Introduction
Films are most likely the dominant art form of the 21st century. It is not only accessible, but it also represents a collective effort and is the outcome of a varied community joining together in the endeavor to build something beautiful. The urge to create tales stems from people’s creation in the image of God, and movies invariably reveal truths relating to the One True Narrative. Whether it is the essence of God or the repercussions of sin, filmmakers frequently touch on these subjects, either directly or indirectly. Nevertheless, the Church’s cultural importance in relation to the compelling film must not be at the expense of biblical truth. For instance, while the Christian worldview should conform to film’s effect and infiltration into the cultural environment, it should not forsake vital Christian teaching and concepts in pursuit of meaningful and engaging means of interacting with humans. Furthermore, while there are instances when straightforward critical analysis that intelligently reacts to erroneous concepts in films is appropriate, people must learn to be significantly more sensitive in their evaluation of films.
People recognize the significance of storytelling in films. They regard cinema as a vital medium for portraying and telling one’s own tales and identity as a people. Filmmakers have caught the world’s imagination by conveying the core of who they are through compelling images and visual narratives. There is something extremely touching about seeing one’s own personality and spirituality as reflected in these films. This research paper seeks to build a constructive discussion by defying the notion that although the theological study of films is trendy, it is ultimately a meaningless exercise by stating the possibility and relevance of films as a resource for doing and teaching theology in several contexts such as the Asian context.
The Power of Film
Any form of art more so films have the potential of affecting the lives of people. According to the Center for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies, “we live in an exceptional period when the arts are affecting civilization in unprecedented ways.” However, the topic of arts in connection to theology receives little attention. According to King (2018), “the work offers an uncomfortable challenge for many Evangelicals.” These are the people who challenge the value of the arts in Christian life and bear witness in these turbulent times.” This is especially true among Adventists. There is skepticism and uncertainty among churchgoers and even pastors about using cinema and movies to study the gospel and teach theological concepts. This opposition is based on Adventist beliefs about Christian principles and morality.
The importance of studying films as a form of arts is crucial when it comes to human existence. “Art affords particularly direct access to the specific tone, interests, and sentiments of a given society,” writes Jeffrey, David Lyle. Theology must be included in the arts since art is a part of human existence. Art provides an intriguing chance to discover new avenues for applying biblical teachings to their cultural context.” Such principles are communicated through films as art. As a changing art form, films are extremely crucial since it gives insights into the present social and cultural milieu. According to John (2017), the picture is “more than just a play of light and shadow… it is about something, and this something is anchored in the reality of the culture that created the films.” It may be a powerful medium for communicating religious stories, ideas, and values to a large audience, as well as a glimpse into a people’s deeper meanings and spirituality. Films not only reflect but also form worldviews.
Christians may need to evaluate the power of cinema and film-watching in order to comprehend the challenges and impacts that film has. The experience of viewing a film might be deemed intense when confronted with unusual sensory interactions that influence the viewers in some way. Films have the capacity to approach audiences via a unique blend of story, sound, and visual energy to give a whole experience that is above and beyond the ordinary. Images on the screen are larger than life and frequently stay with the spectator long after the film has ended. They indicate religious importance and may lead to religious discoveries, depict religious reality, or elicit a religious emotion from the observer. As a result of the implications seen, heard, and absorbed in the films seen, critical thought is required when watching them.
The theological study of films provides a deep understanding of our lives if interpreted correctly. According to Robert Johnston (2000), professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, a theological discourse between a Christian moviegoer and the film is necessary. Only a few, however, have mastered the art of cinema viewing, much alone film critique, allowing for meaningful dialogue from a Christian perspective to begin. As a result, Christians must be careful and discriminating in their selection of films to be used in preaching biblical principles. “How is it possible to discern God’s hand in the activity of non-Christians?” asks Robert MacAfee Brown. He claims that Christians must accept that the ostensibly secular world may have much to give them.
Film and Religion
Film and religion have an undeniable connection. In many cases, the film has religious elements, which ensures that it has a religious impact on the audience. Watching and studying movies has religious and theological significance.
The Religious Content of Film
Art historians, critics, and theologians agree that arts, particularly visual arts, serve as a forum for theological, philosophic, and cultural discourse in addition to reflecting aesthetic ideals and interests. The study of films as a medium of human expression has the potential to open the door to religious interpretation and inquiry. They reveal information about humanity’s cultural and spiritual environment. Art is essential in the eyes of critics since it is primarily an indicator of a generation’s or culture’s religion or ultimate concern. Moreover, films may be used to expand on or criticize a religious tradition, scripture, or concept.
In today’s world, the link between film, religion, and spirituality is a developing subject of study. Films, like other forms of culture, have the power to support, question, overthrow, or consolidate religious beliefs, ideological assumptions, and fundamental values. These effects must be investigated since religion is so significant in human life. Popular films are effective tools for conveying religious meanings, legendary themes, and fundamental ideological ideals. Films do not just show religious concerns, films serve as a technique for dealing with religious difficulties.
