Religion and Film: Part I: History and Criticism

Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture
Volume 23 (2004) No. 4
IN THIS
ISSUE
Religion and Film

Part I: History and Criticism
Terry Lindvall
Visiting Lecturer, Duke Divinity School
A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
ISSN: 0144-4646
Communication Research Trends
Table of Contents Volume 23 (2004) Number 4
http://cscc.scu.edu
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Film History and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Published four times a year by the Centre for the Study of
A. Pre-cinematic Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Communication and Culture (CSCC), sponsored by the
B. Religious Film Histories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 California Province of the Society of Jesus.
C. Roman Catholics and the Legion of Decency . 5 Copyright 2004. ISSN 0144-4646
D. Secular Film Histories and Religion . . . . . . . 7
E. History of Christian Filmmaking . . . . . . . . . . 9 Editor: William E. Biernatzki, S.J.
3. Film Criticism and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Managing Editor: Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
A. Critical Texts of Avoidance
and Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
B. Assimilation and Syncretism Subscription:
of Religion and Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Annual subscription (Vol. 23) US$45
C. Engagement and Dialogue
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2 — VOLUME 23 (2004) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

Religion and Film
Terry Lindvall
Lindvall4@cox.net
I. Introduction
Perhaps the place to start a study of religion and became the image/icon of the invisible God, these reli-
film is with the Second Commandment of the gious leaders envisioned the religious possibilities of the
Decalogue, mandating that one should not make any visual art (John of Damascus, 1997). Thus, while con-
graven image. Receiving the Law from God, Moses cocted in a cauldron of religious controversy, the visual
descended from Mount Moriah to find the Israelites arts found themselves baptized into the creativity of the
worshiping a golden calf they had made out of materi- Church, and eventually, after being alloyed with theatre,
al possessions. The juxtaposition of the Commandment literature, music, and other lively arts, evolved into the
and the devotion toward the graven image was ironic, communication medium of moving pictures or film.
and a source of adversarial suspicion developed Previous overviews of Communication Research
between Hebrew culture and visual art. Trends have inserted sections on films under their gener-
However, within chapters of the book of Exodus, al rubrics of media and religion or entertainment and
religious aesthetics were established. The first person religion (De Vries, 1995; Soukup, 2002). Soukup (1989)
that God breathes His Spirit into is Bezalel, a craftsman compiled an encyclopedic annotated bibliography that
of material arts, who is equipped to construct the Ark inspected an international list of key books and articles
of the Covenant. Not much later in Israel’s journey (e.g., Ayfre, 1953; Smith, 1921) on these subjects.
across the wilderness, God instructs Moses to make a Others, particularly Johnston (2000c), May (1997a),
brazen symbol, a bronze serpent that will bring healing Hulsether (1999), and Nolan (1998) have capably sorted
to a sickly and grumbling people. Those who look up notable texts on film and religion and categorized them
and gaze upon the elevated and projected image regain according to clear and cogent typologies. Johnston fol-
their health. The typological symbol suggests the pos- lows Niebuhr’s classic framework of Christian positions
sibility of a visual mode of religious communication, vis-à-vis culture while May practices a similar theoreti-
one that invites the habit of the gaze. The history of the cal set of categories (based on an acknowledged schema-
Hebrews, however, is replete with the rejection of and ta rooted in the academic inter-discipline of religion and
temptation to the worship of neighboring cults of idols, literature) that delineates authorial approaches to the
the Canaanite Baal, the Phoenician Asherim, or the relationship of religion to film studies (i.e., a fuller sys-
Moloch of the Ammonites. Associated with rites of tem of classification centered on hermeneutical modes
violence and sex, these cultic images seduced many of heteronomy, theonomy, and autonomy). Hulsether
willing and wayward Hebrews, including the sagacious sorts out the relationships among Christian values,
king Solomon himself through the influence of his American popular religion, and Hollywood films, offer-
numerous foreign wives, into the twin taboos of spiri- ing four different approaches for studying these relation-
tual adultery and idolatry. ships: a mythical, a theological, a sociological, and an
Rooted in this aniconic Hebrew culture, but tem- historical “apparatus-centered criticism” of religious
pered by Hellenic visual arts, the early Church wrestled film censorship. Finally, Nolan pinpoints a very helpful
with the place of imagery in its worship and instruction. threefold system of methodological trends in religious
By the eighth century, Leo III denounced all use of film analysis in a cinematic theology (preoccupied with
graven imagery in the church, calling forth a movement directorial vision and cinematic analogues of biblical
of Iconoclasm. He was roundly trounced by the very concerns), biblical-hermeneutical interests (viewing bib-
articulate apologist of images, St. John of Damascus, lical themes being interpreted by or developed in films),
and by Pope Gregory the Great. Grounding their defense and a general religious studies cultural approach. While
of the use of imagery in the Incarnation, wherein Christ theoretically the most fruitful and fresh, Nolan limits his
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 23 (2004) NO. 4 — 3

overview to in-depth studies of about half a dozen influ- The Religious Possibilities of the Motion Picture, pro-
ential authors. What is most remarkable and laudatory is vides a sort of prologue for historical based studies of
Nolan’s detailed understanding of how these texts on religion and film, under the research heading of Film
film and religion evolved out of religious historical con- History and Religion—such studies accommodate the
texts that called them forth. For example, he contextual- dominant issue of film censorship.
izes the serious early works of Wall (1971) and Hurley A second, larger and broader, category of Film
(1970/1975) in the challenges of a secular theology and Criticism encompasses various religious approaches to
the creeping hegemony of film as cultural barometer and understanding (and then rejecting, engaging, or appro-
cultural stimulus. priating) film as significant modes of human commu-
This review, however, is intended to survey the nication. Subsumed under this rubric are representa-
English literature on film and religion and to corral var- tional studies (from Jesus films and Christ figures to
ious research trends into suitable academic categories. various portrayals of religious character and rituals)
(For a remarkable review of relevant literature in other and more recent trends in inter-textual, cultural studies
languages, see May, 1997a, and Hasenberg, 1992.) approaches to religion and film and to audience analy-
Rather than looking at the critical posture or interpreta- sis, ethnographic, and reception studies.
tive mode of the writings, I will be examining the A third section examines the more conceptual
works according to a set of scholarly and pedagogical strand of Theology and Film Theory. Finally, I have
research motives. In the larger framework, I am less added a review of presentations of Pedagogical and
concerned with theological positions or critical atti- Pragmatic Applications of film and religion. [The third
tudes toward film, than I am with what methods of and fourth sections will appear in Communication
research or postures of intent have been appropriated Research Trends, Volume 24, #1, March 2005—
and practiced by various scholars engaged in the co- Editor.] As a caveat, or more aptly a confession, I admit
mingled disciplines of religion and film studies, and that these categories are quite elastic, slippery, and
which ones are emerging as the most heuristic (or overlapping. Arguments, and good ones at that, could
merely fashionable) at this time. However, my debt is be made for situating a text in alternative groupings.
great as I borrow heavily from the aforementioned Some of my favorite texts received less than deserved
authors in organizing appropriate categories. coverage, but the avalanche of materials was simply
Like the sorting hat of Hogswart, my own taxon- too overwhelming to give fair and full treatment to all
omy places works in what I deem suitable categories of these deserving and notable works. And to those whose
scholarly approaches. One of the earliest established works I have overlooked and completely missed, I
publications, Reverend Herbert Jump’s 1911 pamphlet, offer a word of apology, “oops.”
2. Film History and Religion
A. Pre-cinematic Studies systematic research into delimited areas recovered

Studies of images underlay many of the texts in this primary sources and archival materials, film histori-
study, particularly in relationship to the religious imagi- ans have opened up the canon to look at films other
nation. Both Kochan (1997) and Bevan’s Gifford than the biblical epics and bathrobe films. They have
Lectures (1940) raise important issues on the connec- tried to understand the texts and discourse surround-
tions between pagan graven images and religious coming a film, mostly by contextualizing the film, placing
munication and on how graven images enable humanity it in both cultural and religious situations, and inter-
to recreate God and itself in its own images. The contro- rogating it as a formal system of communication and
versy of the image for religious discourse extends, of as a rhetorical mode of religious discourse. As histo-
course, into the stimulating arguments of Ellul (1985), ries, these studies range from broad overviews to spe-
Postman (1985), Babin (1970, 1991), Lynch (1959), and cific close textual readings, but all with the emphasis
Stephens (1998), among many others.
on products shaped by particular social, political, and
From the classical studies of great works to the
religious conditions of production and reception.
New Film Histories of the 1970s, where specific and

B. Religious Film Histories impose themselves into a fuller context of film studies.
Part of the International Film Guide series, Butler His expansive command of details of films, filmmak-
(1969) surveys the treatment and representations of reli- ers, and theological trends is astounding. I continue to
gion in film, from the earliest silent film Bible stories marvel at his inclusion of the vast array of films,
through satiric portrayals as in Luis Buñuel’s films. The including the overlooked parabolic form of internation-
work is, unapologetically, a convenient and inclusive al animation, that he sets forth to show how cinema is
handbook with brief synopses on topics like nuns, a reflection of the human predicament, how it has been
priests, ministers, evangelists, missionaries, churches, used politically, how it invites religious dialogue, and
saints, allegories, parables, and witchcraft. While more how filmmakers like Carl Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman,
of a representational study, it does set forth a chronolo- Robert Bresson, and Charlie Chaplin are the theolo-
gy of various portrayals of religious figures and themes. gians of a visual 20th century.
May (1980) incorporates more discussion of reli- One of the themes addressed by Holloway, name-
gious influences than all previous film histories. As ly that of regulatory censorship, unfortunately became
Gomery and Allen (1985) argue, alternative approaches one of the primary markers of film historians in dealing
to the study of film history (i.e., economic, technologi- with the place of religion in film studies. That theme,
cal, and social/cultural) must balance the aesthetic however, did attract more substantial historical investi-
approach, and May demonstrates such awareness of the gation in the 1990s with a series of works on the
significance of religion to the study of film. A genuine involvement of Roman Catholic leaders in the devel-
cultural history must include the religious dimension, opment of the Production Code.
from the Victorian, progressive, and optimistic Romanowski (1988) follows Holloway’s varie-
Protestant beginnings of the art before the era of moral gated and provocative approach, examining the conflu-
censorship through the current renaissance in Christian ence of religious and cultural tensions within a history
filmmaking. (It was May’s inclusive history that of American entertainment. Guided by a sense of
sparked my own studies in the church’s relations to Gramsci’s cultural hegemony, Romanowski carefully
moving pictures during the silent era, excavating negotiates between the Scylla of legalistic religion and
numerous surprises on how the two realms intersected the Charybdis of worldly amusement in charting a
in dynamic and positive ways during the silent film era.) course through film history, up to the present trends of
Holloway (1977), the earliest intentional religious youth marketing.
history of film with its international scope, contains in Tibbetts and Weise (1977), in a mischievous but
embryonic form many of the heuristic approaches to substantial study of silent film star Douglas Fairbanks,
analyzing and understanding the relations of film and Sr., compare the gymnastic evangelist of Hollywood to
religion that appear in subsequent books and articles. his dynamic counterpart, the evangelist Billy Sunday.
While claiming to offer only a modest survey of a While research has delved into various archives
broad field, this work provides one the most thorough- to scrutinize materials on religion and film, one realizes
ly theological studies of the field. The 10 sections the immense untapped sources that still wait to be
begin, appropriately enough, with a theology of the opened and revealed.
cinema, one rooted in a theology of technology that C. Roman Catholics and the Legion of Decency
violently separates the human from nature and from Generally, most historical analyses of religion
himself/herself. In its own modernity, secularity, and and film have focused upon the Roman Catholic
kinetic processes, cinema offers motion and illusion as Church and its successful negotiation and resistance
aesthetic principles for bringing an awareness of some- during the early 1930s to the perceived corruption of
thing/Someone beyond the image. Holloway sets forth Hollywood via the Legion of Decency and the Breen
10 specific guidelines for understanding a religious Production Code. During a period of discontent with
cinema, such as its concern for all aspects of life and the Presbyterian elder and Hollywood czar, Will B.
culture, its necessary depictions of all characters and Hays, film content became increasingly more promis-
situations of the drama of life, and the essential, even cuous and violent at the beginning of the sound era, and
indispensable need for dialogue among filmmakers and concerned Catholics mounted a vigorous campaign to
church people. arrest the moral decline by confronting Hollywood
Holloway places film both in an historical leaders with an amazing concerted effort of protest and
chronology of film itself and in a stream of intellectual economic boycotts.
history. Ideas of transcendentalism and existentialism

Skinner (1993), in a thorough and meticulous immoral amusements. The PCA and Legion of Decency
study of two key Roman Catholic organizations that became, de facto, a national board of censorship. Black
shaped what America saw on its movie screens, shows opens various canisters of key films and projects the
how the Legion and the National Catholic Office of issues and controversies of each (e.g., The Merry Widow
Motion Pictures (NCOMP) worked in tandem to pro- and Mae West films), as well as showing the pervasive
mote their moral agenda and transfer ephemeral hege- “deodorizing” work of the Legion around the country,
mony of social mores from Protestants to Roman particularly in its fight against angora sweaters.
Catholics. Dealing with what he sees as a conspiracy of Black’s second volume (1998) goes into more
prudish silence on sensitive moral issues, such as abor- detail with later controversies and with the complex
tion, STDs, birth control, sexual abuse, and euthanasia, processes of making films during delicate political eras.
Skinner argues that a magisterial condemnation of While chronicling the rancorous debates, the work lacks
films proceeded via the Index Prohibitorum, eventuat- an overarching framework for the reasons the Church
ing in Father Sullivan and the publication of the papal engaged in such intense cultural activity. Catholic hege-
encyclical, Miranda Prorsus, heralding a new era of mony was undermined during the radical changes in
Roman Catholic relations to the cinema as the church post-war American society and culture, an era marked
acclimatized itself to new relativity and sophistication by Supreme Court decision on the Miracle case extend-
in morality. ing free speech protection to the movies (overturning the
Skinner’s work points to the commercial power 1915 Mutual vs. Ohio case). Rave reviews given daring
of a religious minority (due in part to the complicity in films (Darling in 1965) by a more liberal Catholic press
the pusillanimity and appeasement of the industry itself and NCOMP opened up audiences, ultimately ushering
and the acquiescence of the general public) and to the in the abolishment of the Code, with its being replaced
emergent liberal naiveté of NCOMP regarding a volun- by Jack Valenti’s current MPPAA rating system. Black
tary classification system. cogently attributes the drastic change to a moral empha-
sis on the individual’s responsibility of conscience. His
The Legion’s ethical position was unequivocal.
book, essentially about how the Church got power, used
It was based on the contention that morality is
timeless and unchangeable. Like the Production
it, and ultimately lost it—a historical document relishing
Code, its standards were rooted in the Ten the inner workings of religious leaders—neglects to
Commandments. To have called for their dilu- probe the theological principles and Catholic worldview
tion, it insisted, would be tantamount to demand- that shaped this era. As Romanowski (1988) explains,
ing a revision of the Decalogue. (p. 181) what is suggested is that
Skinner helpfully provides primary archival appen- the crux of the issue is perhaps best understood
dices on the League of Decency and illuminating annu- in terms of the function of motion pictures as a
al reports of controversial films examined. means of cultural transmission and criticism. It
In the first of two volumes on censorship, Black is a struggle not simply for control of the content
(1994) excavates the original documents of the of motion pictures, but for the possession of cul-
tural powers. (p. 365)
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the private papers of Martin
Quigley and Daniel Lord, and papers from the United Texts that view religion through the lens of cen-
States Catholic Conference (of Bishops) archives in sorship invariably focus upon the Roman Catholic
Washington, DC. Black connects censorship and editing Church. The premiere study remains Walsh (1996), a
of films to conservative political agendas. Mostly his detailed and fascinating study that traces the trajectory
work examines those films that dared to treat sex, crime, of critical involvement of the clergy from World War I
and fascism, as Father Daniel Lord sought to demonstrate sex hygiene films through the apex of influence in the
that they were not, as moguls argued, mere harmless 1930s to an institutional transfer of censorship from
entertainment, but visual sermons that should be rein- Catholics to Protestant fundamentalists. He charts the
forcing virtue, American citizenship, and “Christian val- religious influence upon the film industry as it reached
ues.” Black’s concern is to show the collision of free its zenith in establishing the Legion of Decency (1934)
artistic expression and the design of the Roman Catholic and dictating the substance of the Production Code.
Church, with the ever vigilant lay Catholic, Joseph I. Believing that the industry appointed czar of the
Breen (“I am the Code!”), heading the PCA. Under the movies, Will Hays, had sold his soul for pottage,
banner of “self-regulation,” the film industry was con- Walsh’s in depth investigation into the various archives
fined by the MPPDA’s pre-production censorship against of the archdioceses of Boston and Los Angeles, the

