FILM, FAITH AND POPULAR
CULTURE
A Selected List of
LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES
Gordon Matties
Canadian Mennonite University
Also available through the Movie Theology
website:
www.cmu.ca/library/faithfilm.html
The most extensive print bibliographies on
religion/theology and film are in:
Ÿ Jolyon Mitchell and S. Brent Plate,
eds. The Religion and Film Reader. New York and London: Routledge, 2007.
Ÿ Clive Marsh and Gaye W. Ortiz, Explorations
in Theology and Film: Movies and Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
Ÿ Robert K. Johnston, Reel
Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2006.
Ÿ Melanie J. Wright, Religion and
Film: An Introduction. London & New York: Tauris, 2007.
For online journals with good articles and
reviews see Journal of Religion and Film and Journal of Religion and
Popular Culture (both listed on the Movie Theology website).
For a listing of websites see the Movie
Theology web page prepared by Gordon Matties: www.cmu.ca/library/faithfilm.html That page also includes many links that will
help you find good quality movie reviews.
The Databases available on the CMU library
website under “Electronic Resources” will help you find journal articles (e.g. JSTOR;
ATLA; etc.)
Books on the reserve shelf in the library are
marked with an asterisk * in the bibliography. They may be checked out for one
day.
FILM BOOKS
Bordwell, David. Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation
of Cinema. Harvard University
Press, 1989.
Bywater, Tim and Thomas Sobchack. Introduction to Film Criticism: Major
Critical Approaches to Narrative Film.
New York and London: Longman, 1989.
Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press,
1978.
Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. 2nd ed.
SanFrancisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1994.
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies.
7th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1996. Chapters with the
following titles: photography, mise en scène, movement, editing, sound, acting,
drama, story, literature, ideology, theory.
The chapter on ideology may be of particular interest for this course.
Monaco, James.
How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and
Theory of Film and Media. Rev.
ed. New York, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1981. His chapter on “The Shape
of Film History” is helpful for locating older films in the development of
film.
Nelmes, Jill, ed. An Introduction to Film
Studies. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey, ed. The Oxford
History of World Cinema. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1996.
Sarris, Andrew, ed. Interviews with Film Directors. New York: Avon, 1967.
Turner, Graeme. Film as Social Practice.
2nd ed. London and New York:
Routledge, 1993.
INTERPRETING MEDIA AND RELIGION IN CULTURE
Anderson, Walter Truett. Reality Isn’t What it Used to Be: Theatrical
Politics, Ready-to-Wear Religion, Global Myths, Primitive Chic, and Other
Wonders of the Postmodern World.
San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990.
Arthur, Chris. Religion and the Media.
Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1993.
Baum, Gregory.
“Christians in the Communications Media,” Conrad Grebel Review
11/2 (1993) 137-44.
Brewer, H. Michael. Who Needs a Superhero?:
Finding Virtue, Vice, and Whats Holy in the Comics. Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 2004.
Cobb, Kelton. The Blackwell Guide to Theology
and Popular Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
Coleman, John and Miklós Tomka, eds. Mass
Media. Concilium 1993/6. London: SCM; Maryknoll, Orbis, 1993. Includes a
variety of articles, including, e.g. Gregory Baum, “The Church and the Mass
Media.”
Davis, Walter T., Teresa Blythe, Gary
Dreibelbis, Mark Scalese, SJ, Elizabeth Winans Winslea, and Donald L. Ashburn. Watching
What We Watch: Prime-Time Television through the Lens of Faith. Louisville,
KY: Geneva Press, 2001.
Detweiler, Craig and Barry Taylor. A Matrix
of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003.
Dodaro, Robert and John Paul Szura. Theology
and Mass Communication. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1997.
Ellul, Jacques. The Humiliation of the Word. Translated by Joyce Main Hanks. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1985.
Ewen, Stuart. All Consuming Images: The
Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
Forbes, Bruce David and Jeffrey H. Mahan, Religion
and Popular Culture in America. University of California Press, 2000.
