Digital Commons Network^™

From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr

Journal of Religion & Film

Sinan Çetin’s blockbuster Berlin in Berlin (1993) is a Turkish-German co-production. In contrast to certain representational tendencies with German orientalism or Turkish occidentalism, it deconstructs the intersectional structures of migration, religion, and gender. The portrayal of religion in films about Turkish-German labour migration is a kind of cultural narcissism often projected into national cinema by denigrating the faith of the other and glorifying one’s own religion. However, perspectives at such intersections are critical and require sensitivity in filmmaking, as films can create prejudice or help build peaceful relationships around these sensitive issues. The paper employs discourse analysis in linking Derrida’s …

Reframing Space: Religion, History, And Memory In The Early Documentary Film Of The Yugoslav Space, Milja Radovic

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper examines cinematic representations of religion and religious communities in the early cinema of the Yugoslav space. This paper introduces the readers to the rich heritage of the cinema of the Yugoslav space by providing 1) the first study of the representations of religion and the concepts of faith in the early film, and 2) novel approaches in reading religion and history through film. Film is used as a primary rather than supplementary source in historical research on diverse religious and ethnic communities in this part of the Balkan Peninsula. This is the first study that investigates the importance, …

Religiosity And Midwestern Lgbtq+ Homeless Youth, Alecia Keller, Nancy Kelley

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Previous investigations have focused on the intersections of LGBTQ+ youth and religion, homelessness and religion, or homeless LGBTQ+ youth, without recognizing the multiple intersections that make up each LGBTQ+ youth’s identity. The purpose of this study was to gain more insight into how being homeless, identifying as LGBTQ+, and growing up with some religion played a role in transitional-aged (ages eighteen to twenty-five) youths’ lives. After working with Youth Emergency Services (YES) in Omaha, Nebraska, and conducting interviews with LGBTQ+ youth who were previously homeless, similar topics emerged among participants. Three participants were evicted from their homes because of their …

Gender, Race, And Religion In An African Enlightenment, Jonathan D. Lyonhart

Journal of Religion & Film

Black Panther (2018) not only heralded a new future for representation in big-budget films but also gave an alternative vision of the past, one which recasts the Enlightenment within an African context. By going through its technological enlightenment in isolation from Western ideals and dominance, Wakanda opens a space for reflecting on alternate ways progress can—and still might—unfold. More specifically, this alternative history creates room for reimagining how modernity—with its myriad social, scientific, and religious paradigm shifts—could have negotiated questions of race, and, in turn, how race could have informed and redirected some of the lesser impulses of modernity. Similar …

Religion And Moral Injury In American Vietnam War Films, Mary F. Brewer

Journal of Religion & Film

This essay focuses on the representation of religion in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Brian de Palma’s Casualties of War (1989). It explores how religion intersects with the experience of moral trauma at an individual level, and how the films portray moral injury to be as damaging an aspect of war trauma for Vietnam veterans as grievous physical harm. Further, the essay considers how moral injury is a fundamental component of the collective trauma the nation experienced and, in turn, the culture wars that erupted during and after the …

Catholics And Capital Punishment: Do Pope Francis’S Teachings Matter In Policy Preferences?, Francis T. Cullen, Amanda Graham, Kellie R. Hannan, Alexander L. Burton, Leah C. Butler, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In the United States, Catholics make up more than 50 million members of the adult population, or about one in five Americans. It is unclear whether their religious affiliation shapes Catholics’ views on public policy issues, ranging from the legality of abortion to criminal justice practices. Capital punishment is especially salient, given that Pope Francis announced in 2018—as official Catholic Church teaching—that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances. Based on two national surveys, the current project explores Catholics’ support for state executions before (2017) and after (2019) the Pope’s momentous change in the church’s Catechism. At present, little …

Religion And Violence In Jesse James Films, 1972–2010, Travis Warren Cooper

Journal of Religion & Film

This essay analyzes recent depictions of Jesse James in cinema, examining filmic portrayals of the figure between the years of 1972 and 2010. Working from the intersection of the anthropology of film and religious studies approaches to popular culture, the essay fills significant gaps in the study of James folklore. As no substantial examinations of the religious aspects of the James myths exist, I hone in on the legend’s religiosity as contested in filmic form. Films, including revisionist Westerns, are not unlike oral-history statements recorded and analyzed by anthropologists, folklorists, and ethnographers. Jesse James movies, in other words, have much …

