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Christianity

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Journal of Religion & Film

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Biblical Studies

The T&T Clark Handbook Of Jesus And Film, Joel Mayward Oct 2023

The T&T Clark Handbook Of Jesus And Film, Joel Mayward

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Richard Walsh, ed. The T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film (London: T&T Clark, 2021).

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Giving The Devil His Due: Satan And Cinema, Brandon R. Grafius Apr 2022

Giving The Devil His Due: Satan And Cinema, Brandon R. Grafius

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock and Regina M. Hansen, eds., Giving the Devil His Due: Satan and Cinema (New York: Fordham University Press, 2021).

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The Monstrous Other And The Biblical Narrative Of Ruth, Jonathan Lyonhart, Jennifer Matheny Oct 2020

The Monstrous Other And The Biblical Narrative Of Ruth, Jonathan Lyonhart, Jennifer Matheny

Journal of Religion & Film

Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017) restages the biblical narrative of Ruth in Cold War America, crystallizing the parallel through setting numerous scenes at a local cinema that is playing The Story of Ruth (1960). The book of Ruth tells the tale of how a non-Israelite outsider could be welcomed into the kingdom of God and ultimately into the lineage of Christ. Likewise, del Toro populates his tale with multiple outsiders—multiple ‘Ruths’—including a mute woman, an African American cleaner, a Russian Communist, and an elderly homosexual male. However, these are merely reflections of the ultimate outsider, Del Toro’s …

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Who Is Like God? The Deer Hunter As Angelic Allegory, Nicholas J. Schaser Apr 2019

Who Is Like God? The Deer Hunter As Angelic Allegory, Nicholas J. Schaser

Journal of Religion & Film

Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter utilizes Christian contexts and biblical motifs in order to present an allegory in which Michael (Robert De Niro) represents an angelic being. While Michael displays powers that parallel those of biblical angels, his lack of religious reverence and divine self-perception lead to a metaphorical fall in Vietnam. Michael’s friend Nick (Christopher Walken) is also an allegorical symbol for imperiled humanity in need of salvation. When Michael is unable to rescue Nick from a Russian roulette table in Saigon, Cimino’s film emerges as a theological statement about the problem of human violence and the necessity for …

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The Problem With David: Masculinity And Morality In Biblical Cinema, Kevin M. Mcgeough Mar 2018

The Problem With David: Masculinity And Morality In Biblical Cinema, Kevin M. Mcgeough

Journal of Religion & Film

The King David of the Bible, and especially as portrayed in the books of Samuel, is one of the most complex characters in ancient literature. We are told his story from his youth as a shepherd until his death as king of Israel. He kills a mighty warrior with a slingshot, goes to war with his king and later his son, and has an affair that threatens to throw his kingdom into disarray. The stories surrounding David seem perfect for cinematic adaptation yet what makes this character so compelling has been problematic for filmmakers. Here, three types of Biblical filmmaking …

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Now That Was A Nice Hanging: The Hateful Eight As Parable?, Richard G. Walsh Sep 2017

Now That Was A Nice Hanging: The Hateful Eight As Parable?, Richard G. Walsh

Journal of Religion & Film

The opening of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight conjoins the iconic landscape of the Western, Christianity’s chief symbol the crucifix, and Tarantino’s oeuvre. The film gives the crucifix so much screen time that one wonders what its significance might be. That the film climaxes with the lynching of Daisy Domergue renders the crucifix teasingly parabolic. The opening-closing frame parallels the two hangings, as do the various eulogies associated with the lynching. That Daisy’s lynching takes place at the hands of the film’s two surviving characters—who, like the horses that lead the stagecoach team delivering Daisy to her fate, are black …

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Screen Jesus: Portrayals Of Christ In Television And Film, Steven Vredenburgh Oct 2016

Screen Jesus: Portrayals Of Christ In Television And Film, Steven Vredenburgh

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Peter Malone, Screen Jesus: Portrayals of Christ in Television and Film (Boulder, CO: Roman & Littlefield, 2012).

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The Roles Of Violence In Recent Biblical Cinema: The Passion, Noah, And Exodus: Gods And Kings, Kevin M. Mcgeough Apr 2016

The Roles Of Violence In Recent Biblical Cinema: The Passion, Noah, And Exodus: Gods And Kings, Kevin M. Mcgeough

Journal of Religion & Film

When The Passion was released, its extremely graphic violence horrified critics and scholars of religion although its success at the box office indicates that this, if anything, made the story of Jesus more appealing for viewers. Now that more time has passed and expectations surrounding levels of acceptable violence in cinema have changed, it is worth reconsidering how cinematic violence is used as reception strategy in Biblical cinema. Considering The Passion with more recent Biblical films, Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, it becomes apparent that violence is not only used to expand laconic Biblical narratives but to invest …

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Beyond The Confines Of Tolerance In Rachid Buchareb’S London River: Theological Discussion And Educational Approach To An Open Ended Film, Panayiotis A. Thoma Pth Oct 2015

Beyond The Confines Of Tolerance In Rachid Buchareb’S London River: Theological Discussion And Educational Approach To An Open Ended Film, Panayiotis A. Thoma Pth

Journal of Religion & Film

The article discusses Rachid Buchareb's film London River both from a theological and an educational point of view. Therefore I argue that this film may be of great use in the lesson of Religious Education (or other subjects that concern multicultural and inter-religious affairs), for it raises some crucial existential issues, mainly: how do people of different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds truly connect to one another especially in cases in which these exact differences may be the cause of extreme suffering. This is actually the thematic concept of the film. Based on the teachings of the Bible and particularly, …

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The Virgin Mary On Screen: Mater Dei Or Just A Mother In Guido Chiesa’S Io Sono Con Te (I Am With You), Timothy J. Johnson, Barbara Ottaviani-Jones Mar 2014

The Virgin Mary On Screen: Mater Dei Or Just A Mother In Guido Chiesa’S Io Sono Con Te (I Am With You), Timothy J. Johnson, Barbara Ottaviani-Jones

Journal of Religion & Film

Guido Chiesa’s Io Sono con Te (I Am with You) offers a unique, albeit controversial take on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Filmed in Tunisia, and subject to criticism by Italian Catholic authorities and film critics alike, Io Sono con Te presents a rich anthropological-theological reflection on religion, culture, gender, and sacrifice. Not surprisingly, Chiesa draws on René Girard’s scapegoat theory throughout his film as he fashions Mary as the forceful protagonist in a familiar yet controversial story.


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Christians In The Movies: A Century Of Saints And Sinners, Bryan Polk Oct 2013

Christians In The Movies: A Century Of Saints And Sinners, Bryan Polk

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Peter Dans' Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).

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