Freccero, Carla. Popular Culture: An
Introduction. New York and London: New York University Press, 1999.
Includes a filmography and recommended films for each chapter.
Gabler, Neal.
Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.
Goethals, Gregor. The Electronic Golden
Calf: Images. Religion and the Making of Meaning. Cambridge, MA:Dowley,
1990.
Greeley, Andrew. God in Popular Culture.
Chicago: Thomas More Press, 1988.
Grossberg, Lawrence. Dancing in Spite of Myself: Essays on Popular Culture. Durham & London: Duke University Press,
1997.
Gunter, Barrie and Jill McAleer. Children and Television. Second edition. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.
Hess, J. Daniel. “Toward a Hermeneutics of Popular Culture,” Conrad Grebel
Review 11/2 (1993) 123-35.
Hibbs, Thomas S. Shows About Nothing:
Nihilism in Popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld. Dallas: Spence
Publishing, 2000.
Hooks, Bell. Reel to Real: Race. Sex, and
Class at the Movies. New York: Routledge,1996
Hoover, Stewart and Knut Lundby, eds.
Rethinking Media, Religion and Culture. London: Sage,1997.
Inglis, Fred. Media Theory. Oxford:
Basic Blackwell, 1990.
Kolker, Robert Phillip. A Cinema of
Loneliness : Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of
Diminishing Expectations. New York:
Norton, 1978.
Lyon, David.
Postmodernity. Minneapolis,
MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
Lynch, Gordon. Understanding Theology and
Popular Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
Mahan, Jeffrey and Bruce David Forbes. Religion
and Popular Culture in America. University of California Press, 2000.
Mazur, Eric Michael and Kate McCarthy, eds. God
in the Details : American Religion in Popular Culture. Routledge, 2000.
McDannell, Colleen. Material Christianity:
Religion and Popular Culture in America. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1998.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.
Medved, Michael. Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on
Traditional Values. San Francisco:
HarperCollins, 1992.
Myers, Kenneth A. All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and
Popular Culture. Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 1989.
Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The
Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982.
Postman, Neil.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show
Business. New York: Penguin, 1985.
Pugente, John, S.J. and Martin O’Malley. More
Than Meets the Eye: Watching Television Watching Us. McClelland &
Stewart, 1999.
Riley, Robin. Film, Faith, and Cultural
Conflict: The Case of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
Praeger, 2003.
Romanowski, William D. Eyes Wide Open:
Looking for God in Popular Culture. Revised and Expanded Edition. Grand
Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2007.
________. Pop Culture Wars: Relgion and the
Role of Entertainment in American Life.
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996.
________.
“‘You Talkin’ to Me?’: The Christian Liberal Arts Tradition and the
Challenge of Popular Culture,” in Keeping the Faith: Embracing the Tensions
in Christian Higher Education, pp. 106-132. Edited by Ronald A. Wells.
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996.
Rossi, Philip J. and Paul Soukup, eds. Mass
Media and the Moral Imagination. Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1994.
Ryan, Michael and Douglas Kellner. Camera
Politica: the Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press,1988.
Schultze, Quentin J., et al. Dancing in the Dark: Youth, Popular
Culture, and the Electronic Media.
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991.
Essays on youth and the entertainment industry, music videos, teen films,
etc.
Schultze, Quentin J. Communicating for Life:
Christian Stewardship in Community and Media. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.
Scott, Steve. “The Dilemma of Reel
Spirituality: How Shall We Respond to the Movies?” Worship Leader 10/7
(Fall 2001). For an excerpt go to the Worship Leader website
(www.worshipleader.com). The theme of the Fall 2001 issue is “How to Find God
at the Movies.”
Spencer, Lewerenz and Barbara Nicolosi,
editors. Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film, and Culture.
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005.
Stephens, Mitchell. The Rise of the Image
the Fall of the Word. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Stout, Daniel A. and Buddenbaum, Judith M. Religion
and Mass Media - Audiences and Adaptations. London: Sage, 1996.
