1268 Pages 71 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The four volumes of 'Film and Religion' will present a range of scholarly articles, mainly since 1990, which offer a critical overview of the interdisciplinary field from a number of perspectives. It is an international collection that includes attention to popular Hollywood and 'arthouse' films and filmmakers, as well as documentaries, Bollywood, Nollywood, and other international pockets of film production and reception. Readings are primarily from scholars of religious studies, theology, and biblical studies, but the collection will also include work by film studies scholars and filmmakers themselves. The selections will indicate how cinema reflects religious and theological interests of filmmakers and the cultures within which they operate. Moreover, it will show how films impact those same cultures, including religious beliefs and practices. The relationship is not one-way, but entails multiple directions of influence.

    Volume One: Religion in Film

    Part 1: Reframing myths as plot device

    1. Adele Reinhartz, "Jesus in Film: Hollywood Perspectives on the Jewishness of Jesus," Journal of Religion and Film, 2, 2, 1998, https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/JesusinFilmRein.htm

    2. Scott Stroud, "Narrative Translation Across Cultures: From The Bhagavad Gita to The Legend of Bagger Vance," Journal of Communication and Religion, 26, 1, 2003, pp. 51-82.

    3. Walter C. Metz, "Adapting Genesis," Literature/Film Quarterly, 35, 3, 2007, pp. 229-36.

    4. Annalee Ward, "The Lion King's Mythic Narrative," Journal of Popular Film & Television, 23, 4, 1996, pp. 171-8. 

    5. Bron Taylor and Adrian Ivakhiv, "Opening Pandora's Film," Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. 4.4, 2010, 384-393

    Part 2: Screening rituals

    6. Maria Maisto, "Cinematic Communion? Babette's Feast, Transcendental Style, and Interdisciplinarity," in Imag(in)ing Otherness: Filmic Visions of Living Together, S. Brent Plate and David Jasper, eds. (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press / Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), pp. 83- 98.

    7. Meraj Ahmed Mubarki, "Exploring the ‘Other’: inter-faith marriages in Jodhaa Akbar and beyond," Contemporary South Asia, 22, 3, 2014, pp. 255–267. doi :10.1080/09584935.2014.930419

    8. Nacim Pak-Shiraz, "Filmic Discourses on the Role of the Clergy in Iran," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 34, 3, 2007, pp. 331-349.

    9. Cora Dean and Kenneth Dean, "Making Bored in Heaven: A Film About Ritual Sensation," Visual Anthropology Review, 30, 1, (2014), pp. 50–61

    Part 3: Symbolism in the mise-en-scene: props, characters, shadows and light

    10. Francisco Cho, "The Play of Shadows in Japanese Cinema," Material Religion, 11, 4, 2015, pp. 507-525.

    11. Timothy Beal, "Behold Thou the Behemoth: Imaging the Unimaginable in Monster Movies," in Imag(in)ing Otherness: Filmic Visions of Living Together, S. Brent Plate and David Jasper, eds. (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press / Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), pp. 197-211.

    12. Eve Mullen, "Buddhism, Children, and the Childlike in American Buddhist Films," in Buddhism and American Cinema, Gary Storhoff and John Wahlen-Bridge, eds. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2014), pp. 39-52.

    13. Natalie Fritz, "Images Traveling through Time and Media: De- and Reconstruction of the Holy Family in Contemporary Independent Cinema," in Religion in Cultural Imaginary: Explorations in Visual and Material Practices, Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, ed. (Baden Baden, Germany: Nomos, 2015), pp. 173-203.

    Part 4: Sacred Space

    14. Marie-Therese Mader, "In Search of Orientation in Cinematic Spaces: The Journey Motif in Fiction Film from a Transdisciplinary Perspective of Film and Religion Studies," in Religious Representation in Place, Mark George and Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, eds. (London/New York: Palgrave 2014), pp. 159-176.

    15. Linda C. Ehrlich, "Kore-eda's Ocean View," Film Criticism, 35, 2/3, Winter 2011, pp. 127-146.

    16. Walter Armbrust, "Islamically Marked Bodies and Urban Space in Two Egyptian Films," Material Religion, 8, 3, 2012, pp. 354-373.

    Volume Two: Film as Religion

    Part 5: Filmmaking as religious practice

    17. P. Adams Sitney, "Tales of the Tribes," Chicago Review, 47, 4 – 48, 1 (2001 - 2002), pp. 97-115.

    18. Scott MacDonald, "Sacred Speed: An Interview with Nathaniel Dorsky," Film Quarterly, 54, 4, pp. 2-11.

    19. Macky Alston, "Filmmaking as Spiritual Practice and Ministry" CrossCurrents, 54, 1, 2004, pp. 76-83.

    Part 6: The affect of the body watching films

    20. Patrick Colm Hogan, "On the Meaning of Style: Cognition, Culture, and Visual Technique in Bimal Roy's Sujata," Projections, 3, 2, 2009, pp. 71-90.

    21. S. Brent Plate, "Religious Cinematics: The Immediate Body in the Media of Film," Postscripts, 1, 2-3, 2005, pp. 257-73.

    22. Vivian Sobchack, "Embodying Transcendence: On the Literal, the Material and the Cinematic Sublime," Material Religion, 4, 2, 2008, pp. 194-203, DOI: 10.2752/175183408X328307

    23. Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda, "Embodied Engagements: Filmmaking and Viewing Practices and the Habitus of Telugu Cinema," BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 7, 1, 2016, pp. 80-95.

    Part 7: Imperialism, colonialism, and post-colonialism

    24. Antonio Sison, "Afflictive Apparitions: The Folk Catholic Imaginary in Philippine Cinema," Material Religion, 11, 4, 2015, pp. 421-442.

    25. Gabriel Estrada, "Navajo Sci-Fi Film: Matriarchal Visual Sovereignty in Nanobah Becker's The 6th World," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 82, 2, 2014, pp. 521-530.

    26. Ira Bhaskar, "Allegory, Nationalism, and Cultural Change in Indian Cinema: Sant Tukaram," Literature and Theology, 12, 1, 1998, pp. 50-69.

    27. Jolyon Mitchell, "Decolonizing Religion in African Film," Studies in World Christianity, 15, 2, 2009, pp. 149-161.

    28. Edna M. Rodriguez-Mangual, "Santeria and the Quest for a Postcolonial Identity in Post-Revolutionary Cuban Cinema," in Representing Religion in World Cinema, S. Brent Plate, ed. (New York: Palgrave, 2003), 219-238.

    Part 8: Religious critics of film and films critiquing religion

    29. Gregory Black, "Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940," Film History, 3, 3, 1989, pp. 167-189.

    30. Sheila Nayer, "Bollywood Religious Comedy: An Inaugural Humor-neutics," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83, 3, 2015, pp. 808-825

    31. Elijah Siegler, "David Cronenberg: The Secular Auteur as Critic of Religion," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 80, 4, 2012, pp. 1098–1112.

    32. John C. Lyden, "To Commend or Critique? The Question of Religion and Film Studies," Journal of Religion and Film, 1, 2, 1997, https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/tocommend.htm

    Volume Three: Film in Religion

    Part 9: A medium with a mission

    33. Dwight H. Friesen, "How Karunamayudu (1978) Became an Evangelistic Tool: Implications for Understanding Evangelicals and Media," Exchange, 41, 2, 2012, pp. 120-143.

    34. Adam T. Shreve, "Religious Films in Zimbabwean Contexts: Film Reception Concerning Representations of Jesus." International Journal of Public Theology 9, 2015, pp. 193-211

    35. Birgit Meyer, "Pentecostalism, Prosperity and Popular Cinema in Ghana," Culture and Religion, 3, 1, 2002, pp. 67–86.

    36. Tony Shaw, "Martyrs, Miracles, and Martians: Religion and Cold War Cinematic Propaganda in the 1950s," Journal of Cold War Studies, 4, 2, 2002, pp. 3-22.

    Part 10: Remaking myths and rituals in light of films

    37. Patrick Kinkade and Michael Katovich, "Toward a Sociology of Cult Films: Reading Rocky Horror," Sociological Quarterly, 33, 2, 1992, pp. 191-209.

    38. Gregory W. Schneider, "Cinematic Ceremony: Toward a New Definition of Ritual," Visual Anthropology, 21, 2008, pp. 1–17.

    39. Luis A. Vivanco, "Performative Pilgrims and The Shifting Grounds of Anthropological Documentary," in Representing Religion in World Cinema, S. Brent Plate, ed. (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 159-177.

    40. Philip Lutgendorf, "Ritual reverb: Two 'blockbuster' Hindi films," South Asian Popular Culture, 10, 1, 2012, pp. 63–76.

    41. Martyn Rogers, "From the Sacred to the Performative: Tamil Film Star Fan Clubs, Religious Devotion and the Material Culture of Film Star Portraits," Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 23, 1, 2011, 40-52.

    42. Jolyon Baraka Thomas, "Shûkyô Asobi and Miyazaki Hayao's Anime," Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 10, 3, 2007, pp. 73-95.

    43. Heather Hendershot, "Waiting for the end of the world: Christian Apocalyptic Media at the Turn of the Millenium," in The End of Cinema as We Know It: American Films in the Nineties, Jon Lewis, ed. (New York: NYU Press, 2001), pp. 332-341.