In relation to the subject of spirituality and film, Sison (2016) proposes two primary arguments. He believes that the phenomenon of spirituality, spiritual life, and spiritual ideals are important in people’s lives nowadays. A fresh call for spirituality is seen in movies. This is due to individuals living in an increasingly fragmented, confused, and secular culture. Because of this cultural environment, spirituality becomes essential for survival. The growing importance of audiovisual language in expressing and experiencing spirituality provides an incentive to investigate the link between cinema and spirituality. Similarly, Christianson, (2015) advocates a more religious view on the study of films. He believes that cinema symbolizes universal human ideals, human experience realities, and insights that will aid in grasping the complexities of human existence and human civilization. There is a growing recognition that, while both areas operate differently, they have much to learn from one another. Many films, both old and new, may stimulate and challenge theological disciplines and theologians.
The Religious Effect of Film
Another aspect of the link between films and religion is the impact of the latter on the former. Films, religion and their relationship may all hint at something more fundamental. This highlights the religious significance of the work of film as art itself as a forerunner to a religious basis. Films as art, in their various forms, provide opportunities for religious understanding and experience. On a profound level, the story aspects appear to be religious in character. The narrative’s fundamental character is religious. A story contains a framework that exposes to the reader what is above and beyond ordinary happenings. There are four fundamental parts of narrative: atmosphere, character, story, and tone. These give a religious character to any given tale by facilitating an experience with “otherness,” or that which is beyond the known realm of experience. There is an atmosphere that accounts for the boundaries of living inside a fictitious planet.
The extent of human impact and capabilities is accounted for by the atmosphere.
It alludes to what is beyond our control, to what is other. Character in tales represents a model of human potential. The storyline gives meaning to processes by giving importance to the passing of time, which is plainly above human control. In this situation, the picture lends itself very effortlessly to narrative qualities. After all, films are stories with elements similar to fiction. Andrew Greely, a novelist, and priest contends that God reveals himself via objects, events, and people. He believes there is a “sacramentality of common persons, their hopes, concerns, life, and desire.” Movies, then, may both capture and produce such sanctity. Thus, awareness of the film’s sacramentality is required in order to derive its force and significance.
The Religious Experience in Film
There are religious and theological implications to studying and viewing movies. A vivid example is film’s capacity to generate an atmosphere known as “virtual presence.” This sense of immediacy is seen to give cinema, as an art form, a special place among the arts as a religious act. Films offer a spiritual experience, allowing spectators to enter the personal, religious experience of the performer and the events. In this case, cinema serves as a means of mediating religious experience.
The religious aspect of films includes both the content and the experience of watching the film itself. Films provide the spectator with a feeling of order and harmony that contrasts with one’s everyday reality. Surprisingly, the experience of studying and viewing movies has been proposed as a hierophany, a manifestation of the holy in the middle of life as culture mirrors the transcendent. Thus, films convey the modern world’s sense of mystery and the divine. It wakes the homo religious, as Joseph Marty describes it. The sensation of religiousness transforms cinema viewing into an experience that may lead to contact with something sublime.
The Effects on the Theological Study of Films
The theological study of films has numerous benefits that cannot be overlooked. Film study, according to Cloete (2017, 6), “participates in the creation of an overall religious sensibility and viewpoint on ultimate things,” which has obvious ramifications. First, utilizing movies to judge what to say in the modern atmosphere about any of theology’s fundamental issues might be useful for Christian theology. According to Ostwalt (2018, 155), paying attention to movies allows Christian theology to ensure that its substance is relevant to the setting of the church. There is a benefit in employing cinema as a medium for critical investigation of religious ideas. Films could not be utilized to challenge religious traditions’ conventional knowledge. It might serve as a revolutionary narrative that rethinks religious tradition. It provides alternative religious narratives that reinterpret reality. This enables films to challenge religious beliefs rather than confirm them, so making a good contribution to theology. In this instance, theology has the potential to express something novel while remaining fascinating and relevant.
Second, employing cinema in theological study emphasizes the necessity of any Christian theology’s public aspect. The film addresses the subject of how the church and the world interact. The question is, how can theologically significant items from outside the Christian church make their way into Christian theology? Moreover, films reaffirm Christian theology of its duty in dealing with life’s challenges by addressing the emotive and aesthetic components of human existence. Films are primarily an emotional medium. As a result, when theology addresses cinema, such emotional reaction is recognized in the duty of performing theology.
In addition, movies are obscene in the sense that they are “of/for the people.” They are one of the most common types of mass media from which religion might draw its own conclusions. It enables theology to go far deeper into the culture than the church can. Furthermore, films enable theology to reach a far larger audience in order to question, confirm, contemplate on, or teach on particular theological subjects of and for the people. Finally, theology, like journalism, is urgent. Theology that takes cinema seriously recognizes its own fleeting nature. This necessitates that theology always strives for significance, not in the sense of pursuing authenticity for all periods, but rather of perpetually reinventing itself as time passes. A “planned obsolescence” is required for theology to be relevant outside of the cultural environment in which and for which it was created. Films serve as a reminder to theology that all attempts at Christian theology must plan for their own obsolescence if they are to remain helpful.
Conclusion
In conclusion, films have become a major art form in theology, and their significance cannot be overstated. The study of the link between movies and theology is becoming more popular. Film and its religious importance must be regarded as a viable tool for understanding and interpreting society’s specific problems and values. Of course, there is a need to investigate the power of cinema in light of its ability to serve as a conduit for religious experience and understanding. Obviously, theology must handle these similar possibilities. This paper emphasized the theological study of films and their significance as a tool for comprehending and interpreting religious experiences that viewers intimately relate with in their daily lives.
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