Valenti, F. Miguel. More Than a Movie:
Ethics in Entertainment. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J., Charles A. Anderson and
Michael J. Sleasman, editors. Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts
and Interpret Trends. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.
Warren, Michael. Seeing Through Media: A Religious View of Communications and
Cultural Analysis. Harrisburg, PA:
Trinity, 1997.
FILM AND RELIGION:
BIBLICAL/THEOLOGICAL/IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Aichele, George, ed. Culture, Entertainment
and the Bible. JSOT Supplement Series 309. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press, 2000.
Aichele, George and Richard Walsh, eds. Screening
Scripture: Intertextual Connections Between Scripture and Film. Harrisburg,
PA: Trinity Press International, 2002.
Anker, Roy M. Catching Light: Looking for
God in the Movies. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004. Perceptive essays on The
Godfather Saga, Chinatown, The Deer Hunter, Tender Mercies, Places in
the Heart, The Mission, Babette’s Feast, the Star Wars Saga, Superman,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence, Grand Canyon, American Beauty, and Kieslowski’s Three
Colors: Blue.
Babington, B. and P. W. Evans. Biblical Epics: Sacred Narrative in
Hollywood Cinema. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1993.
Bach, Alice, ed. Biblical Glamour and
Hollywood Glitz. Semeia 74
(1996).
Bandy, Mary Lea and Antonio Monda, editors. The
Hidden God: Film and Faith. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2003.
Barsotti, Catherine M. and Robert K. Johnston. Finding
God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.
Baugh, Lloyd.
Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ Figures in Film. Kansas
City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1997.
Blake, Richard A. Screening America:
Reflections on Five Classic Films. New York: Paulist, 1991.
________. Woody Allen: Profane and Sacred.
Scarecrow Press, 1995.
________. Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic
Imagination of Six American Filmmakers. Chicago: Loyola, 2000.
________. “Uncovering the Sacred: Substance and
Style in the American Film,” Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts:
Network Activities. http://www.lillyfellows.org/conference-uncovering.html
Blessing, Kimberly A. and Paul J. Tudico, eds. Movies
and the Meaning of Life: Philosophers Take on Hollywood. Chicago and
Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 2005. Thoughtful reflection on The Truman Show;
Contact; Waking Life; Fight Club; Being John Malkovich; Boys Don’t Cry;
Memento; Crimes and Misdemeanors; Shadowlands; Chasing Amy; American Beauty;
Life is Beautiful; The Shawshank Redemption; Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2;
Pleasantville; Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2; Minority Report; Pulp
Fiction; Groundhog Day.
Bliss, Michael. The Word Made Flesh: Catholicism and Conflict in the Films of
Martin Scorsese. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press, 1995.
Blizek, William L. Continuum Companion to
Religion and Film. London and New York: Continuum, 2009.
Berkey-Gerard, Mark. “Woody Allen and the Sacred Conversation,” The Other Side
33/1 (Jan/Feb 1997) 60-62.
Billingsley, K. L. The Seductive Image: A Christian Critique of the World of Film. Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1989.
Boer, Roland. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door: The
Hebrew Bible and Cultural Criticism. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Burnham, Jonathan, editor. Perspectives on the
Passion of the Christ: Religious Thinkers and Writers Explore the Issues Raised
by the Controversial Movie. H. B. Fenn & Co., 2004.
Chattaway, Peter. “Jesus in the Movies.” Bible Review (February 1998) 29-35,
45-46.
The Christian Century, May, 1996. The issue includes essays on Christian
interpretation of film.
Christianson, Eric S., Peter Francis, and
William R. Telford, eds. Cinéma Divinité: Religion, Theology and the Bible
in Film. London: SCM Press, 2005.
Christianity and Literature 42/3 (1993). The entire issue is devoted to essays on the
theme of film, which originated with the Conference on Christianity and
Literature’s session on “Myth and Judeo-Christian Typology in Recent Cinema” at
the 1991 meeting of the MLA in San Francisco.
