Protestants on Screen

Religion, Politics and Aesthetics in European and American Movies

Gastón Espinosa editor Erik Redling editor Jason Stevens editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:2nd Feb '24

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Protestants on Screen cover

Protestants on Screen explores the Protestant contributions to American and European film from the silent era to the present day. The authors analyze how Protestant filmmakers, beliefs, theology, symbols, sensibilities, and cultural patterns have shaped the history of film. Challenging the stereotype of Protestants as world-denouncing-and-defying puritans and iconoclasts who stood in the way of film's maturation as an art, the authors contend that Protestants were among the key catalysts in the origins and development of film, bringing an identifiably Protestant aesthetic to the medium. The essays in this volume track key Protestant themes like faith and doubt, sin and depravity, biblical literalism, personal conversion and personal redemption, holiness and sanctification, moralism and pietism, Providence and secularism, apocalypticism, righteousness and justice, religion and race, the priesthood of all believers and its offshoots-democratization and individualism. Protestants, the essays in this volume demonstrate, helped birth and shape the film industry and harness the power of motion pictures for spiritual instruction, edification, and cultural influence.

While Roman Catholicism's influence on film is well known, the corresponding influence of Protestantism is frequently ignored. This volume remedies that through attention to the ways in which Protestant themes and representation are expressed in films, as well as how Protestant filmmakers and audiences have contributed to the art form and its reception. A must read for anyone interested in the multiple ways in which Protestantism and film have interacted over the last century! * John Lyden, Blizek Professor of Religion and Film, University of Nebraska Omaha *
In Protestants on Screen, an impressive transatlantic group of scholars offers engaging insights into the pivotal role of diverse Protestants groups have played in challenging, reforming, and promoting the film industry. Blending history and case studies, this volume advances the scholarship of religion and film and furnishes an indispensable foundation for future study. * Terry Lindvall, C. S. Lewis Professor of Communication and Christian Thought, Virginia Wesleyan University *
Protestants on Screen opens with an introduction that provides an informative overview of Protestantism,...The collection makes insightful connections between religion and cinema and is commendable for taking Protestantism and the art it inspires seriously. * Choice *

ISBN: 9780190058913

Dimensions: 229mm x 163mm x 46mm

Weight: 612g

432 pages