National Legion of Decency, and the Production Code nickelodeon era. Lindvall (2005) mines primary mate-
Administration, and the papers of Will H. Hays estab- rial on local film history of Norfolk, Virginia, to
lishes a laudable model for historical research into oth- demonstrate the reciprocal exchanges between church-
erwise overlooked sources of primary data. es and theatres during the 1910s and the impact of
Dealing with problems of Paramount’s purchase Sunday closing laws, a two-month revival series by
of Theodore Dreiser’s novel, An American Tragedy, Billy Sunday, and race relations on the film business in
with its seduction, contemplated abortions, and murder, the Mid-Atlantic city.
and addressing the troublesome images of ethnic gang- In his vivid study of the synergistic interface
ster films (e.g., Public Enemy and Scarface), Walsh between the British theatre of the late Victorian and
examines economic constraints, internal politics (with Edwardian era and the emerging British silent film
the Episcopal Committee on Motion Pictures, for industry, Burrows (2003) foregrounds a cultural phe-
example), and other contextual matters in situating the nomenon he aptly calls “illegitimate cinema.”
Church’s holy crusade and economic boycotts, reveal- Gaudreault and Jost’s (1990) heuristic concept of inter-
ing a fascinating set of differences of approaches with- mediality, of the multiple interactions of cinema with
in the Church. Culling primary historical documents, theatre and other cultural spheres, offers a fresh method
Walsh scripts the unfolding drama with flair and verve, for studying the cross-fertilization of the film industry
drawing out seminal moments of controversy (The and religious spheres.
Outlaw) in a lucid and compelling narrative. A number of film scholars extend in some senses
Numerous other works address the legal/moral beyond May (1980) the pioneering Middletown studies
approach of the Roman Catholic Church to the struggle of the Lynds (1929). The Lynd study of Muncie,
for cultural authority, including Jacobs (1997), Vieira Indiana, applied social anthropology to assess leisure
(1999), Doherty (1999), La Salle (2000), and Leff and activities (especially movie-going), religious practices,
Simmons (1990). What these historical works have in and daily life of a typical small town. Linking silent
common is a perspective on religion as a political source film history to the progressive movements and eco-
of control and cultural power to maintain a status quo, nomic and cultural problems of the era, both Sloan
often tying historical moral struggles to contemporary (1988) and Ross (1998) acknowledge the cultural roles
Roman Catholic and fundamentalist protests. played by the church and religious leaders. Fuller
(1996) looks at the church and morality and their rela-
D. Secular Film Histories and Religion
tion to movie-going practices during the silent film era,
Film scholars have noted the importance of reli- and the resulting homogenization of diverse movie
gion in shaping the cultural landscape in which cinema audiences. Waller (1995) delves deeply into the inter-
emerged. Musser and Nelson (1991) point us back to secting sites of religion, race, and movie going in a
the traveling exhibitions of the early 20th century, in southern metropolis in a landmark study.
which pre-cinema entrepreneurs of uplift, education, Other curiosities exist, like Oberdeck’s (1999)
and novel amusements, like Lyman Howe, built cultur- chronicle of evangelism at the turn of the 20th century,
al alliances with conservative churchgoers and genteel showing a contestation of religion, entertainment, and
elites through peripatetic high-class entertainments, cultural politics in America, an amusement precursor
which set a welcome stage for film use in churches. of the alloy of religion and film. Oberdeck examines
(See also the Scribner History of the American Cinema the negotiation of piety and pleasure in Pastor
series, especially the early volumes by Musser, 1990, Alexander Irvine’s evangelism, a working class mis-
Koszarski, 1990, and Bowser, 1990, for additional, sionary using entertainment techniques, and Sylvester
original historical material on film and religion.) Poli’s vaudeville world, particularly in the context of
Musser (1993) also looks at the remarkable popularity the working class and social hierarchy, and thus con-
of biblical stories during this period. textualizes the cultural debate occurring in late 19th-
Couvares (1992, 1996) locates a complex kul- century America about churches adapting theatrical
turkampf on church/industry relations before the devel- techniques or variety shows adapting to demands for
opment of the Production Code. Rosenbloom (1987) sanitized entertainment. Her work reveals how “reli-
examines the struggle over early American film cen- gion and entertainment comprised an arena of vibrant
sorship in the Progressive Era while Uricchio and conflict over the meaning of class distinction” (p. 2).
Pearson (1994) seek to reconstruct competing dis- Within the hierarchy of Protestant evangelical uplift,
courses of morality and identify audiences during the one meets the transforming intersection of popular

entertainment, which opened up a juncture of religion United States film industry was emphasizing the
and popular culture producing cultural transformations Protestant place of the individual in receiving salvation
in the public sphere social gospel. rather than the communal. She also calls for an investi-
Cosandey, Gaudreault, and Gunning (1992) exam- gation of reception practices, examining heterogenous
ine religion from the side of the film historians in the pro- discourses and identifying who were the spectators and
ceedings from the 1990 Domitor Conference, an how films signified for religious audiences.
International Association to Promote the Study of Early Lindvall (2001b) follows up with an anthology of
Cinema. Investigating the relation between early film and early film documents and issues from both film and
organized religion, the participants, film scholars rather religious periodicals, dealing with the years from 1908-
than theologians, raised issues that were stylistic and for- 1925. Dividing his study into four eras, he looks at a
mal as well as historiographic. Recognizing the pervasive “Prophetic Vision” occurring among church leaders
influence of religious material on story telling and like the Reverend Herbert Jump; “Great Debates” in
imagery in silent film, the papers cover filmic discourse which pros and cons were exchanged in hopes of find-
in early films themselves and surrounding the films. ing “What Would Jesus Do with the Drama?,” as
While censorship was frequently an integral issue, Charles Sheldon put it. Then he examines the golden
Tsivian (1992) offers a new angle by examining its oper- era of the Methodist Centenary and the influx of Kodak
ation in Russian films. Other essays probe how organized projectors into churches and religious education, with
religion in Belgium, Spain, and Italy interacted with the the motion picture as the “Handmaid of Religion.”
emerging entertainment and educational technology of Finally, he sets forth the “Great Divorce” in which
film. A second series of essays examines the aesthetic Hollywood became Babylon (and the Devil’s
roots and narrative issues of the filmed Passion Plays. Incubator) through its scandals, and the church opted
Gunning (1992) uncovers new layers of writing on top of for the radio as its mass medium of choice.
older texts, showing essentially how silent biblical films (For an annotated bibliography of original articles
built upon a pre-knowledge of the story, elaborated upon on moral and religious aspects of film in moving pic-
familiar art and narratives, and engulfed (and superced- ture and religious periodicals, see Workers, 1985. See
ed) the previous texts. Similarly, he examines how films also the key historical documents: Jump, 1911;
were exhibited and used by the people who saw them. McConoughy, 1916; Wimberly, 1917; Lathrop, 1922;
Part 3 looks at the cinematic representation of Oberholtzer, 1922; and Harmon, 1926.)
religion. Kramer (1992) discusses “screen sermons” as Film History has devoted two issues to the subject
the film industry’s attempt (marketing strategies) to of early and classic film history and religion. Jowett
gain respectability among middle class (Protestant) (2001) introduces Phelan’s (1918) book that offered
audiences, with certain leaders finding the power to insights from a progressive religious mind dealing with
“frighten the wicked and to spiritually renew the way- creating an ideal church, social amusements, and prob-
ward” through film. Uricchio and Pearson (1992) lems in caricatures of the Protestant ministry in public
explore the use of biblical blockbusters to instruct chil- motion pictures. Leab (2002) follows with an official
dren and, simultaneously, to make money. Nelson “Film and Religion Issue,” defining key uses of film as
(1992) demonstrates Charles Taze Russell’s creative a tool for proselytizing and of film as a means for
combination of magic lantern artistry, movies, and exploiting religions. D.R. Williams (2002) demonstrates
music to proselytize for Jehovah’s Witnesses. the commercial pressures regarding the Sunday closing
Part 4 addresses forms of spirituality. Reynolds of picture shows as a result of the Cinematograph Act of
(1992) charts the use of the Tissot Bible as a visual 1909. From a series of articles in Crisis, de las Carreras
source for films, and Knee (1992) tests what he sees as Kunt (2002) formulates a “Catholic vision in
spirituality in D.W. Griffith’s editing, a technique of Hollywood” from among four directors raised in the
spiritual cross-cutting to show justice/injustice and the Roman tradition, namely John Ford, Frank Capra, Frank
role of Providence in life. Staiger (1992) summarizes Borzage, and Alfred Hitchcock. Her emphasis, as has
the material with a call for further research, particular- become standard among studies of the Catholic imagi-
ly in Protestant/Roman Catholic differences (in the for- nation, turns on communion, mediation, and sacramen-
mer, the reformation and conversion; in the latter, tality, as well as Catholic narratives, tales of original sin-
beliefs in prohibitions, Purgatory, and hell) that seem to ner, moral epiphanies, and gospel parables.
figure prominently in both production practices and Two other essays focus upon influential individu-
exhibition habits, inquiring whether the embryonic als who contributed to the idea, opportunities, and

practice of religious film production and exhibition. scholars like Baum (1993). Much has come to light
Bottomore (2002) looks at Salvation Army pioneer, regarding primary historical religious documents and
Reverend Wilson Carlile, whose innovations in cine- their place in the discourse of film and religion.
matic methods of evangelism established him as the Denominational studies include those of Romanowski
enterprising inspirational force behind novel use of (1995) on the Christian Reformed Church and Lindvall
audio-visual techniques, a media-savvy precursor to (1995) on Congregationalists. Romanowski examines
many contemporary religious communicators. Lewis theological issues behind the Christian Reformed
(2002) highlights Reverend Herbert Jump, whose clar- Church’s stand on movies from their 1928 declaration
ion call for churches to appropriate the holy invention against movies. Grappling with the seminal ideas of
of film for church use was considered visionary by the “common grace” (finding pleasure in all of God’s cre-
film industry itself. ation) and its antithesis (teaching how to discern and
Rapp (1996, 2002, 2003, 2004; Rapp & Weber, diagnose those pleasures), Romanowski connects eccle-
1989) opens up the history of British cinema and siastical responses to the debate regarding highbrow and
church, especially between nonconformists and lowbrow art. The CRC’s newsletter accused film of
Anglicans. In his studies he provides fascinating mate- being associated with lower classes of humanity, appeal-
rial on the British Salvation Army, the early film indus- ing to corrupt tastes, and giving a “false view of life.” By
try, and urban working-class adolescents during the 1918, films were deemed culpable for ruining family
first decades of film exhibition, as well as looks at var- life, as women neglected duties to children and husbands
ious religious pioneers in film use and their reception when they ran off to see movies. Statistics, however,
in the British Isles. show that church members frequently voiced adverse
Few studies have examined the interaction of reli- opinions and did attend movies. In 1951, a more
gious groups and themes. Dooley (1981) devotes an iconophilic decision changed church perspectives,
entire chapter of his book on American cinema of the encouraging choices based on individual consciences,
1930s to looking at portrayals of both religious charla- with a debate calling the church to have a more transfor-
tans (e.g., Barbara Stanwyck) and exemplary priests mative role in culture. Alongside the Protestant involve-
(e.g., Spenser Tracy and Pat O’Brien). Pauly (1980) ment, Molhant (2000) places Catholicism, laying out a
plots the way to salvation through the Hollywood short early history of the role of the OCIC, the interna-
blockbusters of the 1950s. Shaw (2002) interprets the tional Catholic Church organization for cinema.
religion in Quo Vadis and The Ten Commandments as Religious filmmaking often crept into bizarre areas
obvious political references to Cold War propaganda, as well. Writing in Film Comment magazine,
with Rome and Egypt representing Communist coun- McDonough (1987) studies marginal religious filmmak-
tries. He also imaginatively connects Martians in Red ing in undertaking the strange case of June, Ron, and Jim
Planet Mars as Christians spawning a religious revival Ormond, who produced cheap, drive-in films, such as
among Tolstoy-type peasants in a fight against Soviet The Girl from Tobacco Row and religious exploitation
atheists. Finally, the informative brochure published by films for Jesus, such as The Grim Reaper Hell, The Land
the Library of Congress in conjunction with its Where Jesus Walked, The Second Coming, and The
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic Burning Hell, renowned as the “most potent soul-win-
Film Series” (Hutson, 1998) captures the centrality of ning picture that has ever played a church.”
religious practice to American history, represented in In an eclectic survey of culturally redeeming
popular culture, from various Pilgrim documentaries movements, Gilbert (1997) examines how Dr. Irwin
and fictional films to the documentary expose of Moon’s Moody Science Films extolled the glories and
Marjoe and the allegorical The Night of the Hunter. The wonders of God’s creation and persuasively propagat-
booklet offers a fascinating overview of the role of faith ed science as a vehicle to communicate biblical truths,
in contemporary life, offering glimpses of evangelists in particularly to a generation of military personnel. In
films like The Miracle Woman and Elmer Gantry. “churching American soldiers” through MIS films,
Moon presented the “first-century gospel with 20th
E. History of Christian Filmmaking
century illustrations,” and brought a rapprochement
The historical study of classic Hollywood films is between religion and science.
being supplanted by critical attention to marginal and Looking at the broader evangelical culture,
alternative modes of narrative. The place of Christians in Hendershott (2004) assesses how the Moody Science
the communication media has drawn commentary from films gave pleasure to their audiences and reaffirmed a

biblical worldview. Placing the vertical integration of undervalued media artifacts that resist hegemonic mass
Christian film production in general, and the Moody culture and confound secularization theories of the reli-
Institute of Science films apologetic promoting a gious faith. Her textual and industrial analyses also
Creationist intelligent design in particular, under the focus upon the personal and political apocalyptic films
microscope, Hendershott discovers that Christian such as Thief in the Night and Left Behind.
media is not so much overt propaganda, as a set of
3. Film Criticism and Religion
Undeniably, the predominant perception of the adheres to art critic John Ruskin’s theological vocation
Christian church’s stance toward film has been as a of seeing, namely in affirming that the “greatest thing a
negative and often hostile critic. While historical human soul ever does in this world is to see something,
research is opening up other more positive examples of and tell what it saw in a plain way” (p. 15). Johnston
engaging relationships, the scholar must contend with outlines five approaches to film criticism: avoidance,
the fact that the church, like other institutions, looks at caution, dialogue, appropriation, and Divine encounter.
movies and evaluates them. As fashions change, so do He assigns various critical works within each of these
the sundry postures of religious organizations alter categories. His own emphasis, informed by the classic
from condemnation to dialogue. conception of Egyptian gold as developed by St.
Traditionally, three dominant critical streams have Augustine and Origen, is on the salient practice of com-
shaped most approaches to film criticism. The first and mon grace within human culture. He affirms that the
most pervasive approach stems from Niebuhr’s (1951) imagination, like other human faculties, can be bap-
classic discussion of the relationships between Christ tized, even as evidenced in the writings of such diverse
and culture. The key works that utilize Niebuhr mostly Christians as C.S. Lewis, Paul Tillich, and Peter Berger.
marshall other texts along a continuum of religion’s He calls for theology to respond to movies positively,
hostility toward or assimilation of film culture, explor- namely dialogically, and to ride the narratives that
ing postures of nuance and complex relations. Second is inhere the “hidden heart of Pauline theology” or to
a critical approach that analyzes films according to chase the sacred in films like The Apostle.
standards categorized as heteronomous, theonomous, Marsh and Ortiz (1997b) also negotiate Niebuhr’s
and autonomous, namely those works that evaluate conceptual models for understanding the relationships
films according to criteria developed from other exter- of theology and film culture. They call for informed
nal sources, those developed from theological (God’s) discussions that originate in Christian theology (God
sources, or criteria suggested by the aesthetic forms talk) that could potentially bear fruitful dialogue of the
themselves (May, 1997a). Third, one finds a critical dis- three perspectives of theology against culture, theology
tinction among works that articulate a Catholic or immersed in culture, and theology in critical dialogue
Protestant imagination, an approach closely aligned to with culture. Marsh and Ortiz modify Paul Tillich’s the-
Niebuhr’s categories. This final delineation, articulated ology of culture in order to elicit many “diverse con-
by various theologians and film scholars, envisions a versations within a pluriform culture” (1997b, p. 32).
dialectic continuum between two imaginative ways of One godfather of theological reflection on cine-
seeing and responding. The argument consists of the ma, John R. May, surveys pertinent works and catego-
notion that Catholic and Protestant imaginations see rizes them according to theoretical approaches. The
reality differently, anchored as it were, in particular dominant concern since the 1960s was to define the
doctrines of the church, and construct responses based relationships between film and religion, and May exca-
on those foundations. vates five overlapping approaches from the literature:
Foremost among those works offering a religious discrimination, visibility, dialogue, human-
Niebuhrian perspective is Johnston (2000b). Key to ism, and aesthetics. This pentad of classification places
understanding Johnston’s approach is to see theology as the films in a diachronic emergence, suggesting an his-
conversations about God, the interest being in knowing torical progress, and marked by a transition from het-
about God and talking about Him. Johnston, a professor eronomic and theonomic to autonomous.
of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary,

