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Seeing And Being Seen: Distinctively Filmic And Religious Elements In Film, Greg Watkins

Journal of Religion & Film

Using philosophical propositions from Stanley Cavell's work The World Viewed, I argue in this paper that there is a religious dimension available in film which has to do with a creative and disruptive approach to the normal and naturalized habits of the typical viewer. By examining both Von Trier's Breaking the Waves and Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice, I attempt to show that these film makers challenge their viewers via the nature of the medium itself and in ways that have religious/ethical implications.

Service-Learning And School Curriculum, Amy Yip Ah-May

Special Topics, General

Service-Learning extends the learning process from the classroom to the community, which becomes a supplementary resource to facilitate teaching and learning. This paper uses fragments of reflections to illustrate how Service-Learning course participants learn through the community-service projects and how they feel about their experiences as project leaders. The literature used provides a rich source of data about the meaning of Service-Learning and empirical evidences of the educational effects of learning through serving others. This paper argues that the Hong Kong school curriculum is examination driven and focused on the academic. There is a neglect in the social, moral and …

From The Editor, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

The Editor introduces the December 1998 Special Issue on Teaching of the Journal of Religion and Film.

Teaching Field Of Dreams As Cosmogonic Myth, Mara E. Donaldson

Journal of Religion & Film

Trotting away from the camera toward the boundary between baseball diamond and surrounding corn, Shoeless Joe Jackson, himself part of American baseball myth, turns to ask: "Hey, is this heaven?" "No," replies Ray Kinsella, who has turned part of his farm into his field of dreams, "It's Iowa." Both the line and the movie from which it comes, Field of Dreams (1989), have become a staple in my "Religion and Modern Culture" course, providing a teachable occasion for linking popular culture, the religious category of myth, and the task of critical thinking in religious studies.

Religion And Popular Movies, Conrad E. Ostwalt

Journal of Religion & Film

A few years ago, I was lecturing on John's "Revelation" in a New Testament course when a student approached me after class with a question. He wanted to know if I had seen the movie The Seventh Sign and if it was based on the Christian Apocalypse. Unaware that Demi Moore had just appeared in a movie by that title, I assumed the student was referring to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and answered him accordingly. He quickly corrected me and challenged me to see The Seventh Sign. I watched the movie soon after that, and although it was …

Ritual, Music, Sociability And Censure: Making A Film On Sufi 'Dhikr' In Egypt, Valerie J. Hoffman

Journal of Religion & Film

The author describes her experiences attending and filming the Sufi ritual of communal dhikr in order to create an educational videotape approximately a half-hour in length that would include commentary and translation of some of the lyrics and could convey Sufi dhikr as ritual, art (in the form of music and poetry), and social event. Dhikr is the "remembrance" of God through concentrated repetition of some of his "Beautiful Names," accompanied by stylized movements of the body such as bowing or swinging from side to side, often employing methods of breath control and done in some countries (Egypt included) to …

Religion, Theology And Film In A Postmodern Age: A Response To John Lyden, Clive Marsh

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper engages in a critical, creative conversation with John Lyden's article in JR & F 1.2. Though affirming the basic tenor of Lyden's approach, this paper presses Lyden to consider that a "commending and critiquing" approach to the task of film interpretation requires greater attention to the ideological basis upon which such a stance is possible. In particular, the theological particularity of discrete religious traditions has to be respected by the scholar of religion. This respect must be shown despite all the attendant institutional complexities which accompany it. The consequences of this need for religious interpreters of film to …

From The Editor, William L. Blizek, Ron Burke

Journal of Religion & Film

The Editor introduces the October 1997 issue of the Journal of Religion and Film.

To Commend Or To Critique? The Question Of Religion And Film Studies, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper examines two approaches to popular film to come out of religious studies. The first assumes popular culture is as valid as any culture, in which case "religious" analysis of films seeks to identify the iconography and mythology of film as expressive of a viable popular religion. The second method critiques popular film as a form of hegemonic discourse to be unmasked as supportive of classist, racist, and sexist ideologies. This paper accepts the validity of both methods and seeks to balance them by asserting that all films should be seen both as viable expressions of culture and also …

Using 'Homemade' Documentary Video In Religious Studies, Scott C. Alexander

Journal of Religion & Film

On the whole, the lesson I learned from making Abraham's Children, and the one I would like to pass on, is a fairly simple one. If an instructor can imagine a video that would enhance his or her religious studies teaching in specific ways, but cannot seem to find a strong candidate available in the current market, that instructor may want to consider producing a "homemade" video with the primary goal of improving his or her own students' education, and the secondary aim of making your project available for purchase to colleagues who may be facing similar pedagogical challenges. …

Religious Broadcasting Influence On Presbyterians: An Omaha Case Study Of Diffusion, Vern J. Wirka

Student Work

This thesis is a study of the diffusion of the ideological messages of conservative, evangelical and fundamentalist religious broadcasters upon the decisionmakers and the influences upon the social system of the congregations within the Missouri River Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA. The study revealed that most of the decision-makers within the Missouri River Valley Presbytery do not listen to or watch religious broadcast programs on a regular basis, however, about one-third of the decision-makers do watch and listen. The study showed the ideological messages of the religious broadcasters do not play a large part in the opinion formation …

Mozart & Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation Of Genesis 4, Gregory Robbins

Journal of Religion & Film

The story of Amadeus becomes poetry and myth when one learns it is far from the official biography of Mozart. For in fact Salieri first became Mozart's lethal enemy in a poem by Pushkin, written 40 years after the great composer's death. Robbins clarifies many historical inaccuracies regarding both Mozart and Salieri in the film, but proposes that playwright Shaffer and screenwriter Milos Forman have made the story a "myth better than history," a masterpiece of drama which reveals deep truths about the human condition. The film confronts the viewer with the sheer givenness of human inequality, the pride that …

Community Service To The Elderly A Service-Learning Model: Guidelines For Replication, James M. Mccrea, Sherry G. Cottom

Curriculum

At the University of Pittsburgh, Generations Together, an Intergenerational Studies Program develops programs that bring young and old together in ways that benefit both generations. The University Challenge for Excellence Program (DCEP) works with entering students who are often first generation, mostly African-American, and who may be in need of special assistance during their first year. UCEP seeks ways to raise their self esteem, give them a sense of purpose, connect them to the University, and ultimately to retain them at Pitt through graduation. In 1994, these two university programs joined together with the Housing Authority of the City of …

Civics, Social Studies And Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue Benson, Robert D. Shumer

Bibliographies

Participation in service activities can be a vital component to civics and social studies education. The sources selected for this topic bibliography are intended to aid practitioners in thinking about and developing service activities in their classrooms, schools and communities. The first section contains references providing background information and conceptual frameworks useful in thinking broadly about the role of service in education and youth development. This is followed by items which feature description of service programs or information pertinent to program development. Finally, Section Three has references discussing the civic and citizenship education context surrounding any service activity. Records in …

Quran And Religious Studies, Grade 1, Unknown

Books in Dari and Pashto

Quran and religious studies

Grade 1

Language: Pashto

Printed 1371

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 …

Kabul Times (June 20, 1965, Vol. 4, No. 72), Bakhtar News Agency

Kabul Times

Kabul Times is an English language newspaper, published daily, except Fridays and Afghan holidays. First issue was published on February 27, 1962)