and the Christian faith to name a few. His award-winning articles addressing education, history, politics, media and youth culture have appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Barna Group, The Washington Examiner, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Des Moines Register, The Atlanta Constitution, Citizen Magazine, Movieguide, and Fox News to name a few. He received two national writing awards from The Amy Foundation in 2010 and 2012.
A Colson Center Fellow, he has also served on the Newseum’s Educator Advisory Task Force in Washington, D.C., the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS-DC) Accreditation Committee, and has led the Christian School Association of St. Louis (CSASL).
He and his wife Barbara have four children–Andrew, Mary Stuart, Kingsley, and Sara Cate.