Articles on “Taxi Driver,” “Babette’s Feast,” “Edward Scissorhands,”
“Birdy” and “American Gigolo,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Working Girl.”
Clarke, Anthony J. and Paul S. Fiddes, eds. Flickering
Images: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Regent’s Study Guides 12. Oxford:
Regent’s Park College; Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2005. Includes five
introductory essays, plus articles on Big Fish; You’ve Got Mail; One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Master and Commander; Sliding Doors; The Terminator
Series; Open Water; Schindler’s List; The Lord of the Rings; Pleasantville;
The Passion of the Christ; The Mission; Blade Runner; Witness; Amadeus; Gandhi;
The Killing Fields; The Color Purple; 1984; Cry Freedom!; Bridget Jones’s
Diary; Saving Private Ryan.
Clark, Lynn Schofield. From Angels to Aliens:
Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2003.
Coates, Paul. Cinema, Religion, and the
Romantic Legacy: Through a Glass Darkly. Ashgate, 2003.
Cooper, John C. and Carl Skrade. Celluloid and Symbols. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1970.
Corley, Kathleen E. and Robert L. Webb, eds. Jesus
and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ: The Film, the Gospels and
the Claims of History. London and New York: Continuum, 2004.
Couch, Steve, editor. Matrix Revelations: A
Thinking Fan’s Guide to the Matrix Trilogy. Southampton, Hampshire:
Damaris, 2003. www.damarispublishing.com
Cunneen, Joseph. Robert Bresson: A Spiritual
Style in Film. London & New York: Continuum, 2003.
Cunningham, David S. Reading is Believing:
The Christian Faith through Literature and Film. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos,
2002.
Deacy, Christopher. Screen Christologies:
Redemption and the Medium of Film. Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
2001.
________. Faith in Film: Religious Themes in
Contemporary Cinema. Burligton VT: Ashgate, 2005.
Detweiler, Craig and Barry Taylor. A Matrix
of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003. Chapter
5, “Movies: Look Closer,” includes discussion of, among others: The Matrix,
American Beauty, Fight Club, Magnolia, Dogma, Run Lola Run.
Drew, Donald J. Images of Man: A Critique of Contemporary Cinema. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1974.
Elley, D.
The Epic Film: Myth and History.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. Discusses biblical epics
depicting Old Testament stories.
Exum, J. Cheryl. Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of
Biblical Women. JSOTSup 215;
Gender, Culture, Theory 3. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. The
book explores how our culture reads textual and visual images of biblical
women. Four chapters in the book deal
with portrayals of biblical women in film (Bathsheba, Michal, Ruth and
Delilah).
Exum, J. Cheryl, ed. The Bible and Film; The
Bible in Film. Originally published in Biblical Interpretation 14/1-2.
Reprinted by Brill, 2006.
Faller, Stephen. Beyond the Matrix:
Revolutions and Revelations. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2004.
Felita, Ernest and John R. May. Film
Odyssey: The Art of Film as a Search for Meaning. New York: Paulist, 1976.
Flesher, Paul V. M. and Robert Torry. Film
and Religion: An Introduction. Nashville: Abingdon, 2007.
Forest, Ben, with Mary Kay Mueller. God Goes
to Hollywood: A Movie Guide for the Modern Mystic. Lincoln, NE: Writers
Club Press (iUniverse.com), 2000. Two pages on each of 100 movies. Each entry
summarizes the plot and the “message” of the movie.
Fraser, Peter.
Images of the Passion: The Sacramental Mode in Film. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998. (88
Post Road West, Westport, CT, 06881).
Fraser, Peter and Vernon Edwin Neal. Reviewing
the Movies : A Christian Response to Contemporary Film. Focal Point Series.
Crossway Books, 2000.
Friedman, Lawrence S. The Cinema of Martin Scorsese. New York: Continuum, 1997.