With Michael Bird, he recognizes a growing ten- Lewis’s “Hold on Hard to the Huckleberry Bushes”), in
dency in the late 1970s to hunt out religious allusions, which norms for evaluation are inherent in the discipline
themes, and symbols in film (May & Bird, 1982). itself. For the authors, a theology of story grounded in
Trying to find a balanced approach between the pseu- the thought of John Dominic Crossan allows a narrative
do-intellectual God talk of certain European films and contrast of myth and parable, with the former establish-
the superficial readings of Hollywood films, they ing a world and the latter subverting it.
attend to the primacy of film language and technique as In the introduction to his edited collection of
the fundamentals of an art form. What is needed, they papers on how films are used in church, society, and
suggest, is a true autonomous exegesis of film, letting education, May (1997a) reminds his readers that reli-
film suggest its own rules for interpretation. Although gious film extends to more than the old biblical epics,
they rarely involve the biblical texts themselves, they explicit religious subjects, and films dealing with
seek a dialogue between the two fields. Their tripartite morality. Assessing pertinent English-language works
book first offers theoretical reflections on the religious on the relations of film and religion, and basing his
interpretation of film wherein Bird sees films’ “cele- analyses on the aforementioned categories of autono-
bration of reality” as a “potent seedbed for the sacred my, heteronomy, and theonomy, May offers the five
event itself” (1982b, p. ix). stages of developing dialogue already mentioned: reli-
Bird borrows Mircea Eliade’s concept of hiero- gious discrimination, visibility, dialogue, humanism,
phany, to show how film can transcend the everyday and aesthetics. The religious as a category must be
with the everyday, direct viewers to discern the holy viewed as more than mere morality, but not other or
within the real, and evoke a sense of ineffable mystery less than. As Kierkegaard invented his stages on life’s
of life. As such, film functions as the locus of mythic way, so aesthetics and ethics (morality) will always be
encounters (Bird, 1982a). Dufrenne’s phenomenologi- intertwined with the religious, even if in descending
cal notion of a “sensuous realism” offers the spectator hierarchical ways. Where Marsh’s “new” paradigm
a romantic experience of the “depth” of the world involves a discernment of the theological implications
through art. Reviewing the aesthetic realism of three of secular films and a search for inventive cinematic
Roman Catholic film theorists (Andre Bazin, Henri analogues addressing topics such as redemption and
Agel, and Amedee Ayfre), Bird indicates how one damnation in films, May identifies various distinctive
might find spiritual realism within film realism, name- trends that continue today, such as a new spirituality in
ly that nature is the “mother of images” ready to unveil cinema; the presentation of themes of alienation, iso-
or point to the transcendent (see Andrews, 1976). Signs lation, or fragmentation as reflections of human expe-
of the celestial are always terrestrial traces. The cen- rience; and mostly the spectator/readerly responses to
trifugal force of screen fare like Robert Bresson’s The film, in how viewers appropriate and use such images.
Diary of a Country Priest casts the viewer outwards, May’s book is divided into six sections that survey
beyond the self. “Cinema, because of its ontogenetic developments in film criticism and interpretation and
relationship to reality, enables the possibility of listen- assembles various approaches to the religious inter-
ing” to the depths of meaning, where one encounters pretation of film.
the manifestation of something of a wholly different These three critical approaches enable us to place
order, something beyond our world, a hierophany various scholarly texts and articles into heuristic cate-
(Bird, 1982a, p. 21). gories that help to make sense of principal approaches
Ferlita (1982) and May (1982b) look at the analo- of religious and theological attitudes toward film.
gy of dramatic action for meanings and interpret the
A. Critical Texts of Avoidance and Discrimination
structures of visual story, respectively. May borrows
three theoretical approaches from the literary tradition: Until the last few decades, the primary perception
Heteronomy, the law is outside (T.S. Eliot’s famous of the church’s relation to film has been one of censor-
essay on “Literature and Religion”) in which the stan- ship. The epistolary command of St. John to avoid the
dards for the greatness of literature can be found outside flesh, the world, and the devil was conveniently attached
literature, as in theology; Theonomy, the law is God to the suspect phenomenon of film entertainment, thus
(Paul Tillich’s “Religion and Secular Culture”), which demanding that spectators either avoid movies altogeth-
offers a synthesis of religion and literature, neither judg- er or discern the spiritual dangers inherent in the medi-
ing the other, each being expressions of man’s ultimate um. Problems with film are well documented in histori-
concern; and Autonomy, the law is within (R.W.B. cal Protestant sources as well as more contemporary

books and pamphlets. Examples include Linn (1923), moral sensitivity. Unearthing fascinating possibilities
Burnett and Martell (1932), Miles (1947), Paine (1957), for improving the human condition, he argues that
Lindsay (1964), Tozer (n.d.), and Wilson (1999). By the films are modern man’s morality plays. As such, he
late 1960s, works like Summers (1969) and McClain points viewers away from what he sees as the senti-
(1970) represent the varying critical approaches of the mental and spiritually degrading entertainment of
church to the Hollywood industry. Coppenger (1981) Going My Way or The Cardinal and toward a “new
develops a kinder, more open approach to understanding mode of film appraisal” from the National Catholic
film from a Christian perspective in regards to the Office for Motion Pictures. He sees a prophetic role for
Christian imagination. The wary but engaging posture film to exorcise the illusions and falsehoods of ordi-
was to extend up to the more trenchant and witty nary life and optimistically (even quixotically) believes
Muggeridge (1977) and to Baehr’s quantitative moral that film can open up fields of moral formation and cat-
assessments in his watchdog publications (1998, 2003). echism; film is the bridge twixt church and world.
More Calvinistic than most, Saunders (1982-1983) rec- While wary in some of his analyses, Schillaci was dar-
ommends reform in the media arts from a relativist ing in his introduction of Bergman’s and Fellini’s
humanist use to theological reconstruction. works into the communion of the faithful.
Roman Catholics have generally offered more Another Catholic critic, Arnold (1972) looks to
positive, although qualified, recommendations, begin- all the experiences of wonder, joy, tragedy, terror, and
ning with Pope Pius XI (1936), Pope Pius XII (1957), despair captured by film as openings for shedding light
various speeches by the popes on cinema (Eilers, on the “religious” topics of life, on explanations of evil,
1993), and official Vatican documents from 1936 to suffering, and the purpose of death, on the nature of
1992 (John Paul II, 2000). Yet they too diligently warn goodness and reality, and finally on how one ought to
the faithful against the ills and dangers of corrupt films. live in such a variegated universe. He emphasizes the
Butler (1984) cautiously approaches the viewing of moral dimensions of religious humanism, teasing out
films in his guide for Roman Catholics when venturing the significance of the wild images of Fellini and oth-
out into the celluloid world. ers. Arnold argues that all films, including “junky
Under the heading of “Religious Discrimination,” ones,” ask us to believe something, and then reviews
May treats such Catholic works as Getlein and films ranging from the A-1 rated Goldfinger and The
Gardiner (1961), Schillaci (1968), and Arnold (1972), Graduate to condemned (C-rated) ones like
and Jewish works as Medved (1992) as exemplars of, Rosemary’s Baby.
obviously enough from their respective titles, moral Medved (1992) assesses what he sees as the toxic
concerns regarding the cinema. Harold Gardiner, for- nature of Hollywood films that subvert religion.
mer literary editor of America magazine, borrows Rene According to Medved, a conservative Jewish critic,
Ludmann’s provocative description of the baleful Hollywood intentionally promotes a “comic book cler-
effects of cinematic visual arts upon an audience with gy,” a culture of violence and ugliness, and an assault
the apt phrase, the phenomene de sedimentation. “Little on traditional family values. Like Gardiner, Medved
by little the moral sense silts over” clogging the soul of prophetically warns of the sedimentary impact of the
the viewer, reminding one of actor Kirk Douglas’s line movies in abetting immorality, through the “subtle,
in Detective Story that he would give his soul to take incremental, cumulative changes in the way we view
out his mind, put it under a faucet, and wash away all the world.” An accompanying video to his book illus-
the dirty pictures he had seen. Gardiner and film critic trates his arguments with vivid clips from the films
Frank Getlein design their publication to meet “repeat- themselves, although showing them out of narrative
ed papal injunctions that the motion pictures be made context. Medved (1993) also addresses the ludicrous
the object of serious positive study by Catholics.” As hypocrisy of Hollywood executives who argue that
such, it accompanies Lynch’s (1959) theoretical frame- movies only reflect society and don’t influence anyone,
work in The Image Industries as cautiously showing even as they spend millions on advertising.
the relevance of theology to the artistic imagination. Billingsley (1989) challenges the “liberal elites’”
Grounding film in the renaissance of a 1960s manipulation of film propaganda. His conservative
moral theology, after years in servitude to a Production polemical critique of the film world is full of brief anec-
Code designed and regulated by Roman Catholics, dotes and humorous quotations from Jay Leno (more
Schillaci (1968) also approaches film as an art form than from Bergman, Truffaut, and C.S. Lewis com-
and as a potential source of emotional maturity and bined) and bold assertions; yet he provides provocative

chapters on such topics as religion and the Hollywood With the critical grounding in all the usual leftish
Blacklist, marshalling evidence from neglected sources. suspects (Althusser, Freud, Baudrillard, etc.), Runions
The wisdom of discrimination is exemplified in Drew (2003) sets forth on a quixotic quest to provoke resist-
(1974), which offers a remarkably literate and informed ance to capitalist patriarchy, oppressive genderizing,
evangelical critique of the movies, analogizing film as a colonialism, and a legion of other dehumanizing
weathervane or barometer of culture. In a pithy, lucid demonic structures. She draws some blood in her fasci-
work, Drew explores images and themes within film nating deconstruction of sacred and mediated texts, all
that answer “man’s search for meaning” via dimensions in the name of propaganda. To her credit, she does not
of sex, violence, work, play, and religion. In its quest to disguise her agenda, but invades, twists, triangulates,
articulate a Christian perspective, the book thoughtfully and interrogates via gendered criticism films like Paris
and provocatively wrestles with scriptural texts and is Burning with passages from biblical sources like
issues of ontology and epistemology, and worldviews Micah. She is nothing if not game and adventurous, but
(e.g., romantic, existential, nihilist, etc.) implicitly pres- her radical fundamentalism (creatively coercing her
ent in film. Likewise, Romanowski (2001a) travels own ideological interpellation on these texts) parallels
widely and delves deeply into the cultural landscape of the religious fundamentalist’s attacks on spiritual prin-
Hollywood movies, astutely locating key sites and mon- cipalities and powers. Yet Runions is remarkably lucid
uments of meaning along the road. In such a vein of in applying cultural theory (e.g., Slavoj Zizek) to these
inquiry and investigation, Christianity Today devoted texts, even as she laments, like an old prophet, that the
an entire issue to “Can Anything Good Come Out of opportunities for subversive action against the phallic
Hollywood?” with an interview with Producer Ken windmills are generally missed. One will not misrecog-
Wales (White, 1984; see also White, 1983). nize her voice crying in this political wilderness.
For Johnston (2000c), critics of the left are as cul- Mostly reading against the grain of biblical schol-
pable as those on the right in judging Hollywood. To arship and traditional interpretations, she adheres to
force films onto a Procrustean bed of ideology or the- that contrary coterie whose aim is designed to disrupt
ology is to use them rather than receive them as works identification with systems of dominance that the Bible
of art (on this, see Lewis, 1961, pp. 14-26). Two fairly and Hollywood have maintained. Imagining that alter-
recent intelligent works do seemingly use films as nate points of identification can open a politics of
political clubs. Miles (1996) offers a penetrating liber- resistance, she practices a lively hermeneutics of suspi-
al look at movies, mirror antitheses of Baehr, as Miles cion. For Runions, both sacred canonical texts and pop-
champions a commitment to culturally liberal values, ular films create, reinforce, and normalize identifica-
pressing her own public agenda for those who are tion and allow resistance to oppressive societal norms
impoverished, marginalized, and oppressed. Yet along and ideals, such as colonization, patriarchy, the hetero-
with her sermonic passions and biases, Miles deftly sexual gender binary, wealth, and whiteness. In a shin-
poses axiological issues of film, from the representa- ing paradigmatic example of political correctness,
tion of Islam and Judaism, or how race is represented, employing practices that used to be called proof-tex-
misrepresented, and self-represented in films like The ting, she compares disparate and seemingly unrelated
Long Walk Home and Daughters of the Dust. She also texts to extract her ideological opinions of how racial
examines the social construction of spectators, how and gender identities are constructed. Most compelling
religion and other demographic values (race, gender, is her treatment of Hollywood media patriarchy as sig-
and class) have been imaged in film, and how films naled through Magnolia, a contemporary story of
recommend how humans should live. Using a template oppression, struggle, and resistance that is often
of social justice, she seeks films with which to treat strangely similar to biblical stories and themes from
pressing social anxieties and examine possible resolu- Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, and Revelation. Believing that
tions, with concepts such as the objectifying male gaze the Bible has been used unintentionally as a cinematic
as conspiratorial support for status quo. She looks at club to persuade people to submit to hegemony of
the impact of box-office films to interrogate and resist oppressive systems, she challenges the naïve enfram-
resident values. Finally, while she accuses films of ing of audiences and their consuming of a conspired
being lazy icons, of not demanding much of their view- conservatism, indicating a political concern with read-
ers, as little concentrated attention is needed as with erly identification as privileged lens. She concludes
religious paintings, she recognizes that they do perform that hysteria—namely a failure to identify with domi-
their inherent potential of raising questions and issues. nant, patriarchal, symbolic, capitalist order—can be a

strategy for political and religious resistance. Films and and in reaffirming Christian virtues of sacrifice, suffer-
scriptures are mere tools in the higher call of resistance. ing, and selfless forms of love. Such a strategy in wed-
In an earlier classic exploration, Ludmann (1958) ding cinema and theology would, according to Hurley,
attacks all unfavorable elements in narrative film that provide the necessary compass for steering a precarious
predominated through history, such as superficiality, course between technology and truth. Films are modern
opaqueness of the image, rootlessness and sentimentali- mystery plays with theological clues. His primer does
ty, and the absence of God. In his remedies for this moral not intend to promote a religious Esperanto, but seeks to
destructiveness in films, he suggests that films should discover cinematic theologies of freedom (e.g., John
propose rather than impose, opening up the subcon- Frankenheimer’s Bird Man of Alcatraz), of sex (e.g., the
scious to the dimensions of the marvelous. Ludman’s works of Ingmar Bergman), of evil (e.g., Joseph Losey’s
argument was, ironically, an imposed proposal. The Servant), of grace and sacrificial love (e.g., Rod
Steiger in Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker of a man try-
B. Assimilation and Syncretism of Religion and
ing to stay human and survive despite the horrors of his
Film life and memories), and of the future (where artistic
An alleged hegemonic conspiracy between a con- prophecy assumes the apocalyptic ring of religion).
servative status quo and Hollywood patriarchy misses Hurley’s work merges theology with film by blending
one crucial fact, namely the antagonistic status of evan- the human spirit in its striving for transcendence and a
gelical religion vis-à-vis film culture. However, more universal search for transcredal values, such as the con-
liberal religious views tend to embrace films as mean- ciliatory acts of healing in Martin Buber’s I-Thou rela-
ingful cultural texts, even sacred ones that provide psy- tionships, most clearly represented for Hurley in films
chological coherence and spiritual significance to frag- like La Strada and Nazarin.
mented audiences. In an emerging postmodern milieu As in McAnany and Williams (1965) Hurley
of Pauline Kael and Marshall McLuhan and Herbert attaches positive valence to those films that encompass
Marcuse and the secular city, Hurley (1975) penned an ecumenical theology (e.g., Ray’s Apu trilogy).
one of the classic lines of the field: “movies are for the Hurley’s assimilation of the two realms is expressed in
masses what theology is for an elite”(p. ix). Hurley’s his conclusion that “All images have some necessary
early Theology Through Film (1970) explores nonsec- relation to this Proto-Image, the matrix of the Eternal
tarian universal dilemmas that plague the human heart, Plan of Providence” (1975, p. 192). His search is for the
probing deeply held human concerns: freedom, self- universal spark of the divine among all people, a reli-
loathing, conscience, and shadow of death. In seeking gious transcendence enabling all to identify negatively
to cultivate a theological imagination, Hurley connects with evil and positively with goodness and sacrifice.
theological concepts around several suggested movies Originally titled Theology Through Film, Hurley’s book
as “imaging” references (p. 177) and then rates them was subsequently re-released and re-titled as Toward a
with a theological valence, as to how they communi- Film Humanism. In a more secular follow-up (1978),
cate to the mass public on such concerns as illustrating film for Hurley exists as potentially religious, as it pro-
the human capacity (or incapacity) to cope and over- vides statements on the human condition, its frustrations,
come troubles. Imaging a new worldwide religious conformities, rebellions, and appetites for justice. Film
ethos, Hurley essays to bring about a wedding of faith, can supply a fashionable theological model of liberation
prophecy, and reverence with insight, criticism and from various modes of bondage.
wonder. Yet his work, inspired by the pioneering work Finding themselves stranded between contempo-
of Lynch (1959; see also Lynch, 1960), which warned rary faith and American secularity, Cooper and Skrade
against the “centralized management of the imagina- (1970) summon a collection of essays more interested in
tion” by a giant entertainment industry, produces more raising questions than providing answers. The authors
of a sociology and psychology of religion than a theo- look for both the prevailing image of humanity in films
logical treatise. and the seeds of new symbols that could speak to exis-
In his optimism of finding religious transcendence tence, finding in Roman Polanski’s films, for example,
in film that would enable a knowledge of the truth, intriguing issues on the death of God. For example, the
Hurley envisions how motion pictures as secular prophe- Christian Century’s James Wall (1970) issues an indict-
cies could “create intercultural and interfaith bonds ment of pseudo-Biblical spectaculars and calls for the
among peoples of the world,” especially in subverting visions that would focus on the agony of humanity as in
negative identification with villainy and forms of evil The Pawnbroker. Generally, the tendency to draw con-

