Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2003 Film as Religion argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and values to confront it. Lyden contends that approaches which interpret films only ideologically or theologically miss the mark in understanding their appeal to viewers. He develops an alternative method which shows how films can be understood as representing a “religious” worldview in their own right. Lyden surveys the state of the study of religion and film, offering an overview of previous methods before presenting his own. Rather than seeking to uncover hidden meanings in film detectable only to scholars, Lyden emphasizes how film functions for its audiences?the beliefs and values it conveys, and its ritual power to provide emotional catharsis. He includes a number of brief cases studies in which he applies this method to the study of film genres—including westerns and action movies, children's films, and romantic comedies—and individual films from The Godfather to E.T., showing how films can function religiously.

Religion and cinema share a capacity for world making, ritualizing, mythologizing, and creating sacred time and space. Through cinematography, mise-en-scène, editing, and other production activities, film takes the world “out there” and refashions it. Religion achieves similar ends by setting apart particular objects and periods of time, telling stories, and gathering people together for communal actions and concentrated focus. The result of both cinema and religious practice is a re-created world: a world of fantasy, a world of ideology, a world we long to live in, or a world we wish to avoid at all costs. Religion and Film introduces readers to both religious studies and film studies by focusing on the formal similarities between cinema and religious practices and on the ways they each re-create the world. Explorations of film show how the cinematic experience relies on similar aesthetic devices on which religious rituals have long relied: sight, sound, the taste of food, the body, and communal experience. Meanwhile, a deeper understanding of the aesthetic nature of religious rituals can alter our understanding of film production. Utilizing terminology and theoretical insights from the study of religion as well as the study of film, Religion and Film shows that by paying attention to the ways films are constructed, we can shed new light on the ways religious myths and rituals are constructed and vice versa. This thoroughly revised and expanded new edition is designed to appeal to the needs of courses in religion as well as film departments. In addition to two new chapters, this edition has been restructured into three distinct sections that offer students and instructors theories and methods for thinking about cinema in ways that more fully connect film studies with religious studies.

In a culture increasingly focused on visual media, students have learned not only to embrace multimedia presentations in the classroom, but to expect them. Such expectations are perhaps more prevalent in a field as dynamic and cross-disciplinary as religious studies, but the practice nevertheless poses some difficult educational issues -- the use of movies in academic coursework has far outpaced the scholarship on teaching religion and film. What does it mean to utilize film in religious studies, and what are the best ways to do it? In Teaching Religion and Film, an interdisciplinary team of scholars thinks about the theoretical and pedagogical concerns involved with the intersection of film and religion in the classroom. They examine the use of film to teach specific religious traditions, religious theories, and perspectives on fundamental human values. Some instructors already teach some version of a film-and-religion course, and many have integrated film as an ancillary to achieving central course goals. This collection of essays helps them understand the field better and draws the sharp distinction between merely "watching movies" in the classroom and comprehending film in an informed and critical way.

Religion and Film: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to the history, diverse approaches, and ideas associated within the study of religion and film. Referencing films from around the world from the early 20th century to the present day, this unique introduction includes the following topics: the history and dynamics of religion and film various methods to approach religion and film the evolution of religion and film scholarship film genre and theory world religions and film unique themes—from race and gender roles to karma and redemption A fascinating range of films are discussed, from early silent films such as Hypocrites to recent releases such as Minari. Five genres are explored, including horror in The Wicker Man (UK) and Let the Right One In (Sweden), and world religions are analyzed in films such as OMG, The Big Lebowski, and Malcolm X. Tropes examined include gender in Water, karma in It’s a Wonderful Life, death in Biutiful, redemption in Magnolia, and evil in Get Out. With helpful features including recommendations for further study and key films to view, this book is an ideal starting point for students approaching religion and film for the first time as well as those interested in learning more about the field while broadening their methods, knowledge of film, and their film canon.

The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film brings together a lively and experienced team of contributors to investigate the ways in which this exciting discipline is developing.

Comprising 91 A–Z entries, this encyclopedia provides a broad and comprehensive introduction to the topic of religion within film. Technology has enabled films to reach much wider audiences, enabling today's viewers to access a dizzying number of films that employ diverse symbolism and communicate a vast array of viewpoints. Encyclopedia of Religion and Film will provide such an audience with the tools to begin their own exploration of the deeper meanings of these films and grasp the religious significance within. Organized alphabetically, this encyclopedia provides more than 90 entries on the larger religious traditions, the major film-producing regions of the globe, the films that have stirred controversy, the most significant religious symbols, and the more important filmmakers. The included topics provide substantially more information on the intersection of religion and film than any of the similar volumes currently available. While the emphasis is on the English-speaking world and the films produced therein, there is also substantial representation of non-English, non-Western film and filmmakers, providing significant intercultural coverage to the topic.

Film is now widely studied in theology and religious studies departments. This volume explores key topics including, early responses to film, directors, films and audiences, cultural and social contexts, biblical connections, theological approaches and religious studies perspectives, amongst others.

How Spanish directors have handled religious themes, with their highly-charged political implications, from the historical avant-garde to 2010

This critical overview of the field of film and religion distinguishes three complementary approaches: the study of film as text, the investigation of how film affect audiencs, and the consideration of film and religion as agents in cultural processes. The overview concludes with a reflection on theories and methodologies of the field and some possibilities for future development.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Catherine O'Brien draws on the structure of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to explore Martin Scorsese's feature films from Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967-69) to Silence (2016). This is the first full-length study to focus on the trajectory of faith and doubt during this period, taking very seriously the oft-quoted words of the director himself: 'My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else.' Films discussed include GoodFellas, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver and Mean Streets, as well as the more recent The Wolf of Wall Street. In Dante's poem in 100 cantos, the Pilgrim is guided by the poet Virgil down through the circles of Hell in Inferno; he then climbs the steep Mountain of the Seven Deadly Sins in Purgatory; and he finally encounters God in Paradise. Embracing this popular analogy, this study envisions Scorsese as a contemporary Dante, with his filmic oeuvre offering the dimensions of a cinematic Divine Comedy. Drawing on debates at the heart of religious studies, theology, literature and film, this book goes beyond existing explorations of religion in Scorsese's work to address issues of sin and salvation within the context of wider debates in eschatology and the afterlife.