Problem-Based Learning And Two Studies Of The Journal Of Religion And Film: Self-Sacrifice And Music, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film course. PBL is an open-ended, experiential approach to teaching, which requires students to engage with a real world problem in groups. While many university classes are based on a lecture format and variations of that format, PBL asks students to take greater ownership of their learning. The problem drives what students will learn, how they will learn it, and what they produce to assess that learning. Students in a fourth-year PBL class at the University of Toronto Mississauga were given the following problem: analyze …

“It’S Not A Fucking Book, It’S A Weapon!”: Authority, Power, And Mediation In The Book Of Eli, Seth M. Walker

Journal of Religion & Film

The mediation of religious narratives through sacred texts is intimately bound to the power relations involved in their transmission and maintenance. Those who possess such mediated messages and control their access and interpretation have historically held privileged positions of authority, especially when those positions are not easily contested. The 2010 film The Book of Eli uniquely engages these elements by placing the alleged last copy of the King James Version of the Christian Bible at the forefront of a clash between different individuals in a post-nuclear wasteland. This paper, drawing on Max Weber’s notion of “charisma,” and scholars addressing religion, …

From Marseille To Mecca: Reconciling The Secular And The Religious In Le Grand Voyage (The Big Trip) (2004), Yahya Laayouni

Journal of Religion & Film

By the early 1980’s, a generation of children of Maghrebi (North African) parents born and/or raised in France started to become more visible, particularly after they organized a march in 1983 from Marseille to Paris under the slogan “For Equality and against Racism.” This generation was introduced to the public as the “Beur generation.” The word ‘Beur,’ coined by this generation, is the result of a Parisian back slang and means ‘Arab.’ It quickly gained popularity and has been used to refer to children of Maghrebi origins living in France. As much as it has been hard for the Beurs …

Agonizing Transitions And Turning Away From God In Two Tunisian Movies, Imen Yacoubi

Journal of Religion & Film

In Golden Horseshoes by Farid Boughdir (1989) and Halfaouine (or Child of the Terraces) by Nouri Bouzid (1990), two protagonists, trapped in difficult passages and transitions, embark on quests toward self-realization. In Halfaouine, Noura, a young boy, undergoes the upheavals of puberty and probes the taboos associated with adulthood and coming of age. In Golden Horseshoes, Youssef, a previous political prisoner and leftist militant, bemoans the shattering of his dreams and struggles to cope with a society he feels distanced from.

My paper examines the struggle of the two protagonists against the boundaries imposed by political and …

You’Ve Gotta Keep The Faith: Making Sense Of Disaster In Post 9/11 Apocalyptic Cinema, Matthew Leggatt

Journal of Religion & Film

Abstract: Chronologically examining the role of faith based narratives in the Hollywood apocalypse since the mid-90s, this article charts their reintroduction in the period after 9/11. Through the study of an extensive array of contemporary films the different structures of faith they offer and an exploration of how such faith is used in order to make meaning from disaster, I assert that post 9/11 apocalyptic movies have grappled with issues of faith and meaning in a far more complex way than in the films of the 90s, questioning the value of such faith in a post-disaster world. In concluding, I …

Irruptions Of The Sacred In A “World Of Shit”: Profanity, Sacred Words, And Cinematic Hierophanies In Stanley Kubrick’S Full Metal Jacket (1987), Joseph E. Bisson

Journal of Religion & Film

Full Metal Jacket remains embedded in the consciousness of the popular culture mainly because of its abundance of profane language, violent imagery, and salacious set pieces. The juxtaposition of profane language and imagery with sacred language and religious symbolism reveals that Kubrick’s Vietnam film has powerful religious overtones that comprise an important element of the film’s critique of homo religiosus and the modern human condition. By continually juxtaposing the sacred and profane, Kubrick created “cinematic hierophanies” that advanced a cultural critique that inventively integrated ideas from some of the mid-20^th Century’s greatest interpreters of myths -- Carl Jung, Joseph …

Religious Influences On Work–Family Trade-Offs, Samantha K. Ammons

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Despite a large body of research on the influences of religion on family life and gender ideology, few studies examined how religion affects work—family strategies. One set of strategies involves making employment or family trade-offs—strategies of devoting time or attention to either work or family in a situation in which one cannot devote the preferred amount of time and attention to both, strategies that may be experienced as making sacrifices, hard choices, or accommodations. Using 1996 General Social Survey data, the authors analyze how religion affects employment and family trade-offs. They develop hypotheses about the institutional effects of religious involvement …

The Value Of Work: A Case For Promoting Christian Service Opportunities To College Students, Glenn Bryan

Special Topics, General

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the historical evolution of attitudes toward work, the Protestant work ethic, a Biblical perspective on work, and to provide a rational for why Christian colleges should offer multiple service opportunities for students to help them integrate faith into their everyday lives.

Summer Service Learning — What Distinguishes Students Who Choose To Participate From Those Who Do Not? Part One: Religion, Parents, And Social Awareness, Mary Beckman, Thomas A. Trozzolo

Higher Education

Since 1980, 2455 Notre Dame students have participated in the Center for Social Concerns’ Summer Service Project Internship (SSPI), previously referred to as the Summer Service Program, or SSP. Currently, over 200 students choose this experience yearly. These students spend eight weeks working with disadvantaged populations during the summer, as part of a three-credit course. Students have volunteered in homeless shelters, hospitals, soup kitchens, day care centers, schools, and boys and girls clubs in more than 300 cities since the beginning of the program two decades ago.

Doing Theology In The City, Paul Fitzgerald

Special Topics, General

The task of theology is often a lonely endeavor. The hush of the library or the archives, the still of the chapel, and the quiet discipline of one's desk are places where theological research and writing unfold, most often in solitary concentration. The classroom on the protected college campus or seminary, the academic conference in large hotels, and even the cherished conversation in the homes of colleagues do open the theologian to other minds and hearts so that theories and insights may be tested in dialogue. However, these exchanges are often located in affluent social contexts which cannot reveal the …

The Evolution Of Character Education: From Hellfire And Brimstone To Constructivism, Arati Singh

Special Topics, General

Since colonial times, character education has played a kaleidoscopic role in American schools. Seventeenth and eighteenth century Puritan curriculum was synonymous with an exceedingly rigid and religious moral code. Nineteenth century policy makers adopted a Pan-Protestant, and then a generalized Christian philosophy of character education, as they pursued a common school system. As twentieth century American society grew increasingly pluralistic, the religious basis of character education succumbed to a more secular framework. Predictably, this century has seen character education be demoted to just one of many competing items on the national education agenda. Paradoxically, today's violence-filled headlines evince a more …

Does Protestant Fundamentalism Produce Traditional Views?: The Impact Of Religious Commitment Affiliation On Gender Role Beliefs And Political Ideology, Melissa Myers

Student Work

This research looks at the relationship between religious commitment/affiliation and traditional beliefs. Data from the 1993 General Social Survey is used to test hypotheses linking religious commitment and religious affiliation to traditional gender role beliefs and conservative political views. Findings show statistical significance but weak substantive support for the idea that fundamentalists hold more traditional gender role beliefs and political ideology. Future research linking these attitudes to the actual behaviors of men and women in fundamentalist religions is proposed.

The Contribution Of Religion To Volunteer Work, John Wilson, Thomas Janoski

Special Topics, General

The connection between church membership, church activism, and volunteering is explored using a three-wave panel study of young adults. Volunteering to help others solve community problems is more likely among members of churches that emphasize this-worldly social concerns, especially among those socially involved in these churches. Among Catholics, the connection between church involvement and volunteering is formed early and remains strong. Among liberal Protestants, the connection is made only in middle age. Among moderate and conservative Protestants there is little connection at all. Conservative Protestants who attend church regularly are less likely to be involved in secular volunteering and more …

Inside Ncr: Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida's Proposal For Mandatory Social Service Duty For Students In Catholic Colleges, Tom Fox

Special Topics, General

Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida last week unveiled a creative and intriguing proposal. He suggested forming a kind of urban Peace Corps that would put college students to work in the city's soup kitchens and other social agencies.

The new cardinal, speaking at an interfaith breakfast in his honor, said he and Catholic college officials want to incorporate social service into the curriculum.