Garbowski, Christopher. Krzysztof
Kieslowski’s Decalogue Series: The Problem of the Protagonists and Their
Self-Transcendence. Eastern European Monographs, 1996 (Out of Print). ISBN
0880333499
Garrett , Greg. The Gospel according to
Hollywood. Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox, 2007.
Garrett, Greg and Chris Seay . The Gospel
Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in The Matrix. Boulder,
CO: NavPress, 2003.
Geivett, R. Douglas and James S. Spiegel,
editors. Faith, Film and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2007. Articles on Big Fish, The Truman Show, The
Matrix, three of Charlie Kaufman’s movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, Run Lola Run,
Mystic River, and others.
Gervais, Marc. Ingmar Bergman: Magician and
Prophet. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 1999.
Getlein, Frank and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J.,
eds. Movies, Morals, and Art. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961.
Gire, Ken. Reflections on the Movies :
Hearing God in the Unlikeliest of Places. Reflective Living Series. Chariot
Victor Publishing, 2000.
Godawa, Brian. Hollywood Worldviews:
Watching Films With Wisdom & Discernment. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 2002.
Goodacre, Mark. “The Synoptic Jesus and the
Celluloid Christ: Solving the Synoptic Problem Through Film,” Journal for
the Study of the New Testament 80
(2000) 31-43.
Greeley, Andrew M. and Albert J. Bergesen. God
in the Movies : A Sociological Investigation. Sommerset, NJ: Transaction Publishing, 2000.
Hertenstein, Mike. “Star Trek’s Undiscovered Country,” Cornerstone 25/109
(n.d.) 15-20.
Higgins, Gareth. How Movies Helped Save My
Soul: Finding Spiritual Fingerprints in Culturally Significant Films. Lake
Mary, FL: Relevant Books, 2003.
Holloway, Richard. Beyond the Image:
Approaches to the Religious Dimension in the Cinema. Geneva: WCC, 1977.
Hurley, N. P.
Theology through Film.
New York: Harper & Row, 1970. (UofW library)
________.
The Reel Revolution: A Film Primer on Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1978. (UofW library)
Irwin, William, ed. The Matrix and Philosophy:
Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Popular Culture and Philosophy, Volume
3. Chicago and La Salle, IL: Open Court, 2002.
Jewett, Robert. Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle’s Dialogue with American
Culture. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, 1993.
Discussion of Star Wars, Amadeus, A Separate Peace, Tender Mercies,
Grand Canyon, Tootsie, Ordinary People, Epire of the Sun, Pale Rider, Red Dawn,
Dead Poets Society.
________.
Saint Paul Returns to the Movies: Triumph Over Shame. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. Discussion of The Prince of Tides,
Babette’s Feast, Forrest Gump, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Groundhog Day, Babe, Edge of
the City, The Firm, Unforgiven, The Shawshank Redemption.
Johnston, Robert K. Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary
Film. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004.
________.
Reel Spirituality : Theology and Film in Dialogue. 2nd edition.
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006.
Johnston, Robert K., editor. Reframing
Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2007.
Johnston, Robert K. and Catherine M. Barsotti. Finding
God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.
Journal of Religion & Film.
http://www.unomaha.edu/˜wwwjrf/
Kahle, Roger and Robert E. A. Lee. Popcorn and Parable: A New Look at the
Movies. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg,
1971.
Kickasola, Joe. The Films of Krzyszstof
Kieslowski: The Liminal Image. London and New York: Continuum, 2004.
Kinnard, Roy and Tim Davis. Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the
Screen. Citadel Press, 1992.
(Winnipeg Public Library: Centennial)
New York: Carol Publishing Group.
Kreitzer, Larry J. The Old Testament in Fiction and Film: On Reversing the
Hermeneutical Flow. The Biblical
Seminar 24. Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1995. Includes essays
on: modern film interpretations of the ten commandments, Moby Dick, East of
Eden, Frankenstein, and A Farewell to Arms. Each essay is a conversation between the
film and O.T. texts.
________. The New Testament in Fiction and
Film: On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow.
