1st Edition

Theology and the Films of Terrence Malick

Edited By Christopher B. Barnett, Clark J. Elliston Copyright 2017
320 Pages
by Routledge

318 Pages
by Routledge

318 Pages
by Routledge

Terrence Malick is one of the most important and controversial filmmakers of the last few decades. Yet his renown does not stem from box office receipts, but rather from his inimitable cinematic vision that mixes luminous shots of nature, dreamlike voiceovers, and plots centered on enduring existential questions. Although scholars have thoroughly examined Malick’s background in philosophy, they... Read more
 

Part One: An Introduction to Terrence Malick—Scholar, Filmmaker

1 An Improbable Career: The Films of Terrence Malick

James Kendrick

2 In the Theater of Light: Towards a Heideggerian Poetics of Film

George Pattison

Part Two: Terrence Malick as Theological Auteur

3 The Divine Reticence of Terrence Malick

Peter J. Leithart

4 Who Has Eyes to See, Let Him See: Terrence Malick as Natural Theologian

David H. Calhoun

5 Gelassenheit: Spirit and Spirituality in the Films of Terrence Malick

Christopher B. Barnett

Part Three: The Films of Terrence Malick: Theological Readings

6 The Obscurity of the Self—or Why Bruce Springsteen Gets Badlands Wrong

Christopher B. Barnett

7 The Unique Difficulty of Days of Heaven

Jonathan Brant

8 While All Creation Groans: The Thin Red Line and Gestures toward Hope in the Midst of War

Paul Martens

9 Light in the Darkness: The Problem of Evil in The Thin Red Line

Mark S.M. Scott

10 Reaching Towards the Light: Loving the (New) World

Clark J. Elliston

11 The Tree of Life and the Lamb of God

Peter M. Candler, Jr.

12 Eternal Flesh as Divine Wisdom in The Tree of Life

Joshua Nunziato

13 The Promise of Love Perfected: Eros and Kenosis in To the Wonder

Paul Camacho

14 "Remember Who You Are": Imaging Life’s Purpose in Knight of Cups

M. Gail Hamner

Biography

Christopher B. Barnett is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at Villanova University. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Theology from the University of Oxford. In addition to several articles and book chapters, he has published two books: Kierkegaard, Pietism and Holiness (2011) and From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Søren Kierkegaard (2014). His next major project is Kierkegaard: Discourses and Writings on Spirituality—a volume that will appear in The Classics of Western Spirituality series, issued by Paulist Press.

Clark J. Elliston is Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Theology from the University of Oxford. His monograph, Bonhoeffer and the Ethical Self (2016), places Dietrich Bonhoeffer in conversation with Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil.