The field of the study of the connection between film and religion is steaming. New articles are being published all the time. I decided to share at least some of them on this site, despite that I won’t the time to post information about every single one of them. So without further due let me link to our new Articles page, currently with a single paper/thesis listed no it. More to come.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/11/introducing-our-new-articles-section/
Nov
07
Books added November 7, 2011
- Nourishing Faith Through Fiction: Reflections of the Apostles’ Creed in Literature and Film (2001) by John R. May (editor)
- Pauline Images in Fiction and Film: On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow (1999) by Larry Joseph Kreitzer
- Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue (2006) by Robert K. Johnston
- Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline (2007) by Robert K. Johnston
- The Religion and Film Reader (2007) by Jolyon Mitchell and Brent S. Plate
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/11/books-added-november-7-2011/
Nov
06
Syllabi added November 6, 2011
Added three syllabi to the collection:
- American Mythology and Film(REL 130) (2011) by Dr. Adam L. Porter
- Religion and Film (RLG232H1H) (2009) by Rebekka King
- Religion and Film in Southeast Asia (2011) by Syamsul Ma’arif, Ph.D (Cand.) and Kelli Swazey Ph.D (Cand.)
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/11/syllabi-added-november-6-2011/
Oct
06
Books added October 6, 2011
- Images and the imageless: A study in religious consciousness and film(1991) by Thomas M. Martin
- Jesus at the Movies: A Guide to the First Hundred Years(1997) by Barnes W. Tatum
- Jesus of Hollywood(2007) by Adele Reinhartz
- Myth, Mind and the Screen: Understanding the Heroes of our Time(2001) by John Izod
- New Image of Religious Film (1997) by John R. May (editor)
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/books-added-october-6-2011/
Oct
05
Spielberg directing Moses
Steven D. Greydanus wrote an article at the National Catholic Register a couple of days ago titled ”Moses, Spielberg & DeMille: Why Spielberg should do the next Moses movie” After covering Spielberg’s past achievement and connections to DeMille he wrote,
A successful Spielberg-directed Moses story could be a cultural landmark of immense significance. It could have an impact on a scale similar to The Passion of the Christ, but without the polarizing controversy. It could give a fundamental biblical story new currency for generations to come. Like DeMille’s film, it might even help renew awareness of the Ten Commandments and the foundational role of the Judeo-Christian heritage in Western civilization.
Of course there’s no guarantee that it would do any of these things. Depending on the screenplay (I have no idea what it looks like) and how Spielberg handles it, it could be terrible. Even on a best case scenario, it seems likely that there would be at least some drawbacks, and that caveats of some sort or other will be necessary.
I am a bit ambiguous about the project. On one hand I would love to see such a movie. On the other hand I lament every time a classic literary (and in this case religious) works gets translated onto the big screen. I am afraid that the traditional literacy I cherish, which has to do with the ability of reading and understanding what you read, is getting replaced with visual literacy (and in many cases digital literacy) or the lack of them. I guess I am a bit conservative in this sense: I think each media has its own beauty and advantages and we as a society loose a lot if the next generation becomes more clueless about traditional literacy. What can I say? I like books AND movies, but afraid if on knows a work only through the later variation and not the original book, one can miss a lot of learning and joy.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/spielberg-directing-moses/
Oct
04
Books added October 4, 2011
- Gospel Images in Fiction and Film: On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow (2002) by Larry Joseph Kreitzer
- Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (1994) by Gregory D. Black
- Hollywood Dreams and Biblical Stories (1994) by Bernard Scott
- How Movies Helped Save My Soul: Finding Spiritual Fingerprints in Culturally Significant Films (2003) by Gareth Higgins
- Image and Likeness: Religious Visions in American Film Classics (1991) by John R. May (editor)
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/books-added-october-4-2011/
Oct
03
Women, Religion, and Film: Higher Ground Raises the Stakes
Sarah Sentilles provides an intelligent review at Religion Dispatches of a new movie titled Higher Ground. She starts it with
Watching Higher Ground, Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut based on Carolyn Briggs’ memoir This Dark World, felt like catching a glimpse of a mythical creature I’d let myself imagine but never thought I’d see.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/women-religion-and-film-higher-ground-raises-the-stakes/
Oct
02
Announcing the new Syllabi section
In order to serve the mission of this website (“To support the study of the connection between films and religion”) better I just created a new syllabi section, where I will collect syllabi of courses taught on the topic of film and religion. I gathered 29 syllabi to start with. To be more precise two of them were gathered by AAR’s Syllabus Project and eight by The Wabash Center. This initial 29 came from courses taught by 28 professors at 25 colleges, the oldest one from 1998 and 6 of them from this year.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/announcing-the-new-syllabi-section/
Oct
01
Dr David Tollerton: Job of Suburbia?
Dr David Tollerton wrote an article titled “Job of Suburbia? A Serious Man and Viewer Perceptions of the Biblical“ about the Coen brothers‘ movie A Serious Man, which will come out in the next issue of the Journal of Religion and Film. Its abstract reads
In the short period since its release in 2009, the notion that A Serious Man represents a retelling of the Book of Job has gained great currency. This is the case despite the film’s makers, Joel and Ethan Coen, denying that the biblical tale was their inspiration. This article considers the relationship between Job and A Serious Man and the motivations that may lie behind the assertion of parallels between the two. It is ultimately suggested that the relationship between film and text is more substantial if we look beyond the partial plot similarities to the theme of theological absurdity that both explore.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/10/dr-david-tollerton-job-of-suburbia/
Sep
30
Books added September 30, 2011
- The Bible on Film: A Checklist, 1897-1980 (1981) by Richard Cambell (@Amazon)
- The Catholic Crusade Against the Movies, 1940-1975 (1998) by Gregory D. Black (@Amazon)
- Encyclopedia of Religion and Film (2011) by Eric Mazur (editor) (@Amazon)
- Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Religious Film Analysis (2009) by Steve Nolan (@Amazon)
- Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith (2004) by Robert K. Johnston and Catherine M. Barsotti (@Amazon)
Permanent link to this article: http://www.filmandreligion.com/2011/09/books-added-september-30-2011/