H.C. Welker: The Life Of A Presbyterian Minister And His Ministry In Prairie And Great Plains Communities 1886-1964, Patricia Ann Welker

Student Work

The histories of seven western communities and seven churches served by one minister help document the importance of Presbyterianism in western life between 1919 and 1952. H. Clare Welker became a Presbyterian minister in 1918 after having served seven years as a teacher, principal and superintendent in three western Nebraska school systems. School teaching and administration had provided good preparation for his future work in church management. His ministry took place in individually diverse western communities where the church occupied a dominant place. Issues that affected the community also had an impact on the church, and Welker actively took part …

Roots Of Service, Theodore H. Erickson

Special Topics, General

The thesis that I want to advance is a simple one: It is that service is rooted in religion. Service is religious in the sense that it expresses our bondedness with the universe (religare: to bind fast), and by extension with one another. Over time, service-oriented activities may become rationalized, institutionalized, and secularized. But the roots of service remain religious.

National Service And Religious Values, L. William Yolton, Edward L. Long Jr.

Special Topics, General

The idea of national service covers a range of proposals for organizing young people and, in some cases, senior citizens to do work of national importance to satisfy unmet needs in the society. How people at middle age would be engaged in service is rarely discussed.

In The World But Not Of The World: A Church's Relation To Its Environment, James Earl Floyd

Student Work

Research in general and inductive research in particular often begins from an unfocused curiosity. From this perplexity, emerges the problem of research, the collecting of relevant data, and the drawing of theoretical inferences from said data. The current research enterprise includes these major problems but is, in many respects, different. That is to say, the execution is different from that which is found in "traditional patterns of investigation."

The Pattern Of Religious Institution In The Northwest Urban Fringe Of Omaha, Nebraska, 1968, Grace R. Gardner

Student Work

Most writers attempt, at the outset, to define the subject of their discourse. To be certain of capturing the essence of an idea or concept, they will turn to renowned scholars and practitioners in the field and derive a composite of a wide array of views and approaches to the problem. Such an attempt In the field of religion reveals so many definitions and such variance between them, that it is soon apparent no simple definition will suffice. Is it intellectual acceptance of an idea, ideal, or code of ethics which binds men together philosophically, or is it formal membership …

Religious Preference And Worldly Success: A Comparison Of Protestants And Catholics, James W. Crowley

Student Work

The problem, of theory construction toward a sociological understanding of the religious-economic relationship has relied to a great extent upon the work of a German social scientist, Max Weber.¹ Historical observations made by Weber, which described a meaningful relationship between Protestantism and modern industrial capitalism,² stimulated scholars from a number of fields to continue investigation of this relationship. The Weberian thesis advanced the position that religious and economic phenomena within a society were mutually interdependent. More specifically, Weber was concerned with the 'economic ethics of a religion'³ in relation to the economic institution. This relationship was considered …

Christian Education In Protestant Primary Schools In Belgian Congo, Allan Wiebe

Student Work

The term "religious education", although traditionally referring to the teaching ministry of the Christian church, has now become so general as to include practically all religions that are propagated through instruction including Jewish, Mohammedan, Hindu and most other non-Christian religions, as well as Christian. Consequently, a trend has recently developed in the direction of the use of the more exclusive term "Christian education" although the two terms are used interchangeably in many Christian circles.

In this study the term "Christian education" is preferred and refers to the process by which individuals are confronted with and controlled by the Christian gospel. …

Protestantism In Brazil: A Study Of The Activities And Results Of The Protestant Foreign Missionary Movement In The United States Of Brazil, Robert Martin Farra

Student Work

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of Protestantism in Brazil, in an effort to determine the validity of some of the charges made against Protestant missions in that land by spokesmen for the Roman Catholic Church. The problem will be considered in two different ways. First, the author will seek to demonstrate the inadequacy of religious instruction and leadership provided the people of Brazil by the Roman Catholic Church in the several periods of that country’s history. Secondly, he will endeavor to trace the steps by which various individual Protestants and organized Protestant mission agencies, independently …

A Study Of Religious Drama As A Resource Of The Church, Illustrated By An Original Biblical Drama, Marien E. Griffith

Student Work

The main purpose of this study is to determine the place of religious drama in the church. Data of information were secured from personal letters and interviews with pastors and lay-people in Omaha, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Sioux City and Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Idaho Falls, Iowa; and Monrovia, California. A questionnaire was used as a guiding basis for the interviews. The case method and survey method were used. An original Biblical drama is presented to illustrate what the possibilities are in this field of activity.

Drama is one of the most interesting of …