clusions more from filmmakers, Zen Buddhism, Susan ingness to honestly listen to the candid questions raised
Sontag, and secular theology, led to a theological climate by films. In the Lutheran tradition, Kahle and Lee
in which Wall (1973), among others, found the reality of (1971) and Konzelman (1972) take this approach. In
God in secular structures as much as or even more than the former, film is seen as a resource for faith and a
in conventional religious structures. Many, including means of communicating religious truth to others, sift-
Nelson (1976) were able to uncover American values in ing parables from the popcorn, discovering what is
popular culture. Nelson even identifies worship cere- good and worthwhile in the movies. Lee, who pro-
monies within the American cultural religion of film duced the provocative religious films Question 7 and A
genres such as the Western. Time for Burning, writes out of a context that views
Ferlita and May (1976, 1977) continue such a film as a threatening weapon, and he and Kahle remind
cosmic quest in two books of film comment. They out- their readers of Marshall McLuhan’s observation that
line three dimensions in which films open up signifi- every new art rises like the phoenix from the ashes of
cance for their spectators: the personal dimension (rec- its predecessors. For them, films function as Christ’s
onciling a divided self looking for love as in La Strada parables. Konzelman focuses upon providing a place
and Wild Strawberries); the social dimension (finding for dialogue, seeing the ministry of the church to the
centrifugal communion and battling technology as in community as the need to develop ways and means to
Alice’s Restaurant and Easy Rider); and the religious use secular films in religious education. Essentially
dimension (testing one’s relationship to God as Father, writing a “how-to” book, he suggests not only how the
Word, and Spirit, in a journey to find meaning and hope local theater could serve as a community forum, but
as in The Seventh Seal and la Dolce Vita). Likewise, also particular criteria for selecting films for discus-
Wall (1971, 1997) deals with life-values rather than sion, both historical (e.g. Cromwell) and relational ones
biblical materials. The work evolves from a study of (e.g., I Never Sang for my Father), and ends with lists
religion in film to a preoccupation with film as film, of challenging questions.
finally suggesting a sociological critical methodology The dialogic challenge of theological criticism for
(a “do-it-yourself film criticism”) to help address con- bridging movie themes and Christian categories, con-
cerns with racism in film, place films in social connecting the human quest for contact with the sacred
texts, and provide practical alternatives to repression through cultural forms like Close Encounters of the
and censorship. Wall argues that the church needs to be Third Kind, is tackled by Martin and Ostwalt (1995; see
enriched by visions of filmmakers, as films make the also Peck, 1993). Like others involved in dialogic stud-
church a sensitive agent of change and enable it to ies, they first lament how film and religion exist in aca-
become a sustaining community. These approaches demic isolation. Historically, the desire to link the two,
effect a sliding assimilation of film and religion, a sort however, has issued from religious corridors of the
of indistinguishable blending of two realms in which Academy more than from film studies. The vocabulary
major themes are reduced to universal human concerns of film criticism (alienation, patriarchy, ideology, hyste-
rather than theological ones. ria, the theoretical lexicon of Freud, Lacan, Althusser,
Derrida, Kristeva, etc.) is not that of typical theological
C. Engagement and Dialogue of Religion and
language. One does not find much criticism addressing
Film eschatology, soteriology, or theology itself. The
The preferred critical approach by contemporary Martin/Ostwalt text is enriched by a diversity of inter-
scholars is tidily labeled the dialogic. The task of disciplinary backgrounds, recommending three critical
engaging film texts as invitations to discourse, rooted approaches, theological, mythological and ideological.
in sources as diverse as Martin Buber and Mikhail Ostwalt (1995) looks at apocalyptic themes in
Bahktin, defines a dialogic encounter in which the cinema (e.g., Armageddon) and how secularity and
spectator allows the images to suggest their own mean- modernity have co-opted end-time myths. (On this
ing. One attends to the text, even submitting to its theme, see also Torry, 1991a, 1991b). Mythological
forms, to receive it rather than to use it for one’s own study, namely communicating universal vs. particular-
purposes. Thus one approaches the other with humility istic truths, appeals to the imagination, as in Star Wars
and with a desire to understand, without sacrificing functioning as a Campbell journey monomyth for our
one’s own religious faith and convictions. time (Ellis, 1995). Rushing (1995) offers an ideological
Avoiding the tendency to baptize filmmakers to study of aliens in which she argues that science fiction
fit one’s theology requires for some theologians a will- may be especially suited to communicate religion to

secular audiences. Martin (1995b) grapples with race grace, and righteousness that surface in surprising
and scapegoating (race baiting) religion and ways. The interface shakes up traditional viewpoints,
McLemore (1995) digs deeply into the underground but not truly biblical ones. Jewett goes back to the
postmodern mind of director David Lynch. While deal- movies, taking along a historical-critical methodology
ing directly with cultural studies problems of circum- of salient Pauline themes as a set of hermeneutic lens-
scribing race, encoding class, and constructing gender, es, so that Pauline texts may be interwoven into mod-
the cross-pollination of these studies reveals how pop- ern stories. By dealing with individual sins, temptation,
ular films have influenced and shaped American reli- guilt, judgment, forgiveness, and reconciliation, Jewett
gion and opens a dialogue among different vocabular- aims for a “fusion of horizons” that provides a ritual of
ies. Underlying this collaborative effort is Williams uncovering hidden or unveiled faces. One can gaze,
(1980; see also Williams, 2002), in which he argues unashamedly even, at class prejudice or a lack of intel-
that popular cultural forms perform some of the reli- ligence, and see the special social texture of shame and
gious roles usually associated with ecclesiastical insti- honor in films like Sling Blade and Forrest Gump.
tutions. Ostwalt (1995) goes on to show how religion Jewett looks to such themes as honoring the lowly in
has been “popularized, scattered, and secularized Babe or grappling with the problematic symbol of the
through extra-ecclesiastical institutions” like the Bible in Shawshank Redemption, and asks, “Could it be
media. Film challenges and often even supersedes reli- that certain movies afford a deeper access to the hidden
gious authorities in the race for adherence. Ostwalt heart of Paul’s theology than mainstream theologians?”
(1998) proposes using films like The Seventh Sign to (p. 20). According to at least one critic, Jewett’s
address and provoke discussion on the apocalypse, attempt at dialogic encounter results in a remarkably
attempting a systematic pedagogy on the subject. fruitful exchange between Paul’s epistles and modern
Fraser (1998) takes on both religious classics and film themes, in which the two unravel and illuminate
overlooked curiosities: From Diary of a Country each other (Deacy, 2000).
Priest, Ordet (The Word) and Andrej Rublev, to Kreitzer, a cross-disciplinary New Testament
Hardcore and You Only Live Once, Fraser examines the scholar, offers three immensely readable and accessible
idea of an audience experiencing a “purgative identifi- experimental studies in the biblical seminar series that
cation in a sacrificial ritual.” For Fraser, the appeal of aim at illuminating biblical texts, classic works of lit-
these films emerges out of a yearning for personal rela- erature, and their cinematic adaptations. Kreitzer tin-
tionship with God in the physical realm, and thus kers with various facets of contemporary culture
uniquely synthesizing “the diverse practices of the through a synergy of approaches to “reverse the
Christian devotional and liturgical traditions” captured hermeneutical flow” in understanding theology. In con-
a sense of incarnational holiness. trast to other dialogic models, Kreitzer works from the
In both of his volumes of visiting the movies with cultural works back to the New Testament, looking at
the apostle Paul’s epistles at his elbow, Jewett (1993, the representation of biblical stories as transferred to
1999) finds miraculous moments in films like Star Wars literature and screen. His three-way hermeneutical
and Pale Rider. As Paul took on different and alien ideas flow compares and contrasts theological themes of
on Mars Hill, so Wesleyan Jewett takes Paul to the shipwreck and salvation, eschatology, eucharistic
movies as the primary locus for debating and exploring imagery, slavery, and liberation, in classic film and fic-
central human issues in the public marketplace of ideas. tion. The foray into the imagination enables one, as
He strives to avoid reading religious meanings into film, C.S. Lewis observed, to send oneself back to the origi-
extending the encounter beyond mere conversation to nal with fresh eyes. Once you have been in a fairy
treating film and sacred text in tandem, a “dialogue in a world, the real woods become more enchanted.
prophetic mode.” While recognizing the autonomy of In his first volume, Kreitzer (1993) sets a dia-
films, he grants precedence to biblical text primus inter logue between ancient texts and contemporary under-
pares, first among equals. This, as Jewett notes, is not standing by placing their voices into conversation,
film criticism, but “culturally contextual interpretation,” freshly engaged in the hermeneutical circle, to secure a
connecting an arch between ancient moments and con- fresh understanding of New Testament writings. Light
temporary situations that enable the stories to interact of the sun reflected in the many moons of culture, each
and the viewer to see through glass darkly. age sees from its own horizon of interpretation, litera-
In his second volume, Jewett (1999) deals with ture seen in its cinematic adaptations/versions. He
the theological significance of themes of honor, shame, interjects film images and themes back onto their liter-

ary sources, such as studying the cup of water motif in tional texts and for a variety of non-Western scriptures.
Lew Wallace’s Ben Hur and its cinematic versions, or They do find illuminating relationships through
juxtaposing Romans 7 and Robert Louis Stevenson’s serendipitous methods as in stretching the story of Ruth
Jekyll/Hyde spiritual dilemma. to fit Midnight Cowboy. The essays see magic
In subsequent books, Kreitzer (1994, 1999) con- indwellings in the films. Where it used to be that theolo-
tinues to attend to the novel conversations of the texts. gians only talked to themselves, here they talk mostly
For example, he looks (almost mischievously) at Daniel about themselves as well, identifying their own “precur-
Defoe’s famous story of Robinson Crusoe in light of sors” and applying a Procrustean bed of hermeneutics
Gilligan’s Island and Paul’s shipwreck experiences as that privileges cultural criticism and theory (e.g., Jean
noted in Acts and 2 Corinthians, and at the blood of life, Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Jacque Lacan, etc.).
communion imagery, and crucifixion imagery in Bram Subjectivity is both the book’s virtue and fault. It
Stoker’s Dracula and in Francis Ford Coppola’s san- has honesty to it, not feigning objectivity or neutrality,
guine interpretation. Although meticulously analytical, but it also forgets to encounter the texts qua texts.
Kreitzer stirs thinking about biblical interpretation in Called the “next stage of sophisticated studies,” the
light of contemporary media culture. When critic Steve pluralistic collection foregrounds the interpretative
Nolan charged him with a “redaction-critical preoccu- lenses of the authors, the musings of the Jesus Seminar,
pation with authorial intent of NT scholarship,” Kreitzer and critical methodologies (e.g., psychoanalytic) more
pleaded guilty, but pointed out the death of the author to than the texts themselves. Confessedly, the essays are
be a futile eulogy (p. 28). For a true dialogue, the intent eisegetical. The editors acknowledge the authors
of the author is needed to fully hear the text. As will “screen” recent popular movies as “rewriting the
become evident in the following pages, many other Scriptures” and “project” biblical texts on to the silver
works considered throughout this essay espouse this screen; they also screen or filter the biblical texts to fit
preferred method of dialogic communication between their arguments. What is lost in translation is reinvent-
theology and film (e.g. Johnston, 2000b). ed in creativity. The voice of the author is now domi-
One trendy extension of the dialogic has been the nant, (Barthes’ dead authors have been revived and rei-
category of intertextual criticism with its innovative fied.) The scholars as well as film and biblical texts are
hermeneutics. Scott (1994) envisions the intertextual intertextual constructs. Yet all offer undeniably heuris-
marriage of Hollywood and Bible in a somewhat tic interpretations.
forced coupling that did, however, issue forth in curi- Both McCrillis (2002) on the “nuclear monster”
ous offspring. Scott dips into the mythic wells of film and Walsh (2002) on the end times challenge sim-
American film, finding perennial dreams and tensions plistic ways of viewing the science fiction genre and cast
in themes of alienation, race relations, violence, wealth their films on a larger cultural canvas. Behemoth the Sea
and poverty, and apocalyptic fears. Under a larger cat- Monster of Hebrew biblical passages and of radiation
egory of The Duke, Scott offers a fascinating compari- monster films of the fifties shows forth the grave threat
son between Paul’s Philippians’ hymn and John of modernity and technological nuclear weaponry.
Wayne’s The Shootist, as paradigm shifts of redeemer Walsh interprets the apocalyptic of film and scripture in
figures. Trafficking with the likes of Claude Levi- sectarian versus imperialist ways, finding traces of a
Strauss, Rudolph Bultmann, and the Horatio Alger mythic struggle against violence. Rohrer-Walsh (2002)
hero, Scott is significantly interested in analyzing the shows off the best of this process (with Plato and Charles
effects of Walter Ong’s secondary orality in the perva- Dickens thrown in) in her cultural comparison of com-
sive medium of film, culminating in studies of self- ing of age stories in Israel’s history out of Egypt and
reflexive, media oriented films such as Broadcast Moses’ growing up in the DreamWorks’ (though not, as
News, Fahrenheit 451, and Being There. Scott ably the editors mistakenly allege, Spielberg’s film—a prob-
uses the teachings of the New Testament to evaluate the lem of not attending to the texts themselves) production
messages of film. of The Prince of Egypt. Gender and sexuality, technolo-
Aichele and Walsh (2002) also squeeze out critical gy and psychoses, and Lacanian gazes provide the glass-
intertextual connections between scripture and film in es to look at narrative uses of Jesus from Patch Adams
their influential collection, which demonstrates both the and The Life of Brian to Lethal Weapon and Sling Blade.
value and the vices of postmodern ideological criticism; If nothing else, the authors invite the playful esemplastic
rather than discovering meanings, the authors in this vol- pleasures of seeing recognizable shapes in the clouds
ume often construct and invent fresh insights for tradi- and wild religious meanings in films.

Coates (2002) unleashes some of the freshest and two main streams or traditions could be seen in dealing
most provocative material on our topic through his with the arts: the sacramental stream, which sees the
eclectic, interdisciplinary methodologies. His primary artist as the creator, and the reformed stream, which
distinction among religion (institutionalized ritual) and sees the artist as worker or steward. The former is often
spirituality (living and dynamic) enables him to articu- associated with the orthodox doctrine of Creation while
late theoretical arguments on how films purvey beauty the latter is viewed as working from the doctrine of the
and sublimity (and horror!), and the necessity of a unity Fall. Both join in recognition of the centrality of the
between the two realms. As he surveys the cinematic Incarnation and Redemption, but one branching off of
conceptualizations of Jesus, Satan, and the Madonna, the doctrine of primary goodness and the other from an
Coates calls into question the very nature of the Christ ensuing evil. What would be helpful, according to
figure. Looking at issues of representation in the these critics, is to establish a dialogue or dialectic
European films of directors like Tarkovsky, between these two poles on a continuum.
Kieslowski, Dreyer, and Godard, he cross-examines Morgan (1989), drawing on his studies of visual
the redemptive function ascribed to the indexical real- history, traces problems that many Protestants have had
ism of film art and deals with the more disturbing and with images by contrasting Luther with Calvin whose
problematic material that Hollywood wouldn’t dare more vigorous iconoclasm incited many to strip
show. In a section on aspects of popular images of the churches bare of their images. However, in his larger
priesthood, he contrasts the romantic notions of a reli- study (1999), he convincingly documents the thriving
gious calling against the emotional/libidinal drives val- presence of a visual culture among Protestants during
ued by Romanticism. Through films like Ponette and the 19th century, a phenomenon that surely prefigured
Spirit of the Beehive, Coates carefully teases out pat- the church’s use of moving pictures during the early
terns of a personal and childlike quest to know God. He 20th century.
identifies films like The Truman Show, Grand Canyon, For Greeley (1988), all films are religious in
and American Beauty as unchurched discourses on his some sense, because all stories implicitly try to assign
themes of spirituality and beauty. In one of his pithy meaning even when they assert that there is no mean-
but profound appendices, he traces the image of suffering or that meaning is a deception. Mast (1979) says as
ing through St. Veronica into the realm of photography. much from his perspective as a film historian, identify-
His Adornian approach grants primacy to the object as ing three types of communication in film: those that are
he looks at the Gospel kerygma and multiple textuali- intentional in their meaning and explicit and direct in
ty. Coates’s contributions herein offer one of the most presentation; those that are intentional in their meaning
fertile (and even febrile) hatching of ideas in our field, and covert or indirect in presentation; and those that are
evoking mystery and invoking dialogue. unintentional, but implicit. For Greeley, film is a locus
theologicus, a locale where one may encounter God.
D. Catholic and Protestant Imaginations
On such an assumption, Greeley lays out a theory of
Grounded upon the watershed literary works of the religious imagination and theological implications
Lynch (1960, 1973; with an excellent summation in of popular culture. Film can, in his opinion, be sacra-
Bednar, 1996; see also Tracy, 1989), Greeley (1998) mental in both triggering faith and pointing to images
plows the essential differences between Catholic and of hope and cosmic love. Stories resonate as one expe-
Protestant perceptions and stories. Shafer (1991) trans- riences a communal linking of one’s grace experience
plants these ideas for a special edition of The Journal with an “overarching experience of his religious tradi-
of Popular Film and Television that bore tremendous tion” (p. 67). The Catholic imagination emphasizes the
fruit. She called for a series of scholarly essays that deprived nature of human beings rather than depraved
each reveals a peculiar Roman Catholic slant. Planted aspects and looks for an incarnational theology. One
in the ideas of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Clifford finds the focus upon a combined religion of body and
Geertz, and David Tracy, these articles form a para- religion of spirit in Christian theology. What filmmak-
digm called the “Catholic imagination.” According to ers can do is not to merely communicate catechisms,
Greeley and Shafer, while Protestants and Catholics doctrines, or dogma (which they however do as noted
tend to see reality differently, most individuals contain above), but to stir up resonating religious experiences
a mix of the two tendencies, with both forms serving with others and make “epiphanies” happen (p. 246). In
valid and necessary purposes. Wolterstorff (1988), particular, the sacramental appears in comedies, apoca-
writing as a Reformed Church theologian, echoes that lyptic, and detective stories. Robert Benton’s Places in

the Heart, for example, privileged symbols of grace for vation of the cultural construction of contemporary Jesus
the human imagination. Homiletic material is scattered figures. The issue was discussed as far back as Simons
broadcast, from the morality of Woody Allen to the (1928), which argues that Protestant churches were
soteriology of Clint Eastwood. accepting modern methods of film to attract people.
The more recent wave of attention begins with
E. Biblical Spectaculars and the Jesus Films
Malone (1990), which offers a lively and snappy pop
Cataloguing the enormous output of films dealing catalogue of religious films, loosely arranged into var-
with biblical subjects, Campbell and Pitts (1981) pro- iegated groups. Sketchy references and mini-sermons
vide an indispensable and remarkably comprehensive dot the cinematic landscape under such categories as
checklist from 1893 through 1980 of international titles “Clown Figures” and “Mad Saviours,” following
and synopses dealing with the Hebrew Bible and the Ziolkowski (1972). Kinnard and Davis (1992) paint a
New Testament, as well as selected television program- pictorial version of the Jesus film, an illustrated survey
ming. Yet the plethora of titles is but a fraction of the addressing a modified version of Jesus’ question from
interpretative schemes of scholars and critics in trying to Mark 8:27: “who do filmmakers say that I am?” While
comprehend the films. Approaching the Hebrew Bible as more of a coffee table book, it includes discussions of
an open, linguistically, socially, and historically deter- less well known, but significant, films on the margins
mined world that invites contemporary interpretation, of Jesus films. For example, the authors deal with Day
Nash (1996) ponders how one recreates and stages bib- of Triumph, a 1954 feature from Episcopal filmmaker,
lical films. Yet as Nash understands, the task is more James K. Friedrich, founder of Cathedral Films. On
than engaging the text as only an afterthought, but trans- more distant edges, the authors introduce Carl Dreyer’s
lating films as agendas of their makers or revealing more sublime film Ordet (The Word) (1955), as well as the
about contemporary cultural mind than biblical world. wonderfully entertaining allegory, Frank Borzage’s
In the 1950s, Variety reported that six of the top 10 Strange Cargo, about a mysterious man who joins a
grossing films of the decade were religious spectacu- ragtag group of Devil’s Island escapees and brings
lars, culminating in William Wyler’s Academy Award grace to all who would receive it.
winning Ben Hur (1959). Banal and superficial attacks Babington and Evans (1993) trace the sacred nar-
on biblical epics as mere bathrobe and sandals theology ratives of three subtypes of Hollywood epic films:
have been replaced by Forshey (1992) who addresses Hebrew Bible films, Christ films, and the
the latent content of ostensibly religious American Roman/Christian epic films. With literate, witty analyt-
films. Forshey suggests that such films reflect deep- ic writing, they reconstruct the vast ancient worlds,
seated American problems regarding issues like nation- especially of three of the top films of the 1950s: Ben
alism and evil. His historical/critical approach adopts a Hur (first), The Ten Commandments (second) and The
mode of “reciprocity” between popular film and reli- Robe (fourth), expertly demonstrating how the films
gion to provide social/political critiques of American can be read as political subtexts, and as secularized dra-
foreign policies inherent in films like The Ten mas of American religious life during the cold war. The
Commandments or Hawaii. Probing the cultural and authors create a useful framework of a theory of and
political context of biblical spectaculars, Forshey for the biblical epic genre, identifying the social and
demonstrates how the prevailing climates of the intellectual roles of religion without the reductionistic,
Depression, the cold war, racism, imperialism, sexual deconstructive tendencies of cultural studies along
violence, and success coincide with the presentation of Marxist, Freudian, Althusserian-Lacanian lines. Like
these filmed religious narratives. This most popular the more dispassionate and fair analyses of Max
genre on the screens translates the persistent tensions of Weber’s The Sociology of Religion or Mircea Eliade’s
American life and fashions them into popular pious art. A History of Religious Ideas, Babington and Evans
Arguing that “Every generation finds in Jesus a savior seek to understand both texts and contexts of the films,
compatible for its times,” Forshey expertly makes man- looking at the audiences who attended or did not
ifest the latent ideological conflicts and cultural contra- attend. Instead of mucking in the political sub-texts of
dictions in the grand style of religious spectaculars. Michael Wood’s “unconscious allegory of meanings
A veritable cornucopia of books and articles repre- central to American [and Hollywood] mythology”
senting numerous critical approaches on the sub-genre where the use of British actors represented the oppress-
of the biblical film—the Jesus film—has appeared in the ing ruling class and Americans the oppressed Jews, or
last decade, many of which reaffirmed Forshey’s obser- Neale’s psychological dabblings with sado-masochistic

drives amid the spectacle and games, or Deleuze’s gno- Babington and Evans, Stern, Jefford, and Debona
mic discourse about the treatment and distortions of (1999) is geared for an adult education class’s explo-
history, authenticity, triviality, and crepuscular percep- ration of the Jesus films, posing questions and suggest-
tions, the authors trace the analogical parallels of histo- ing topics of discussion. While choosing to look at the
ry. For Babington and Evans, the monumental films through various lenses, such as social, political,
moments of history are viewed as duels between indi- and cultural contexts, it is a general survey of the films’
viduals through antiquated symbols and images for an eras, drawing forth an informed and very accessible
ethical demonstration of Judgment. Citing Gilles synoptic study of previous works. It is simply, and
Deleuze, they argue that: humbly, an introduction, as is Mahan (2001). A special
issue of Movieguide on “Jesus Christ in the Movies”
The ancient or recent past must submit to trial,
also provides clear snapshot introductions to various
go to court, in order to disclose what it is that
produces decadence, and what it is that produces
films dealing with the historical Jesus (Baehr, 2000).
new life, what the ferments of decadence and the Tatum (1997) looks at harmonizing attempts to
germs of new life are, the orgy and the sign of tell the story of Jesus and other alternative, innovative
the cross, the omnipotence of the rich and the approaches. In a critique of Pelikan (1985), Tatum
misery of the poor. A strong ethical judgment points out that this detailed study of the various trans-
must condemn the injustice of “things,” bring mutations of Jesus (from the Rabbi to the Prince of
compassion, herald the new civilization on the Peace) in paintings, mosaics, sculptures, manuscript
march, in short, constantly rediscover America. illuminations, literature, hymns, etc., completely neg-
(p. 12) lects cinema. Tatum, as New Testament scholar, fol-
Significantly the authors choose not to treat the reli- lows his own Quest for Jesus study, gathering those
gious content as merely a screen for other meanings, films by commercial studios with the exception of John
but recognize its revelatory value as both religious and Heyman’s 1979 Jesus. Tatum deals skillfully with pro-
cultural discourse. duction background, presentation of the gospel story
Offering a Jewish perspective on Jesus films, with particular attention to the use of New Testament
Singer (1988) judges the religious films according to materials, how each film portrays Jesus in light of other
their screen entertainment value rather than for any the- artistic representations, reflections of cultural history,
ological significance. As he notes, once Scriptures are and how the film was received, and revealing each
transferred to the screen, they are no longer Holy Writ as film’s legacy of controversies.
evidenced from first audible words of Christ in the 1935 An illuminating study on the portrayals of Jesus
French production of Golgatha to what must be the in film, Walsh (2003) offers substantial and provoca-
loopiest moment in film history with John Wayne as the tive lights on the ideological motives underlying vari-
Roman centurion growling: “Surely, this musta been the ous films. Building upon the critical tradition of Tatum
sona Gawd” in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Extending and others, Walsh works from a self-confessed plural-
the comic commentary on religious films in the pages of istic and postmodern framework, opening up windows
Film Comment, Baptist critic Joe Bob Briggs (1987) on alternative interpretations. Walsh establishes a
offers the hilarious “The Gospel According to Joe Bob,” unique approach in following a narrative tradition,
smiling at the effete representation of rebellion and focusing upon the modes of storytelling and mythmak-
Sunday school lust in The Cross and the Switchblade. ing. Jesus is the central signifier of the sacred, but only
From another purely personal perspective, Yancey one among many that also includes cinematic versions
(1995) engages many of the popular Jesus films, adding of Judas. Addressing complex issues of textuality, his-
a remarkably entertaining and informative video tory, and hermeneutics, Walsh examines how the
designed for church use, with rare clips from the Gospel is portrayed among “Sacred Stories in
unorthodox BBC production of The Son of Man. Cathedral Cinemas.” He finds that certain film tech-
Baugh (1997) divides these films into two cate- niques can enable or enrich this communication. Such
gories: a direct historical presentation of the Jesus story techniques for Walsh include the realistic photography
and a study of the creative, symbolic representation of of talismans, special effects (which approximate stories
the Christ figure or myth. Among other treatments, of miracles or Eliade’s hierophany), spectacle, and
Baugh contrasts Pasolini’s masterpiece with Scorsese’s even theatrical faces (which he finds in Otto’s mysteri-
naïve and superficial and neurotic treatment of the um tremendum an analogous religious technique).
Gospel story. Building upon the scholarship of Walsh supplies a compelling method in attaching a par-

ticular Jesus film with a particular portion of Scripture. veys how Jewish leaders attempted to deal with films
Incorporating some very heuristic comparative tables that they viewed as dangerous, being an equivalent reli-
and figures, he focuses on five key representative films gious pressure group to the Legion of Decency.
and corresponding sacred texts, as in his fascinating Working from primary sources, she shows the compet-
treatment of Denys Arcand’s existential Jesus of ing strategies of two Jewish audiences, of how B’nai
Montreal and its apocalyptic parallels to the Gospel of B’rith covertly worked behind the scenes and how the
Mark, and Pasolini’s Il Vangelo secondo Matteo being American Jewish Congress protested with public
aptly coupled with Matthew’s Gospel, and Godspell denunciations.
with the parables of Luke (see also Sklar, 1990). Two other relevant publications deserve notice:
Mikkelson and Gregg (2001) argue that one can first the original, unexpurgated, and unrealized screen-
view certain movies as visual gospels. They set forth play of the life of Jesus Christ by Carl Dreyer was pub-
criteria for defining a film about Jesus as a silver lished and accompanied by tributes from other grand
screen gospel, namely its main focus is to present a European directors (Renoir, Truffaut, Fellini) as well as
dramatized historical biography of Jesus; it is derived essays from the director on his “Passion” (Monty,
from the New Testament gospels; and it is released as 1971). Dreyer sought to emphasize the death of the
a major motion picture or television movie. Applying man, whose “spirit lived.” Second, Zeffirelli (1984)
a synoptic method of analysis, the authors compare offers a “spiritual diary” of his film in which he offers
and contrast the content of the film as they would one his motives and describes the “conspiracy” of events
of the original gospels, summarizing the pericopae leading to the production as well as the interface of the
under study and then commenting upon it. The silver story with his personal odyssey in which he made a
screen gospel under scrutiny is Nicholas Ray’s 1961 “rediscovery of the Gospel” after seeking to capture the
King of Kings. Mikkelson and Gregg interpret the rep- “true image of the social and human dimension of the
resentations of the film against parallel biblical texts story of Jesus’ work of art and faith.
and the relevant historical works of Josephus, Tacitus, Chattaway (2000) discusses books on biblical
and others, compiling a commentary on one cinematic epics shedding light on the Scriptures, identifying spe-
gospel, with little theological inquiry. Mikkelson cific concerns of each director and each providing its
(2004) follows this work with a synoptic treatment of own peculiar challenges to the church. “Guardians of
The Greatest Story Ever Told. (Hall, 2002, explains high culture were deeply concerned that Jesus had been
why George Stevens’ The Greatest Story Ever Told turned into a commodity, into a gimmick for lowbrow
was a financial failure. Examining historical docu- consumption” (p. 10). However, filmmakers found that
ments in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and biblical pictures brought in middle class audiences,
Sciences, he discovers production cost overruns, bad who would otherwise be quite wary of movies, and
mass marketing, and the bloated cost for spectacle. audiences relished them as they made it possible to
See also Neale, 2004, and Darby, 1992.) “embark on virtual pilgrimages to the Holy Land,”
One surmises that the literature on director Mel bringing the Bible to life, such as in seeing Mary and
Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ will add new, vivid, Joseph resting near the Sphinx in From the Manger to
and controversial chapters on the sub-genre of the the Cross. For Chattaway, the various Jesus films fuse
Jesus film (Corley & Webb, 2004). In the first signifi- together in an amalgam of images.
cant study, O’Brien (2004) looks at the fierce religious As a brief diversion, Paffenroth (2001) picks up the
absolutes of the filmmaker that brought a radical rever- character of Judas to examine the diverse and unortho-
sal to Jesus movies. Rather than fitting a film to con- dox depictions of Judas in the Jesus films. The betrayer
temporary tastes, Gibson turned multiplex audiences is often portrayed as a traditional villain and pawn of
into the contemporaries of Jesus. In other significant Providence, with shifting loyalties and ambitions. From
scholarly and pedagogical attention, Plate (2004),
the messy intimation of a lover of Mary Magdalene in
Landres and Berenbaum (2004), James (2004), and
DeMille’s King of Kings to a misguided patriot in Ray’s
Brown (2004) each examine the film as film, while
Cooper (2004) approaches its aesthetics from the per- version, Judas is cast as an archetypal traitor. Paffenroth
spective of art criticism. shows that his heterodox roles as naïve and gullible or
Herman (2000) assesses Cecil B. DeMille’s The ultimately responsible for Jesus accepting the cross indi-
King of Kings as a dangerous anti-Semitic film. Even cates more about the skewed motives of the filmmakers
before the over-hyped outcry on Gibson’s film, she sur- than about biblical interpretation.

F. The Christ Figure child. Malone (1997) also provides creative analogies
In contrast to the direct, quasi-historical approach of the resident Christ figure in Tim Burton’s Edward
of the Jesus film, there exists a plethora of literature Scissorhands. (In the same volume of essays, Telford,
scanning metaphorical representations of the Christ 1997, surveys depictions of Jesus in the cinema as
figure in film. In the second half of his presentation, “Jesus Christ Movie Star.”)
Baugh (1997) offers a genealogy of types in Dali’s cos- What these authors do is identify the main thread
mic, surreal Christ; Chagall’s Hebrew messianic fig- of the Christ story, unveiling its disguises within the
ure; and Roualt’s holy clown as precursors to the surface narrative and relying on viewers to connect the
metaphoric Christ figures of film to be found in the cin- incarnational and storytelling dimensions of faith.
ema of Bresson, Kieslowski, Tarkovsky, and others. Deacy (2001) goes further in viewing films as the artic-
Hurley (1982) lines up various faith-inspired and ulation of religious rituals and cultural values. In par-
humanistic projections of the Christ persona. When lib- ticular he probes how the theological doctrine of
eral biblical scholarship began seeking other christs, redemption is represented in film, especially in his
particularly incarnated as rebellious heroes with a mys- privileged genre of film noir, finding it a fertile site for
tical aura of martyrdom, they found them in a cinema exploring themes of alienation and violence. Deacy
that bore the uncanny imprint of Christ’s countenance demonstrates how secular film has displaced and trans-
like an esemplastic Shroud of Turin. Christ was a pop- posed religion, supplanting some of the roles tradition-
ular cultural figure like Paul Newman in Cool Hand ally associated with the church. He sets forth tradition-
Luke, Gene Hackman as Reverend Scott in The al theological themes in the genre of film noir and in
Poseidon Adventure, Peter Sellers as the Anglican rec- the work of director Martin Scorsese. For Deacy, secu-
tor in Heavens Above, and even Alec Guiness as Obi- lar agencies like film carry and convey religious ideas
Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. and values, especially tapping into secular apocalyptic
Peavy (1974) examines films from the late 1950s imagination. Film noir has the capacity to resonate
that he found colored by the God is Dead controversy. with the experiences of suffering and alienation of
He notes a shift from the doctrine of God becoming audience members, not as mere utopian escapism, but
human in Jesus Christ, to humans becoming God. as a mode of redemption.
Visual characterizations of Christ move from the Moore (1994) visits Jean Luc Godard’s reincarna-
Victorian ethereal figure, meek and mild, to a man of tion of the Annunication, Je vous salue Marie, explor-
action, and then to anti-heroic characters mired in inde- ing which ways film corresponds to body or flesh and
cision, as in Stuart Rosenberg’s archetypal Christ film, whether spirit can be represented on that body of film.
Cool Hand Luke (1967), with Luke martyred for the As such, Moore shows how the French New Wave
men of the chain gang, becoming their sacrifice and director renders the familiar alien and fresh. Recalling
hero. Peavy also looks at works like Dedak’s The Andre Bazin’s concerns for religious filmmaking,
Ruling Class (1972) with Peter O’Toole as a paranoid- Godard’s seeks to redeem a fallen world in his version
schizophrenic nutcase, cured into being a god of wrath of Hail Mary, also hinting of a myth of a pregnant vir-
and vengeance, and Zurlini’s Black Jesus (1968) that gin of art that would renew cinema itself. Bowman
attempts to transfigure Jesus into a contemporary black (2001) finds faith in Central Station, a moving spiritu-
leader of an African resistance movement who is exe- al journey film, in which separated brothers (all the
cuted, with graphic allusions to the Passion with exces- sons of the father “Jesus”) are Josue, Moises, and
sive torture and blood. Peavy shows that Isaisas, pointers to a Christ of Moses and Isaiah. Jesus
Christomaniac deviations from conventional portrayals as father is revealed only through his “word” at the end
show that men who shadow the Christ story may not be of the film. By faith Dora chooses to believe the letter.
saintly, but mentally unbalanced. These are secularized In Platoon Beck (1995) finds a biblical story extending
anti-heroes seeking personal revelation that is mostly from creation to resurrection. Character names offer
self-serving and self-destructive, none of whom expe- overt references to biblical symbolism: Chris, the
rience a resurrection or bring about any redemption. film’s narrator becomes Christ figure. Elias embodies
McEver (1998) finds a messianic figure in many actions of Elijah the prophet, and Barnes symbolically
of the same films, from Cool Hand Luke to Sling represents the worldly King Ahab as well as the beast
Blade, fitting holy garments on various film characters, or anti-Chris [sic]. A moral struggle between good and
and identifying the unlikely redeemer in a prison, men- evil plays out between Elias and Barnes, with Chris
tal hospital, classroom, or inside the home of an abused ultimately following Elias, taking up his mantle.