Biblical Seminar 17. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1993. Essays
that engage in conversation between N.T. texts/theology and these movies: Spartacus,
Ben-Hur, Barabbas, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Trial.
________. Pauline Images in Fiction &
Film : On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow. Biblical Seminar 61. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.
________. Gospel Images in Fiction and Film:
On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow. The Biblical Seminar 84. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.
Kupfer, Joseph H. Visions of Virtue in
Popular Film. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1999.
Lang, J. Stephen. The Bible on the Big Screen
: A Guide from Silent Films to Today's Movies. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.
Lawrence, John Shelton and Robert Jewett. The
Myth of the American Superhero. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002.
Leonard, Richard, S.J. Movies that Matter:
Reading Film through the Lens of Faith. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2006.
Lindvall, Terry. The Silents of God:
Selected Issues and Documents in Silent American Film and Religion 1903-1925.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press; Kent, UK: 2001.
Loughlin, Gerald. “Seeing in the Dark: Plato’s Cinema
and Christ’s Cave,” Studies in Christian Ethics 13/1 (2000) 33-48. The
entire issue of the journal is devoted to Media.
________. “Looking: The Ethics of Seeing in
Church and Cinema.” In Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the
Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas. Edited by Mark Thiessen Nation and
Samuel Wells. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000. 257ff.
________. Alien Sex : The Body and Desire in
Cinema & Theology. Challenges in Contemporary Theology. Oxford:
Blackwell, 2002.
Lyden, John C. Film as Religion: Myths,
Morals, and Rituals. New York and London: New York University Press, 2003.
MacDonald, Alan. Movies in Close-Up: Getting the Most from Film and Video. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992.
Malone, Peter.
Movie Christs and Anti-Christs.
New York: Crossroad, 1990.
________. Through a Catholic Lens: Religious
Perspectives of 19 Film Directors from Around the World. Rowan &
Littlefield, 2007.
Malone, Peter, with Rose Pacatte. Lights,
Camera . . . Faith: A Movie Lectionary. Cycle A . Boston: Pauline Books and
Media, 2001. (Films for all the Sundays in the liturgical year, coordinated
with the Common Lectionary, Cycle A).
________.
Lights, Camera . . . Faith: A Movie Lectionary. Cycle B . Boston:
Pauline Books and Media, 2002.
________.
Lights, Camera . . . Faith: A Movie Lectionary. Cycle C . Boston:
Pauline Books and Media, 2003.
________. Lights, Camera . . . Faith! The
Ten Commandments. Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2006.
Marsh, Clive and Gaye W. Ortiz. Explorations in Theology and Film: Movies
and Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell,
1997. Essays on the following movies: The
Piano, Shane, Edward Scissorhands, Terminator, Groundhog Day, Dead Poets
Society, The Mission, The Name of the Rose, Priest, Shirley Valentine,
Babette’s Feast, Awakenings, as well as topics like Martin Scorsese, Jesus
Movies, Feelgood movies.
Marsh, Clive and Gaye W. Ortiz. Theology and
Film: Challenging the Sacred/SecularDivide. Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.
Marsh, Clive. Cinema and Sentiment: Film’s
Challenge to Theology. Milton Keynes, UK and Wanyesboro, GA: Paternoster,
2004.
________. Theology Goes to the Movies: An
Introduction to Critical Christian Thinking. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Martens, John W. The End of The World: The
Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television. Winnipeg, MB: J. Gordon
Shillingford Publishing, 2003.
Martin, Joel W. and Conrad E. Ostwalt, Jr.,
eds. Screening the Sacred: Religion,
Myth, and Ideology in Popular Film.
Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford: Westview Press, 1995. Contains essays on Psycho and Blood
Simple, Ironweed, Platoon, Apocalyptic themes in Movies, Star
Wars, Alien/Aliens, Rocky, Blue Velvet.
Martin, Thomas M. Images and the Imageless: A Study in Religious Consciousness
and Film. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell
University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1981.