    44. Gary Laderman, "The Disney Way of Death," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 68, 1, 2000, pp. 27-46.

    Part 11: Reframing identity

    45. Judith Weisenfeld, "'My Story Begins Before I Was Born': Myth, History and Power in Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust," in Representing Religion in World Cinema, S. Brent Plate, ed. (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 43-66.

    46. Ulrike Vollmer, "Towards an Ethics of Seeing: Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson," Literature and Theology, 19, 1, 2005, pp. 74-85.

    47. Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi, "Iranian Women, Iranian Cinema: Negotiating with Ideology and Tradition," Journal of Religion and Film, 19, 1, 2015, http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol19/iss1/35

    48. Stefanie Knauss, "Exploring Orthodox Jewish Masculinities with Eyes Wide Open," Journal of Religion and Film, 17, 2, 2013, http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol17/iss2/7

    49. Jane Naomi Iwamura, "The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture," in Religion and Popular Culture in America, revised edition, edited by Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), pp. 25-43.

    Volume Four: Biblical and Theological Connections to Film

    Part 12: From text to screen: the bible on film

    50. Larry J. Kreitzer, "The Scandal of the Cross: Crucifixion Imagery in Bram Stoker's Dracula," in The Monstrous and the Unspeakable: The Bible as Fantastic Literature, George Aichele and Tina Pippin, eds. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), pp. 181-219.

    51. J. Cheryl Exum, "Michal at the Movies," in The Bible in Human Society: Essays in Honour of John Rogerson. M. Daniel Carroll R., David J. A. Clines, and Philip R. Davies, eds. JSOT Supplement 200. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), pp. 273-92.

    52. Fiona C. Black, "A Miserable Feast: Dishing Up the Biblical Body in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover," Biblical interpretation, 14, 1-2, 2006, pp. 110-126.

    53. Frances Flannery Dailey, "Bruce Willis as the Messiah: Human Effort, Salvation and Apocalypticism in Twelve Monkeys" Journal of Religion and Film, 4, 1, 2000: https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Messiah.htm

    Part 13: Intertexts: exegesis meets cinema meets socio-political life

    54. George Aichele, "The Possibility of Error: Minority Report and the Gospel of Mark," Biblical Interpretation, 14, 1-2, 143-157.

    55. Tod Linafelt and Jennifer Koosed, "How the West Was Not One: Delilah Deconstructs the Western," Semeia, 74, 1996, pp. 167-81.

    56. Richard Walsh, "(Carrying the fire on) no road for old horses: Cormac McCarthy's untold biblical stories," Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 24, 3, 2012, pp. 339-351.

    57. Erin Runions, "Tolerating Babel: The Bible, Film, and the Family in U.S. Biopolitics," Religious Studies and Theology, 29, 2, 2010, pp. 143-169.

    Part 14: Theological themes in film

    58. Jeffery A. Smith, "Hollywood Theology: The Commodification of Religion in Twentieth-Century Films," Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, 11, 2, 2001, pp. 191-231.

    59. Richard A. Blake, "Redeemed in Blood: The Sacramental Universe of Martin Scorsese," Journal of Popular Film and Television, 24, 1, 1996, pp. 2-9.

    60. Bryan Stone, "The Sanctification of Fear: Images of the Religious in Horror Films," The Journal of Religion and Film, 5, 2, 2001, https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/sanctifi.htm

    61. Theresa Sanders, "God and Guns," in Catholics in the Movies, Colleen McDannell, ed. (New York: Oxford, 2008), pp. 127-48.

    Part 15: Theologizing with film

    62. Joseph Kickasola, "The Mystery Dialectic in Cinema: Paradox, Mystery, Miracle," Christian Scholars Review, 40,4, June 2011, pp. 425-440.

    63. Kathleen E. Urda, "Eros and Contemplation: The Catholic Vision of Terrence Malick's To The Wonder," Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought & Culture, 19, 1, 2016, pp. 130-147.

    64. Kent Brintnall, "Tarantino's Incarnational Theology: Reservoir Dogs, Crucifixion, and Spectacular Violence," CrossCurrents, 54, 1, 2004, pp. 66-75.

    65. Gerard Loughlin, "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Theology and Sexuality, 13, 2000, pp. 92-118.

    66. Sofia Sjö, "Saviours and Sexuality in Contemporary Science-fiction Film: Reflections on Virginity, Chastity and Gender," Theology & Sexuality, 15, 3, 2009, pp. 293-309.

     

    Biography

    S. Brent Plate has edited four books in the area of religion and cinema, as well as authored his own book 'Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World', which is currently being expanded and revised into a second edition. He has served on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion's 'Religion, Film, and Visual Culture' program unit and is on the editorial board of the journal Religion and Film.