Screen Christologies: Redemption and the Medium of Film

by Christopher Deacy

Overview

Screen Christologies takes a new and radical look at the mass media as a source of religious study. It looks at the ways in which the Christian concept of redemption has been represented in films from It's a Wonderful Life to Taxi Driver. Concentrating on film noir and the work of Martin Scorsese, the book argues that the themes of alienation and redemption through violence, destruction, and sin characteristic of the noir genre demonstrate that cinema confronts issues and themes that are distinctly religious. This is a book for scholars, students, and all those interested in film and theology and their place in the broader contexts of Christianity and contemporary culture.

Author Biography: Christopher Deacy is Leverhulme Research Fellow in the department of theology and religious studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He is also the author of The Coming Deliverer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780708317136
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	10/28/2002
Series:	Religion, Culture, and Society Series
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 7.96(h) x 0.42(d)

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
 
1     Cinema as a contemporary site of religious activity
2     The cultural and religious significance of film
3     Models of redemption evident in film
4     Film noir as a repository of theological significance
5     The theological basis of redemption in film noir
6     Film protagonists as exemplars of redemptive possibility
7     Redemption through the cinema of Martin Scorsese
8     Redemption or regression? The escapist ethos of
       contemporary film
 
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Certainly important for those teaching and studying theology, particularly those who seek a relevance - indeed, an edge - for theological inquiry within the intersection of religion and culture.

Journal of Contemporary Religion

The implications of this book are certainly important for those teaching and studying theology.

Useful and readable book, a good contribution to what is turning out to be a fresh and rather unusual series from the University Press.

New Welsh Review