Matties, Gordon. “On Movies as a Spiritual
Discipline,” Direction 34/2 (2005) 270-86.
May, John R. Nourishing Faith Through
Fiction: Reflections of the Apostles' Creed in Literature and Film. Kansas
City: Sheed & Ward, 2002.
May, John R., editor. Image and Likeness: Religious Visions in American Film
Classics. Isaac Hecker Studies in
Religion and American Cultue. New York:
Paulist Press, 1991.
May, John R., editor. New Image of Religious Film. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1997.
May, John R. and Michael Bird, eds. Religion in Film. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee
Press, 1982.
McDowell, John C. The Gospel According to
Star Wars: Faith, Hope, and the Force. Louisville and London: Westminster
John Knox, 2007.
McNulty, Edward N. Films and Faith.
Viaticum Press, 1999.
________. Faith and Film: A Guidebook for
Leaders. Louisville & London: Westminster John Knox, 2007. Includes
movie discussion guides for twenty-seven popular movies.
Miles, Margaret R. Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
Miller, Monica Migliorino. The Theology of
the Passion of the Christ. Staten Island, NY: St. Pauls, 2005.
Mitchell, Jolyon and S. Brent Plate, eds. The
Religion and Film Reader. New York and London: Routledge, 2007.
Morefield, Kenneth R., ed. Faith and
Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars,
2008.
Neely, Alan.
“Images: Mission and Missionaries in Contemporary Fiction and Cinema,” Missiology
24/4 (1996) 451-78.
Newman, Kim. Apocalypse Movies: End of the
World Cinema. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999.
O'Brien, Tom. The Screening of America:
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________. Religion and Film: Cinema and the
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Radix Magazine 23/1
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________. Scripture on the Silver Screen.
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mainstream Hollywood films: The Truman Show, Magnolia, The Sixth Sense, Pulp
Fiction, and The Shawshank Redemption, Pleasantville, Magnolia, Pulp Fiction,
The Miracle-Maker, Prince of Egypt, The Green Mile, Breaking the Waves, Pretty
Woman, The Apostle, Blue, The Matrix, and Deep Impact.
________. Jesus of Hollywood. Oxford:
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“’The Light of God’s Law’: Violence and Metaphysics in the ‘50s
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Sinetar, Marsha. Reel Power: Spiritual Growth Through Film. Liguori, MS: Triumph Books, 1993.
Staley, Jeffrey L. and Richard Walsh. Jesus,
the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination: A Handboolk to Jesus on DVD.
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Stern, Richard C., Clayton N. Jefford, Guerric
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Sterritt, David. The Films of Jean-Luc
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Stibbe, Mark. Passion for the Movies:
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Stone, Bryan P. Faith and Film: Theological
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________. Film and Feminist Theology in
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in religious film analysis, interacts with six films: The Passion of Joan of
Arc; The Ten Commandments; The Wicker Man; My Son the Fanatic; Keeping
the Faith; and Lagaan.
FILM AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Blythe, Teresa and Daniel Wolpert. Meeting
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TN: Abingdon, 2004.
Pungente, John, SJ, and Monty Williams, SJ. Finding
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five page reflections, including discussion questions, on 31 movies.
________. Praying the Movies II: More Daily
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2004.
FILM AND WORSHIP
Bausch, Michael G. Silver Screen, Sacred
Story: Using Multimedia in Worship. The Alban Institute, 2002.
Dyrness, William A. Visual Faith: Art,
Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.
FILM AND WORLD RELIGIONS (to be developed)
Plate, S. Brent, editor. Representing
Religion in World Cinema: Filmmaking, Mythmaking, Culture Making. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Rosen, Steven J. Gita on the Green: The
Mystical Tradition Behind Bagger Vance. New York: Continuum, 2000.
THEOLOGICAL AESTHETICS: WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL? WHAT
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________. Visual Faith: Art, Theoloyg, and
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________. Theology and the Arts:
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Paulist, 2000.
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