G. Representational Studies Cold War and Vietnam as in M*A*S*H*); and, finally,
God also receives attention on His cinematic Consumer Confections (marked by postmodern erasure
image. Greeley (1997) catalogues a set of nine distinct of clear definitions of good and evil that allowed self-
images of God. Arguing that all God talk is metaphori- indulgence not as a sin, but almost as a sacramental
cal (isn’t all language metaphorical?), he outlines acceptance of divine gifts, exemplified by films like
Hollywood’s graven constructions of the Divine, rang- Michael and Field of Dreams). For Smith, Hollywood
ing from an old, gentle, funny patriarch in O, God, who represents God as sometimes dominating, sometimes
simply wants people to behave better, improve the disinterested, sometimes delightful, but always in
world, and trust him, to a vision of the divine as a beau- direct response to changing cultural factors. “The God
tiful woman in Fosse’s All That Jazz, who becomes more of the cinema, in other words, is commercialized and
attractive and desirable as the protagonist Joe gets near- commodified as a product that aims to satisfy audi-
er to death. The host of images includes an exiled French ences’ changing interests and concerns about the spiri-
chef, a bartender, ghosts, and a chiropractor helping a tual as history happens” (p. 230).
tormented Vietnam vet struggling with death of his son Keyser and Keyser (1984) catalogue various
and a government experience. Greeley indicates that the images of Roman Catholics in Hollywood. Building on
movies sustain American optimism, with belief that Hurley’s suggestion that American movies are for the
God’s mercy is stronger than his justice. In his discovery masses “what theology is for an elite,” and looking
of the analogic God, Greeley finds Him to be represent- through the glass lens darkly at the Hollywood reli-
ed as attractive, sympathetic, dialogue oriented, and gious cult, the Keysers identify salient cinematic mark-
flexible. Essentially, God fits the category of a process ers of the Catholic life, clues about economic, social,
theologian, made in the image of man, not violating free psychological, and theological problems and issues all
will, but caring deeply. Bergesen and Greeley (2000) dimly reflected in film’s distorted mirroring of the
continue this investigation of the question in relation to Church. Based on Friedman’s examination of the
the religious imagination. His exercise in cultural sociol- Hollywood image of Jews (1982, 1987), the Keysers
ogy and urban anthropology culls similar examples as a bring critical attention to screen representations of
beautiful and frisky woman as God in Dogma and Catholics, that even “constitute a catechism” by draw-
anime-like Ghost in the Shell. ing out surface answers to perennial questions about
Smith (2001) offers an abridged inquiry into his- faith and morality and life. They persuasively argue
torical development of theology as represented in that no fixed canon of identity exists in Hollywood, but
films. From classical theistic idea of God’s divine one sees a range of indelible images impressed upon
intervention in human affairs, mingled with concepts of the imagination and consciousness of spectators. From
divine inspiration, one finds God directly involved in nuns in the convent to immigrant Irish cops or Italian
human affairs in early films. The film industry’s por- gangsters in the crime movies, the Keysers deal with
trayal of religion and image of God shift as tragedies of the undercutting of orthodox theology in such films,
world impose a different public perception of God’s replacing it with a sort of creative evolution according
Providence, or seeming lack of it. In the second half of to Teilhard de Chardin. The new Hollywood catechism
the 20th century, one finds such existential portrayals suggests, for example, that, “Catholic girls, especially
of humanity, with or without God that supported lapsed, demure, shy ones with alluring bodies, make
notions of individualism in opposition to mass society exceptional mates for demons” (p. 226).
or community. Smith argues that cinematic representa- Lacy (1982) scrutinizes the two clerics who
tions have been constructed and maintained by and appear in Miguel de Unamuno’s Saint Emmanuel the
through audiences’ evolving views of religiosity, and Good, Martyr and Bergman’s Winter Light, finding not
identifies four movements: Classic Theism (anchored mere hypocrisy, but an inability to believe. Without
in Scripture, promoting an Almighty God reigning over spiritual subjectivity, such representations strive for
earthly events); Divine Inspiration (brought about by substitute intersubjectivity or capitulate to spiritual sui-
experiences with war, disease, and economic depres- cide. On sheer craziness, Gordon (1994) provides a
sion, resulting in a more amiable but limited God who reader of Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s to
shifted responsibility to humans as in the god of Green describe the caricatures of priests.
Pastures to Lilies in the Field); Existentialism (empha- Boswell and Loukides (1999) organize sets of ritu-
sized individualism against mass society, with alien- als in film, noticing how essentially sacred rituals like
ation and anxiety displayed against background of baptisms, weddings, or funerals are generally secular-

ized. Initiations into the sacred world of faith are fre- gelical faith could be represented in any film. Finally,
quently made secular as in The Godfather or Leap of Hagen (1998) lauds the inspiring portrayal of British
Faith. Where the authors expect to find transcendence, Christian author and Oxford don, C.S. Lewis, in
transformation and spirituality in sacramental occasions, Shadowlands.
they find mostly the profane. Within the same Bowling Reinhartz (1999) deftly catalogues how Bibles
Green University Popular Culture series, Lindvall and biblical texts function as symbolic props and signs
(1993) catalogues nine cinematic representations of the in Hollywood films. For her, Sling Blade, The Apostle,
church, from social structure, political institution, center and Shawshank Redemption appropriate the Word to
of hypocrisy, museum, supernatural fortress, sanctuary, emphasize themes of freedom while in Nell and
locus of romance, source of healing and transcendence, Amistad, the Bible helps to define the narrative struc-
and the house of God and the people of God. In another ture, wherein the main characters find their own stories
work, Lindvall (1987) explores the different representa- in the sacred Gospel. In Coneheads and Pulp Fiction,
tions of military chaplains throughout historical periods the Bible is shown to be an alien artifact in contempo-
of film as well. Hopkins (1990) playfully analyzes “reli- rary culture.
gion in extremis” in her tongue-in-cheek commentary on However, one of the best examples of representa-
the representation of miracles, religious fakers, and tional studies is Sanders (2002). Beginning with the
antichrists in movies (e.g., Wise Blood, Elmer Gantry, question of the meaning of sainthood, Sanders delves
Carrie), to find, beyond the anthropological fictions of into such theologically significant issues as holiness, a
Margaret Mead, distinct religious rituals in movies. passion for God, martyrdom, asceticism, evangelism,
Kozlovic (2002) extends his studies on divine figures in the miraculous, and poverty. Chapters on the Holocaust
popular cinema to examine what he calls the sacred ser- and the Virgin Mary complete the book, as well as a
vant categories (from Samson to Saint Francis), seeking curious exploration of the fine line between saint and
a “taxonomic survey of the mundane holy” as well as psychotic. These themes are amply connected to rele-
tracing the typecasting of actor Joseph Schildkraut as a vant cinematic representations of hagiography (from
Judas figure in four DeMille films. His work also applies Black Robe to Entertaining Angels) in which the issues
a cinematic theology and visual piety to religious educa- themselves are defined and delineated in clear and
tion, looking at sacred subtexts (including unholy ones) unforgettable fashion.
and hidden religious figurations within various films like
H. Feminist and cultural criticism
Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1981).
As such, he covers all manner of holy aliens and cyborg Sullivan (2000) examines how religious topics and
saviors within the science fiction genre, as well as find- figures, especially nuns, function to negotiate larger
ing a transmogrified Bible within popular Western genre social conflicts. In the postwar era, film portrayals of the
films. Pedagogically, he tests how to nourish faith nun character mediated anxieties over religion and
through film, seeking “What good can come from women, with the sisters straddling two extremes, being
Nazareth?” against common prejudices and visionary independent, heroic, and yet conservative in a patriar-
prospects. Within religious education he also explores chal institution. As such, the nun functioned both to fem-
how popular films can serve as cinematic epiphanies, as inize the Roman Church and to domesticate feminism.
sites for reel devotion and psycho- spiritual encounters. Guomundsdottir (2002) offers a feminist critical
Discussions of cinematic hagiography include analysis of two powerful films, Breaking the Waves and
Neely (1996) on missionaries in the cinema and sever- Dead Man Walking. By looking through a feminist
al works on Robert Duvall’s The Apostle. Ostwalt “Christological lens” Guomundsdottir raises intriguing
(1999) provides a useful ethnographic study of south- issues about the theological significance of Jesus’ his-
ern Pentecostal/Holiness tradition and sees in the film torical maleness and how Christ may be viewed as
a portrayal of the small rural church as idyllic and not incarnate today. As an extension of the Christ figure
an expose of charlatan evangelist, but an honest exam- studies, the two films suggest how the Lord could be
ination of a flawed minister who “doesn’t lose his seen in various guises and genres. The masochistic por-
humanity either to sainthood or to evil” (p. 672). In trayal in Breaking the Waves, in which a wife reluc-
contrast, Steiner (2001) interprets the film as a humili- tantly prostitutes her body, spirit, and sanity for her
ation of the faith. His Burkean analysis points to how husband’s crippled desires offers a much less persua-
the film misrepresents Word-centered evangelicals and sive model than Sister Helen, who in Dead Man
Pentecostals, provoking him to ask whether the evan- Walking reflects God’s enduring, forgiving love, clear-

ly demonstrating a female side of Christ figures. On the typical seductress, but provided multiple dimensions
other hand, Heath (1998) argues that Breaking the for the Woman’s film, mirroring tensions within the
Waves does provide an incarnation of divine love as a emerging desires of women as subjects. Koosed and
sacred sexual sacrifice. The wife’s odd actions proved Linafelt (1996) weigh the Clint Eastwood film,
that a radical saint could devote herself to amor omnie Unforgiven, against the Book of Judges and discern a
(love, at least eros, is all). Challenging Heath and oth- futile attempt by men to create a masculine world that
ers, Faber (2003) takes issue with rapturous fans of excluded women, and needing flawed men and women
Breaking the Waves by offering a feminist critique. to restore order. Several articles, however, seemed
Where others see Bess’s sexuality as a transgressive more invested in contemporary theoretical issues,
force for good, and an extreme from of feminine mar- pushing an extended engagement with feminist modes
tyrdom, Faber cites Julia Kristeva’s rejection of the of address than theological critiques.
idea of transgressive sexuality having emancipatory Schleich (2003) blends two seemingly disjointed
power; rather, she argues, Bess’s behavior is a debili- questions into a thoughtfully reasoned whole: “Why do
tating masochism which valorises male domination and Hollywood roles for women tend to typecast them as
invests sexual violence with redemptive meaning. Such virgins or vamps, with little depth or complexity?” and
self-sacrifice is a bit excessive and delusional. “Why are Catholic women to this day restricted from
An entire issue of Semeia gathers a coterie of bib- full participation in many meaningful practices of the
lical and cultural scholars to address film theory and Church?” Deftly exploring the history of how women
sacred texts, particularly those biblical films of the last have been perceived in Catholicism, and meticulously
50 years that situated women as fundamental texts. The deconstructing female roles in movies such as The
authors show how biblical figures have been ideologi- Song of Bernadette, Sister Act, Dogma, and others,
cally coded and tainted by media—seeing embedded Schleich offers a unique, thoughtful, and thought-pro-
social norms interwoven into the sacred narratives, with voking survey and commentary of institutionalized
impressionist interpretations of biblical narrative based Catholic and Hollywood studio perspectives with
on collection of images gleaned from paintings and the respect to and its lasting impact upon gender studies.
media. Bach (1996a) examines Salome as a demonized Other studies blend typical psychoanalytic
castrating virago. She contrasts Demille’s attempts at themes with theology. Loughlin (2004) stretches the
verisimilitude and Scorsese’s obsessions with the psy- interface between religion and contemporary cinema
chologically complex, or King Vidor’s 1959 Caucasian by testing metaphors of the body and its desires as con-
version of Solomon and Sheba with the 1994 Showtime tested sites of the gaze, mystery, dread, and fascination.
remake casting African Americans. The various sword Rather than being an alien force within the body, sexu-
and sandal features of biblical stories assumed contem- al desire for Loughlin is a marker of deep religious
porary preoccupations and anxieties, which then re- yearnings. Loughlin finds in Divine eros a wondrously
framed the biblical texts themselves. alien and truly intimate desire that is masked (and even
Pardes (1996) deconstructs DeMille’s Ten denied) by secular representations. In particular, he
Commandments in the context of 1950s Hollywood to explores the Christian notion of sacred eroticism
show how Hollywood shapes an understanding of the though films such as The Devils and Breaking the
Bible. For Pardes, Biblical mythic narrative is Waves. His primary concern is to show sexuality from
anchored/frozen into this specific historical physical set- a Christian rather than Gnostic perspective, in enjoying
ting and image, with reel event becoming the real event. the body rather than escaping it. Sex and religion in the
Biblical literacy of the exodus was now to be cinemaliter- media also take center stage in Claussen’s edited col-
acy. The film conjured up uncritical images of deity as lection (2002). Several of the contributions specifical-
magician God, and Pardes argues that scholars need to ly address film, namely Kozlovic’s (2002) “The Whore
portray these films as cultural myths and explicate their of Babylon, Suggestibility, and the Art of Sexless Sex
ideologies. She quotes DeMille on The Ten Command- in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949)” and
ments: “God needs this film [The Ten Commandments] as Lindvall’s (2002) naughtily titled “The Organ in the
a tool to employ for the salvation of the world” (to which Sanctuary: Silent Film and Paradigmatic Images of the
James Thurber quipped, “It makes you realize what God Suspect Clergy.”
could have done if he had the money”) (p. 32). The complex signifying of woman as “other,”
Gunn (1996) peeks at Bathsheba and proposes encoded as “good” or “evil” through certain signs as
that Susan Hayward’s character was not a 1950s stereo- objects of worship and desire, is explored by

Makarushka (1998). In a full series of essays looking at Desiring, Eating, Colonizing, and Ending Community
community and difference, Plate and Jasper (1999) use postcolonial perspectives in their longing to locate
address otherness as part of the Cultural Criticism Series an ethics of vision, not just to tolerate Otherness but also
project from the American Academy of Religion. In par- to love Others. With intentional irony, the final essays
ticular, the book highlights the aforementioned Breaking challenge the western dualistic notion of otherness and
the Waves. Keefer and Linafelt (1999) tangle with a the- community.
ology of eros (i.e., George Bataille’s theories of eros) May (1997b) addresses various developments and
and desire, by reading Lars von Trier’s uneven (melo- changes in methods, languages, contexts, and conscious-
drama, tragedy, or religious parody?) film through the ness of religious film studies. He identifies four specific
fertile lens of the Song of Songs. Plate and Caruso (1999) aesthetic approaches to religious interpretations of film,
sing the praises of, and prefers art house films to, popu- each grounded in interrelationships with other fields
lar films as vehicles for analyzing culture, seeking to such as sociology, anthropology, philosophy, art history,
interrogate the deep structures of culture in more esoteric literature, and communication studies. An introductory
sites. This slight elitism and sophistication is cleverly essay, May (1997a), sketches a broad history of film the-
undermined, however, by Beal (1999) who identifies the ory and classifies the principle English-language works
monster (a warning, a seeing) as the cultural representa- on film/religion. Eichenberger (1997) handles approach-
tion of the Other, an envoy of sacred terror (strange, es to criticism by directing readers to fruitful (which for
exiled, forgotten, destitute, marginal, outcast) outside the the author means anthropological—theology from
dominant Caucasian, heterosexual, male social symbol- below) engagement between the two realms—debating
ic order. whether one ought to speak of the “religious interpreta-
The volume’s use of feminist criticism, world reli- tion of film” rather than religious film. The primary
gions, and postmodern tendencies of irony, pastiche, and tasks are to find traces of a telos and to ascertain recog-
self-reflection gives it a lively subjective tone, but it nizable identities (personal, national, ethnic, etc.) in
remains a self-centered exercise of reflection. In its pri- film. The author does raise the riveting question of film
mary concern of the relationships between aesthetics and content topics, such as suffering as in Katastrophen-
ethics, it inquires about how others’ differences have filme, where one stumbles upon the holy through via
been constructed via cinema and then to imagine how to negativa.
overcome those constraints and find life together with In the second section, contributors investigate
others. Film is viewed functionally as medium for using how changing cultural demands and new audiences
one’s critical imagination to address important religious invite new representations and languages of the reli-
issues, looking for non-hierarchical difference, and gious, showing how aesthetically innovative directors
respecting an indefinable Otherness, beyond the estab- devise new ways of dealing with religious themes.
lished categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Hasenberg (1997) tries to describe tendencies in the
The authors ask what a cinema of otherness would look broad treatment of the religious (texts, institutions,
like. What has been repressed and forgotten? How can practices, experiences, and attitudes) as a Catholic film
others communicate with each other? Commercial cine- critic, examining the “agnostic” investigations of inter-
ma only advertises and props up such stereotypic repre- national filmmakers, the nagging questions of political
sentations; thus what is needed is the promotion of an cinema (the failure of communism, rise of neocolonial-
alternate or other independent and international cinema. ism, etc.), religious motifs of sci-fi and underground
With such a goal, the essays experiment with a variety of thrillers like Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, and the
religious perspectives (e.g., Hinduism, Native American new religious cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski, Wim
religion, Judaism—in Eli Cohen’s The Quarrel—and Wenders, and Andrei Tarkovsky. Zwick (1997) ana-
Chan Buddhism) in learning how to live with otherness lyzes the problem of evil, the malum morale, holds up
in community. Maisto’s (1999) self-reflexive treatment terrifying mirrors to humanity, and contrasts the
(showing how interpretation of the cinematic event Manicheanism of mainstream cinema to evil in the
depends upon one’s approach, from film studies or theo- abyss of the human soul as in David Lynch’s works.
logical studies) of Babette’s Feast sets household tables In Part 3, the writers chronicle the “changes in reli-
as sites of transformation in communities that break gious consciousness” signaled by the postmodern rup-
bread together. In Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take it With ture with modernity and materialism. Apostolos-
You, for example, otherness haunts and unites the wildly Cappadona (1997) deals with gender identification and
diverse community. Chapter titles of Surviving, the sacred, examining the contemporary pluralistic theo-

logical situation disconnected from any single identifi- personal signatures of artists in their work. Ideology and
able or unifying ecclesiastical tradition. She borrows theology leak into their mise-en-scene and through their
from Laura Mulvey’s groundbreaking “Visual Pleasure montage. Even with the danger of the Personal Heresy—
and Narrative Cinema” (1975) to situate the locus of the of seeing a film as a slice of autobiography—critics find
female, historically and ideologically, by unwrapping fascinating correlation between the director (or screen-
the Victorian era films The Piano and The Age of writer) and his or her productions. Early in the 1950s,
Innocence. Doniol-Valcroze (1951, reprinted 1989) explores direc-
The fourth part, addressing theological reflection, tor Cecil B. DeMille’s personal stylistic stamp in
dissects film as a mode of wonder making, of exploring Samson and Delilah, conflating one of the pillars of the
the mystery of the seen and unseen. According to Marty temple of film, his American capitalism and patriotism
(1997), films that open up mystery (even dimly) liberate (with the Screen Directors Guild’s requirement of loyal-
like the word (Word) of God, providing a mode of reve- ty oaths) with his moral, religious, and aesthetic convic-
lation in the incarnation of film. In moving toward a the- tions to demonstrate a model of the auteur policy. Miller
ological reading of film, Marty connects the relation of (1953) distinguishes between DeMille’s biblical films
the image to reality back to the Second Council of and those films with more authentic religious content
Nicea’s documents. Gallagher (1997) finds practical like The Next Voice You Hear, in which God speaks
uses for St. Ignatius Loyola’s rules for spiritual discern- through radio, showing life as it is.
ment for assessing long-term impact of “anonymous One of the first critical studies to deal overtly
religiousness” or latent theology through and from secu- with the religious worldview of a director was Gibson
lar film. For more accurate discernment, Gallagher (1969), which offers close readings of seven Bergman
directs the reader back to the historical practice of doki- films dealing with God’s absence. A decade later,
mazein, the biblical testing of the spirits. Closing out the Pomeroy (1977) examines the necessity of human
section, Verbeek (1997) maps out a quest for aesthetic communication for Bergman as a penultimate spiritual
harmony among the classic triad of verum, bonum, and experience in the face of God’s perceived silence, and
pulchrum [the true, the good, the beautiful], to join the Blake (1978), like Drew (1975), probes the subtle
beauty of creation with an ethic of living. In influences of Bergman’s strict religious upbringing.
“Developments in Mass Media Studies,” the conversa- Another 10 years later, Lauder (1989) extends Gibson’s
tion focuses upon the place of film in religious educa- metaphysical inquiry into Bergman, making Bergman,
tion, personal spiritual growth, and the promotion of a along with French director Robert Bresson, the cause
discerning worldview (the old Weltanschauung) of celebre for “religious” auteurist readings. McLean
films. Hoekstra (1997) comments on systematic, dialog- (1983, 1997) finds Bergman, after wrestling with his
ic, goal-oriented film education and looks at variations demons for 40 years, knocking on Heaven’s door in his
of media as supermarket, public forum, and Areopagus; last film, Fanny and Alexander, glowing with angelic
while White (1997) negotiates a model for constructing presence, and burning with just desserts for anyone
personal meaning through media for one’s spiritual associated with his Lutheran upbringing. His insights
development. The final part of the volume’s complex set are based in part in Jones’s (1983) provocative inter-
of essays filters religious communication through third- view with Bergman at Southern Methodist University.
world cinemas, particularly that of India, Latin America, The Scandinavian legacy would not be complete with-
and Africa, discussing entertainment/education regard- out acknowledgment of the works on Danish director
ing the representation of the family for family viewing. Carl Dreyer (Passion of Joan of Arc, Ordet). Skoller
Tavares de Barros (1997), for example, examines uni- (1973) translates Dreyer’s own writings about film,
versal human values in Latin American cinema. In a juxtaposing the art of the Danish director with his pro-
similar vein, Brown and Cody (1991) test the effects of found reflections on art, theatre, imagination, mysti-
prosocial soap operas in promoting women’s status and cism, style, and criticism.
in inculcating audiences of ethical foundations. Others, Where studies of the agnostic Protestant Bergman
such as Nolan (1998) and Williams (2000) review reli- mostly chronicle his representation of loss of faith, stud-
gion at the movies in light of American culture. ies of French Catholic Robert Bresson zero in on a core
of grace in his films. Ayfre (1964) examines signs of
I. Auteur Criticism
divine presence and absence in films, limning four basic
Ever since the Cahiers du cinema extolled the responses to God within the cinema. For Ayfre, two fun-
virtues of auteur theory, of studying directors as authors damental and paradigmatic models are Bresson, who
of their films with their own camera stylo, critics sought

masked divine presence in filmic absence, and Bunuel, Incarnation, Trinity, Transubstantiation, Immaculate
who rejected the divine presence by filmic absence. Conception, Free Will, and origins of Evil. The film
Two full issues of Film Comment (1999a, 1999b) are serves as unprecedented primer for Catholic catechism
likewise devoted to Bresson and his oeuvre, identifying and necessary exorcism of the director, who seems to be
the emotional immediacy of a film like Au hasard, saying that: “If God exists, how I hate him,” but “My
Balthasar, which Haskell (1999) avers is guaranteed to hatred of science and technology will perhaps bring me
“awaken the dormant Christian in anyone who’s ever to the absurdity of a belief in God.” A more recent scruti-
passed over the baptismal font on the way to secular ny on the Vatican itself comes from Cineaste editor Dan
perdition in loss of faith” (p. 58; see also Keegan, 1981 Georgakas (2003) regarding Costa-Gavras’s film Amen,
and Dempsey, 1999). Film critic for the National indicting certain religious leaders with criminal negli-
Catholic Reporter, Joseph Cunneen (2003) illuminates gence during the Holocaust.
the “spiritual style” of the famed French director, as Bedouell (1979) champions “cinema’s spiritual
both a dismissal of the artificial cinema of pho- destiny” as envisioned by French New Wave director
tographed theater and a celebration of a supernatural of moral tales, Eric Rohmer (who includes the Latin
cinema that adheres to a ruthless and unflinching close- liturgy of Good Friday in his film Perceval le Gallois).
up of reality. Finally, in Cameron (1969), a diverse Bedouell recounts how Rohmer heralds Malraux’s dec-
group of critics analyze the French director of such reli- laration that the 21st century would be “religious or
gious masterpieces as Diary of a Country Priest and nothing” and argues that one should see Christianity as
Mouchette, drawing out his art of suggestion and grace. consubstantial with the cinema. Rohmer’s “liturgical”
May (1992) exhumes the religious aspects of film work is that of a truly theo-logia, speaking a word
auteurism in looking at how Catholic theology informs about God and his grace. As a critic, Rohmer himself
the work of filmmakers like Ford, Hitchcock, or sees the Christian symbolism in Alfred Hitchcock, and
Scorsese. He suggests that spiritual biography can proposed cinema as the “cathedral of the 20th century,”
serve as an artistic force in shaping film content. In the even as he was designated as one of the best evangel-
book, he collects a wild and provocative set of critical ists of church and film (Rohmer & Chabrol, 1957).
essays, each assuming that the American films dis- French directors, in spite of a regnant national
cussed originated out of the religious sensibility of its anti-clericalism, remain fascinated by religion. Shafto
American director. Studying not morality but religion, (2002) examines the themes of artist as Christ and as
the author looks for clues, hints, and traces of tran- Father in the work of Philippe Garrel and Jean-Luc
scendence by examining principal cinematic elements Godard. She looks at the Catholic imagination of
such as mise-en-scene or frame composition (e.g., the lapsed French Protestant New Wave filmmaker Godard
close-up of Chaplin’s tramp’s smile). For Rule (1992), and at Garrel’s identification with Christ through aes-
for example, the proximity of characters in John Ford’s thetics of poverty. Garrel believed in a social mission
frames points to the recognition of human solidarity of cinema, acting as savior through incarnate art.
through intimate cinematic spacing. The dynamic Influencing both of these artists was the curator and
movement of film, kinesis itself, is viewed as spiritual historian Henri Langlois, a godfather of French cine-
quest or rite of passage of suffering and redemption by ma. For Shafto, these two enflesh an ethos of filmmak-
Hurley (1992) in his analysis of On the Waterfront. ing impregnated by Christianity.
Part 3 of the aforementioned May and Bird anthol- Where the French may dabble in religion, Italians
ogy (1982) opens a gallery of directors exhibiting their are consumed by it. Pier Paolo Pasolini (1986-1987),
varieties of religious sensibility. Cameos of numerous atheist director whose The Gospel According to St.
directors are portrayed, from Francois Truffaut and Luis Matthew is a remarkably authentic biblical adaptation,
Bunuel (who slaps the face of theology to wake it up— reflects on fellow filmmaker Frederico Fellini and his
his works crack open the false nut that film is mere film, La Dolce Vita, as symptomatic of both European
entertainment; it is confrontation) to Alfred Hitchcock neo-decadence and yet with a Catholic magical-lyrical
and Sam Peckinpah. (On this, see also Valle, 1993.) style. Ferlita (1977) looks at the ironic religious narra-
Malcolm (1969-1970) takes on the outrageously satiric tives of the foremost female Italian auteur, Lina
Luis “Thank God, I am an atheist” Bunuel in an article Wertmuller. Two significant works on director Ermanno
on his film, The Milky Way. The movie mapped a pil- Olmi (Tree of the Wooden Clogs) honor the Italian
grimage that dramatizes six major heresy-inducing chal- director’s quiet spirituality of ordinary people. Kennedy
lenges to dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church: (2001) looks at his film on the Magi, Camminacammina

(Keep on Walking). Concepts dealing with the pilgrim’s use of actors, music, noise; and the artist’s spiritual
journey and the miracles of life underlie Young’s (2001) responsibility in his craft.
treatment of the director as well. Perlmutter (1997) reads Krzysztof Kieslowski’s
Terry (1995) investigates how African-American The Decalogue and sees a fusion of the Father-God and
film director Spencer Williams Jr. deviates from the clas- the Father Land. The loss of morality and personal
sical Hollywood paradigm of individual self-determina- freedom in Poland is marked by absent lawgivers,
tion to show how Divine causality shapes the narrative images of a recurring angel, and a need for more than
structure of his race films. Weisenfeld (1996) tests how the impersonal god of the commandments. Looking at
race and religion present representational quagmires in the cinematic art of Kieslowski, Kickasola (2004) bril-
films like Cabin in the Sky, comparing its fictional con- liantly charts the liminal spaces of his films (Red),
struction of African Americans with those in films like “demarcating the apparent thresholds of metaphysical
Spencer Williams’ The Blood of Jesus. Weisenfeld aptly and physical, transcendent and immanent, eternal and
applies religious categories of Otherness, finding in the temporal” (p. 4). For Kickasola, this is the “same limi-
role of hymns and spirituals in slave religion an expan- nal ground that philosopher and critic George Steiner
sion of time from promises of the biblical past to a future describes when he states that the arts are ‘rooted in sub-
hope of justice. Her work supplies a useful paradigm stance . . . immanence,’ but ‘do not stop there’ ” (p. 5).
where biblical studies, film theory, and cultural studies We may begin with the human, but the presence of the
intersect, seeking to connect the two scholarly worlds “Other” demands we investigate. Kickasola finds that
that incorporate two separate lexicons, two languages for this Polish director, metaphysics matters.
that need translation. The films of Williams and Oscar In spite of Greeley’s aside comment that only
Micheaux position African Americans with respect to Europeans make religious films, American directors
inclusion or exclusion from national identity. have also scratched their religious markings upon the
Pavelin (1990) garners a list of classics and their screen. Regarding the religious significance of classic
contemporary successors that were marked by a con- film directors, only three, Cecil B. DeMille, Frank
cern for fundamental questions of the human condition, Borzage, and Frank Capra, have been examined in
a category of religious humanism, in which one would detail. Perlmutter (1976) exposes DeMille’s wizard-like
find “the ordinary unsaintly individual going through manipulation of public’s desires, lulling audiences with
some kind of spiritual struggle or crisis.” Pavelin iden- his religious homilies. DeMille, viewed as an impresa-
tifies 100 art house classics, mostly Bergman, Bresson, rio of seductions to a 19th century paternalistic capital-
and Rossellini (with France and the United States ism and Victorian values through his almost salacious
claiming 10% each) that evoke a sense of religion, melodramas (in which attractive packages of sin led
including the finest of all films about saints, Andrei only to paying the piper), was characterized as a pur-
Tarkovsky’s 1996 Andrei Rublev (Pavelin, 1993). veyor of romantic bourgeois evangelism. Maltby (1990)
Holloway (1993) distinguishes between spiritual views DeMille’s King of Kings (1927) with an exacting
(depth of meaning) and religious (subject matter). scholarly scrutiny that lights up various historical and
Assessing the 1980s as one of the richest periods of cultural aspects of the mammoth religious production.
theological cinema in film history, Holloway showcas- Birchard (2004) deals directly with the religious and
es the works of spiritual film authors like Krzysztof cultural elements in the great showman’s films. Lamster
Kieslowski’s Decalogue, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Sacrifice, (1981) explores the spiritual sermons of director Frank
and Alain Cavalier’s Theresa. Christman (2003) deals Borzage while Tibbetts (1979) looks at Capra’s charac-
with the contrasting Tarkovsky and American versions ter of Florence Fallon, loosely based on evangelist
of Solaris, while Tennant (2003) looks closely on Aimee Semple McPherson, in The Miracle Woman.
Kieslowski’s works. In contrast to Poland’s (1988) polemic of the
Tarkovsky (1986) provides a perceptive examina- “untold story” behind Scorsese’s film (including the
tion of his own works in modern Russian cinema; many infamous Valenti’s mother issue), Riley’s (2003) case
of which from Andrei Rublev to The Sacrifice, were study of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of
often banned. The collected volume assembles his notes, Christ provides an extensive analysis of the various
jotted and remembered from his productions, as well as groups castigating, scapegoating, and defending the
poetic and philosophic reflections on the art of filmmak- film, opening up multiple levels of meanings about the
ing, capturing his yearning for the ideal; his quest for sacred and the rhetorical rituals of blame and victimiz-
artistic creation in the film image, rhythms of editing, ing. Based on the motif of scapegoating articulated by

Rene Girard, in which various opposing social hierar- Gangs of New York, where blood is offered in religious
chies in American society motivate views, Riley fol- devotion, but to devil gods like Moloch.
lows the life-cycle of the controversy for patterns of To Scorsese, Braudy (1986) would add Coppola
relationships for religious conservatives and liberal and DePalma as dispensers of sacraments in film.
progressives. Riley analyzes the historical data of the Dealing with ethnic movies undergirded by Catholic
competing parties, looking at the role of religious lan- mores and instincts, Braudy finds that, unlike the
guage and images, examining the rituals of blame per- Protestant and often Jewish “denigration of visual mate-
petrated through commercialized television (like the riality in favor of verbal mystery, [Catholics] mine the
Oprah Winfrey show), which reflect deep levels of cul- transcendental potential within the visual world” (p.
tural difference and animosity, and pointing out the 17). Objects, people, places, and stories are irradiated
film’s significance as an indicator of prevailing cultur- by the meaning from within. Thompson and Christie
al values and attitudes. (1989) present an edited volume with personal inter-
Collet (1987) treats Girard’s themes of sacrificial views enhancing critical articles on the Roman Catholic
crisis and mimetic violence, occurring in cinema (as one director and punctuating his religious proclivities.
of the last “sacred places” that exist in our profane uni- On the same canvas as Lourdeaux’s (1990) study
verse as it is a place set apart, in sharp contrast to its of Italian and Irish filmmakers, Blake (2000) paints
mundane surroundings), identifying a “cinema of sacri- broad Roman frescoes of the Catholic imagination (on
fice transcended” in such rare films as Sunrise and this, see Lynch, 1973). For Blake, an afterimage (an
Ordet, the latter wherein one discovers the pleasure of image or sensation that remains or returns after the exter-
authentic human sacrifice between two separate sectari- nal stimulation has been withdrawn) of a residual
an communities, being converted from violence to love. Roman Catholic sensibility lingers, even in the face of a
Lindlof (1996) studies sundry community inscrip- loss of institutional or personal faith. Looking at the
tions from among the “passionate audience” that viewed filmic texts, and not biography or allegorical interpreta-
the Scorese film. Morris (1988) deals with the theologi- tions, the critic can detect where the presentation of cer-
cal issues raised by the film and shows how Scorsese tain materials may have stemmed from perception of
accentuated Christ’s humanity while simultaneously world along Roman Catholic footprints. Signs of a reli-
underscoring the weakness of what it means to be gious imagination in a love for saints, for the physical,
human. Bliss (1995) paints a larger canvas, testing for the sacramental, for devotional piety, along with
Scorsese’s choreographed conflicts between convention- notions of conscience, mentoring, community, and nar-
al morality (from the Roman Catholic Church) and indi- ratives of moral growth (also marked by hierarchy and a
vidual desires. For Bliss, the most notable characteristic male universe) point to such a tradition. Blake sorts
of Scorsese’s films is “the director’s Catholic sensibili- through many guises of American Catholicism: the
ty” where all his characters are moralist and/or religious sacramental universe of Martin Scorsese, the commun-
fanatics, believers who think God has spoken to them ion of sinners in Alfred Hitchcock, the religion of world-
and must wrestle with how can one act morally in a ly faith within Frank Capra, the journey to an everlasting
morally skewed universe. Bliss deftly illustrates this kingdom in John Ford, Francis Ford Coppola’s
oppositional tension of the director, torn between the rig- American solitude, and Brian De Palma’s homilies from
orous demands of living in the mean streets of the world the Dark Side (both Hitch and de Palma zero in on sense
and the authority of biblical teachings in the Church. of depravity in human nature). Core influences on both
For Blake (1991b), blood in Scorsese’s universe Blake and Lourdeaux’s works are Greeley’s thoughts on
is redemptive and sacramental. Blake accepts the film the Catholic imagination, with the triune theological foci
of the wandering Catholic who wanted to be a priest, of communion, mediation, and sacramentality shaping
The Last Temptation, as a prayer and act of worship. the art of these directors.
True to the sacramental optimism of the Catholic imag- Incorporating interviews and various commen-
ination, Blake finds Catholic thinking permeating the taries, Jackson (1990) studies Paul Schrader and traces
director’s style, with blood signifying and associated the filmmaker’s path from his conservative Reformed
with redemption, and an ecclesiastical concept of beginnings through his critical/theoretical phase to that
belonging. In sanguine (and quite compelling) contrast, of screenwriter and director. Jackson keys in on
Metaxas (2003) recognizes what he calls “a bloody Schrader’s passionate concern with redemptive suffer-
shame” in the “apotheosis of Martin Scorsese,” his ings, probing even the personal death scene of his
mother in Light of Day. As a former film critic and the-

orist, Schrader has thought carefully about religious comic’s quest to grapple with absurdity. For Commins,
issues (and about separating the act of criticism from Allen pursues the idea of god more than God.
creative work) and offered numerous interviews. In a While few studies on the religious universes of
fairly focused interview, Smith (1992) explores lapsed and active Christians involved in filmmaking,
Schrader’s intense Light Sleeper as Biskind (1992) such as Wes Craven and Tom Shadyac respectively,
cajoles a wider and wilder range of reflections from the have appeared, Naglazas (2001) does cover the success
Calvin College alumnus (such as Schrader on meeting and the turn to God of director Shadyac (Liar, Liar and
God and not having to apologize “for making a bunch Bruce Almighty), revealing a sense of divine humor
of shitty pictures”). Personal interviews frequently coming through story. Horton (1999) also looks at the
open up issues of spiritual intentionality in the works of comic Gospel, this time according to Kevin Smith, in
various directors. Bliss has been quite instrumental in his satiric Dogma, finding it an “unabashedly pro-God
cracking open the topic of religion in usually reticent movie.” Norden (1993-1994) offers a fine and wel-
artists. He conducts a discussion with Schrader on come study of John Sayles’ Matewan (see also Sayles,
Affliction and forgiveness (2000) and hosts a fresh con- 1987). Christian Century publishes an interview with
versation on a sense of wonder with director Peter Weir horror film screenwriter director, Scott Derrickson
(1999; see also Johnston, 2000a). (2002), exploring the nature of Christian vocation in
Leggett, the author of numerous articles in the suspect industry. In a rare and innovative approach,
Christianity Today on Hammer Studio’s director of hor- Sawyer (1994) critiques the religious grounding of a
ror and fantasy, Terence Fisher, produces a full-length major film critic, as an auteur. Writing about Roger
study of the Christian, religious, and mythological Ebert, he investigates this Sneak Previews’ critic
themes in films like Dracula (a.k.a. Horror of Dracula) (raised a Roman Catholic who struggled with images
and the titillating The Brides of Dracula (2002). Leggett of women like Kim Novak who had the power to send
masterfully shows how the director employed the stu- men to hell by provoking impure thoughts) and asks
dio’s resources to spin narratives on the supernatural tri- about looking at religious issues with a sense of gravi-
umph of good over evil, with fascinating redeemer fig- ty, possibly even reverence, seeking to define the
ures. Leggett’s final chapter incorporates Walter Fisher’s apparent religious sensibility underlying his criticism.
paradigm of narrative to demonstrate how Terence More attention has been given to the religious
Fisher is essentially a biblical storyteller, in the literary themes in the works of offbeat independent director,
tradition of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress or Spenser’s Quentin Tarantino. Davis and Womack (1998) find an
Faerie Queen, concocting allegory within a realistic ethic of redemption in his ultra-violent Pulp Fiction.
framework. (See also Leggett, 1977, 1981.) Smith For Irwin (1998), the films of Tarantino and Robert
(1996) celebrates another British filmmaker, J. Arthur Rodriquez possess the capacity of American film noir to
Rank as the Methodist visionary who became the patron function as mode for religious inquiry, using pulp for a
saint of British cinema. MacNab (1993) provides an pulpit. As noir adherents find no ordering structure in
excellent context for Smith’s work. the universe, where the ground of being doesn’t exist,
Blake contrasts the irrepressible Woody Allen has been lost, or is ignored, so the protagonist must cre-
(Blake, 1995) with the sobering Ingmar Bergman ate his or her own structure. Irwin points out that as
(Blake, 1978), showing the parallel religious questions their characters believe they discover a sense of fatal-
that each addresses from their respective Jewish and ism, they feel they must cope with the social structures
Lutheran frames of reference, calling for fresh exegeti- through violence. Yet, their protagonists adhere to per-
cal methods of reading their films, and ascertaining sonal codes of professionalism, a sort of Tao for their
spiritual merits without imposing a subjective set of profession in a cosmos of crime. The religious elements
beliefs or “Christian imperialism.” Blake bases his crit- emerge when the character first recognizes that he can’t
ical methodology upon Catholic approaches to dialogue create his own ontological foundation and must believe
with non-Christian traditions, a sort of unpresumptuous that it may exist outside of his own powers—even in
cross cultural communication, in which one engages God. In the mix of numerous genres and styles (offering
another world without forcing either conversion or rel- “sensational and unsavory stories of a lurid nature”),
ativism (Blake, 1991a; see also Downing, 1997; both directors confront a persistence of evil and the
Berkey-Gerard, 1997; Yacowar, 1988). Commins presence of a terrifying type of salvation in their work.
(1987) also looks into Woody Allen and his theology, The fall of the powerful reminds Irwin of houses built
finding ultimate concerns paired with silly ones in the on sand, with the acts of repentance and redemption

coming at the price of death. The quotation of obscure When Potter (1996) turns to Richard Einhorn’s
biblical verses, peppered with obscenities, in Pulp voices of light, she quotes the confession of the cine-
Fiction, introduces a radically different kind of religious matographer of Joan of Arc: “In my social milieu, peo-
character, who discovers in analogies of lucky escapes ple could talk about sex more easily than they could
an opening up possible themes of grace and sovereign- talk about their religious beliefs” (p. 29). What has
ty of God. For more on Tarantino, see Stone (1999), become more evident is that, in the critical analysis of
Smith (2004), Peary, (1998), and Phillips (1998). certain films, more people are taking about religious
One may also find treatment of the religion of pro- beliefs and themes, and some are talking about both sex
ducers, particularly of Walt Disney, whose own confes- and religion. Miles (1994) brilliantly shows how popu-
sion of faith once appeared in Daily Guideposts. Several lar films shape “circulation values,” particularly in the
works probe faith and Disney films. Anderson (1999) context of race. In her discussion of Spike Lee, Miles
describes the Christian values in Disney works. In an overviews a brief history of religion and film to
impressive forward, classic Disney animators Ollie demonstrate the emergence of religious entertainment,
Johnston and Frank Thomas suggest that problems faced in which religion and film share similar social func-
by Disney cartoon characters could be ably addressed by tions. Both select and represent particular values in
ministers, such as how Pinocchio can become a real society and both are committed to calling forth, shap-
human being (Hebrews 4:12-13) or what we can learn of ing, and articulating desire. Herein, Miles makes evi-
the Fall from the poison apple of Snow White and the dent that director Spike Lee sees religion as part of the
Seven Dwarfs. Anderson finds inspiration for 20 ser- problem of racism. Lewis (1990) plots out how Alice
mons from such early Disney products. Ward’s (2002) Walker’s narrative utilizes a form of spiritual guidance
rhetorical analysis commands considerable respect from in her characters, reminiscent of the “image of the
her ability to exegete the moral worldviews within odyssey,” that traces the story’s trajectory and frames
recent Disney feature films, looking, for example, at the spatial metaphors of her life. In commenting on The
moral pedagogy through myth, archetype, and ritual in Color Purple, Lewis charts Celie’s journey from
The Lion King, and celebrity/heroic identification oppression, enmity, and license to arriving at her Pa’s
through narrative strategies in Hercules. Borrowing house, in search of a moral and spiritual community.
heavily from Ward and others is Pinsky (2004), in his Hasian and Carlson (2000) investigate the selec-
discussion of the Disney Gospel, a faint shadow of his tive choice and highlighting of particular historical nar-
more engaging and insightful work on the Simpsons ratives and the distortion of the past to create a contem-
(2001; see also Dart, 2001). Finally, in Field (2004) the porary social, political, and religious identity in Steven
creative spirits behind such films as Batman Forever and Spielberg’s Amistad. The authors try to redress imbal-
X-Men provide candid interviews on the inclusion of ance between “appreciation of the aesthetics of cinemat-
spiritual themes contained in their scripts and films. ic representations and the validity of truth claims within
those films” (p. 60). They also compare how multiple
J. Individual Film Criticism
audiences interpret the film to fit their own agendas and
Certain individual films have received consider- how films try to shape their collective memories of his-
able attention due to manifest and latent religious torical events. In Amistad, the authors argue, the movie
meanings. Dempsey (1987) deals with the special cin- reflects current social concerns about multiculturalism
ematic representations of Jesuit missions to the that distorts the veridical historic narrative.
Guarani tribe of Paraguay in Roland Joffre’s The Marsh and Ortiz (1997a) offer a series of essays
Mission, simultaneously illuminating the influence of on particular films, written by the following biblical
the international debate over liberation theology. Hale scholars or practitioners of ministry. As inspiring as it
(1995, 1997) develops this theme in greater detail. A is informative, Maher (1997), commenting on
resistance model of heroic virtue among partisan/mar- Awakenings, probes what it means to be human and
tyr saints is drawn out as well by Perry (1997), how we are to act under the constraints of the loss of
extolling films that demonstrate spiritual fortitude memory. Other worthy essays on individual films
through the martyrdom of Christian saints in the fight include Banks (1997) on George Stevens’s Shane. In a
against Italian Fascism. Rush (1998) lays out the iron- study of Frank Capra films, Brown (1997; see also
ic juxtaposition of the sacrament of baptism of Michael 1998) distinguishes between feel good movies and the
Corleone’s nephew and the mass slaughter of enemy Christian theme of hope, based on concepts developed
bosses in her discussion of Francis Ford Coppola’s The by Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar regarding
Godfather.

the divine, the transcendent, and the revelation of Award winning film within the vision of producer
God’s glory. Brown characterizes Capra as an iconog- David Puttnam, who was looking for a film story about
rapher of theological optimism, evangelizing the cine- a man who does an unexpected thing like Sir Thomas
matic gospel that the ultimate control of the world is More in A Man for All Seasons, Solomon applies
good, and mediated through spiritual community, pow- Walter Fisher’s tension between two competing
erlessness, and glory (light in the midst of darkness). American dreams, the materialistic myth and the
Marsh (1997) offers a sumptuous comment on moralistic myth. One reinforces the work ethic and
Babette’s Feast,” which, like Peter Fraser’s essay on commends achievement, venture, success, and compe-
the same theme, serves nourishing and delicious food tition while the other champions the values of charity,
for thought. Jewett (1997), in one of the best intersec- tolerance, and equality. Solomon identifies the Jewish
tions of theology with film, limns Groundhog Day. character, Harold Abrahams, with the former and the
Jewett opens the Bill Murray comedy to fresh and rev- Christian runner, Eric Liddle, with the latter. The two
elatory insights by combining the film with Paul’s let- runners provide the metaphors for quests of temporal
ter to the Galatians. By means of an interpretive arc, and eternal goals.
Jewett tinkers with biblical conceptions of time, of Studies of individual films easily lead to genre
kairos (special moment), and of chronos (an action in studies, as specific observations may be applicable to
time an event) and finds provocative analogies between related films. In looking in the genre of comedy, Lamm
ancient and modern texts and situations. (1991) asks whether we can laugh at God in the context
Various articles dealing with religion and docu- of apocalyptic comedy. Beginning with the cinematic
mentary films provide extended analyses beyond typi- adaptation of Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, Lamm
cal reviews. Glicksman (1987) interviews Diane explores the idea that if we laugh at God, the world will
Keaton on her feature-length documentary Heaven that relapse into chaos. He notes the power of myth to cre-
used assorted film clips to address popular myths and ate or dispel the role of religion through comic means,
images of the afterlife. Branham (1991) examines the even through the black, nihilistic comedy of apocalyp-
rhetorical impact of documentaries on pro-life and tic films. Ellen Bishop (1990) finds a liberating
abortion rights issues, as vehicles for conversion in his Rabelasian humor in her study of Monty Python and
analysis of Eclipse of Reason and The Silent Scream. the Holy Grail, while Ronald Bishop (2000) takes on
Gardner (1999) investigates how Jeffrey Peter Weir’s parabolic The Truman Show as media crit-
Katzenberg and DreamWorks reduced the telling of the icism. The religious role of mediator and peace-maker
Exodus story, The Prince of Egypt, to the level of Greek is explored by Chumo (1995) in a fine study of Forrest
mythology. The author feels that fictionalizing and ani- Gump as an agent of redemption for divisions within
mating the Holy Word diminishes the significance of American society. Interestingly enough, Jaehne (1999)
the biblical characters to DC comic book heroes. provides a similar review of another Tom Hanks’
The splendid BFI series of individual modern movie, Spielberg’s sacrificial Saving Private Ryan.
film classics analyzes films that hold enormous reli- Like apples of gold on plates of silver, the essays
gious potential, but often overlooks the full signifi- on individual films in Bandy and Monda (2003) shine
cance of those films. Dyer (1999) offers a captivating with scintillating wisdom and, if one may be so bold,
critique of Se7en but lacks something in terms of theo- precious piety. Complementing an exhibition of reli-
logical insight. Fisher (1998) watches Sunrise: A Song gious films by Museum of Modern Art, the book tests
of Two Humans and finds dialectic binaries of the Pascal’s thought that: “If you had not found me, you
Madonna/Whore and the City/Country but neglects to would not search for me,” delving into the riches and
offer fuller theological treatment of this sublimely reli- subtleties of God’s presence in kinetic icons. The edi-
gious film. Jones (1999) has an easier time in locating tors gather a talented company of 35 critics and film
the Catholic theology in L’Argent, with a director like artists (e.g., Andrew Sarris, Molly Haskell, and vision-
Robert Bresson being so dedicated to understanding ary filmmaker Stan Brakhage) to probe the clues, signs,
suffering and grace from religious perspectives. Cripps and hints of God scattered about and embedded in a
(1979) engages more religious background in The diverse collection of international films (e.g., Bresson’s
Green Pastures, but one wishes for more substantial Au Hasard Balthazar, Kieslowski’s Dekalog, and
treatments of the religious elements. Ramis’s Groundhog Day). Each author actually
Yet I am most partial to Solomon (1983), a bril- addresses the issue, diligently seeking markings of
liant study of Chariots of Fire. Situating the Academy Divine transcendence, pursuing the quest with utmost

clarity, authenticity, and grace. Bandy’s brilliant and they were inextricably aligned with audiences’ reli-
informative essays on The Flowers of Saint Francis gious beliefs. Rendleman (2002) also contributes an
and Babette’s Feast compel the reader to return to the audience reception research project on Michael
films with eagerness and hope for spiritual renewal. Tolkin’s 1991 The Rapture.
While much of the material in Stout and
K. Audiences and Reception Studies
Buddenbaum (1996) deals with print and broadcasting
Hendershot (2000) collects a set of insightful media, several specific studies address cinema.
essays that address the academic film community on Bourgault (1985) finds that the patterns of media use
how the relationship between religion and the media are directly connected to ideological frameworks of
continues to be a marginal topic due to the “typical lib- personal piety among Ohio Pentecostals who generally
eral university professor mindset” which “often does not saw movies as “sinful.” Bainbridge and Stark (1981)
acknowledge the worldview of the religious right as tex- contrast the viewing habits and religious orientations of
tured, ‘liveable’ and, for those who live within it, ‘natu- Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants against
ral’ and ‘reasonable’” (p. 1). Media scholarship has not those who define themselves as “born-again” and find
kept pace with global industries, texts, and audiences for that the former were much more likely to see films like
whom religion is a central issue, and film scholarship the Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Exorcist. Iorio
must grapple with these issues. In the issue of the Velvet (1996) investigates how the Mennonites preserve their
Light Trap (2000) devoted to the relationship, several religious identity through producing film. Hills (2000)
fresh trends are notable. Hendershot invites further tests a larger audience in his sociological approach to
research into the media culture of the religious right, audience reception, calling for identifying the religious
pushing for salient angles beyond both textual analysis (ritualistic) factors of fandom.
and industrial analysis of “zealot figures” and the Family Through a series of 250 in-depth personal inter-
Channel. In particular, she centers her inquiries on the views, Clark (2003) provides an illuminating ethno-
overlooked significance of pleasure and belief and how graphic study of the demographics, psychographics, and
they play in religious audience’s relationship to mediat- spirituality of a younger generation, interpreted through
ed texts. Hendershott recognizes that what is missing is a larger sociological lens in their preferences for media
not only an understanding of the diversity and hetero- products. Where personal experience is privileged over
geneity of Christian groups, but also of the non-advoca- institutional authority, this generation opts for an eclec-
cy entertainment media of conservative Christians, tic and syncretistic spirituality and alternate religious
which constitute the nonpolitical bulk of the Christian experiences over adherence to traditional religious insti-
cultural products industry. As such, she opens up tutions, with curiosity for Eastern religions like
research into crossover products like the Veggie Tales Hinduism and Islam and for the mysticism of the occult.
children’s videos and the relevance of audience spiritu- While tending mostly to pop culture products like the
ality, faith, and a sense of community as genuine sources Alien films, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and
of motivation and energy for media participation. In one Angel as manifestations of teenage fascination with the
sense, she approaches, in a more secular, sociological paranormal and the supranatural, Clark dabbles in the
way, the moral and spiritual life of films as practiced by resurgence of an apocalyptic imagination and “the dark
psychiatrist Robert Coles (1986) in his truly remarkable side of evangelicalism,” like the Left Behind series.
study of films on the spiritual lives of children. Writing within the framework of social theorists like
Stevens (1990) studies reception by one particu- Bourdieu and Gramsci, Clark finds the roots of such pop
lar religious group with a longitudinal content analysis fascination in an American religious heritage of con-
of motion picture reviews in the evangelical magazine, cerns for hell, the devil, and the afterlife—essentially the
Christianity Today, and identifies changes in attitudes four last things—showing a blurring of the boundaries
toward motion pictures among evangelical Christians between traditional religion and the entertainment media
over a period of 30 years, 1956-1985. In looking at the versions of these themes, from angels to aliens.
ethnographic significance of religious identity as well Representation in cinema (minorities, gender, etc.)
as gender in spectatorship, Rendleman (1999) investi- is now being extended to religious characters and char-
gates how some evangelical Christians perceive repre- acterizations. The Lilly Foundation sponsored research
sentations of Christianity in contemporary film in a on images of clergy in film, television, and journalism.
study focused upon Evangelicals and representations of Worden (1962) looks at the portrayal of the Protestant
sexuality in film. Through interviews, he compiles minister during the decade of the 1950s and seeks to
reactions to sexuality in film, and demonstrates how

evaluate its significance for ministerial self-images. [Professor Lindvall’s review essay on Religion
Under the Pulpit and Pew Research Reports, Smith and Film will continue with Sections 4, 5, and 6, in
(2003, pp. 2-44) surveys chronological trends in clergy Volume 24, #1 of Communication Research Trends, due
portrayals in the media, and then tests the impact of in March 2005. —Editor]
these representations on clergy and laity. She uses
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Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture

Volume 23 (2004) No. 4

Religion and Film

A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

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2. Film History and Religion

A. Pre-cinematic Studies systematic research into delimited areas recovered

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3. Film Criticism and Religion

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