DESCRIPTION: This course will consider a theology of culture by focusing on one particular aspect: theology and film. The course will (1) view, discuss, and analyze a multicultural and global selection of films, (2) provide the student methodological and critical perspectives for engaging culture, both from the humanities and the social sciences, and (3) explore theological and biblical perspectives foundational to theology and film criticism.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: This course will help students develop skills in cultural analysis and interaction by providing a critical and theological framework for viewing cinema. While such engagement is not sufficient for effective ministry, it is a necessary part of that task.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will be given the opportunity to develop the tools to (1) describe and assess contemporary cultural trends as embodied in the media, (2) engage appreciatively and critically in film interpretation, (3) explore possible theological and biblical approaches to our contemporary culture, (4) articulate something of the presence and purposes of God in human culture, and (5) consider their own use of film in their Christian discipleship and ministry.

COURSE FORMAT: This course will be delivered online over a ten-week period aligned with Fuller's academic calendar. Students are required to interact with the course material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning. Course content is communicated through required readings/viewings, video lectures, and written materials. Weekly discussions, assignments, and lectures are focused on a series of particular films and a range of critical readings. During online discussions, students will typically (1) discuss the movies, (2) consider aspects of the nature of film and/or theology, (3) use selected critical and theological approaches to culture, and (4) enter into theological criticism with the film.

REQUIRED VIEWING AND READING:

1. Sixteen films: Crimes and Misdemeanors; Stranger than Fiction; Moulin Rouge (Australian); Punch-Drunk Love; American Beauty; Little Miss Sunshine; Run Lola Run (German); The Princess and the Warrior (German); Okuribito (Departures, Japanese); Spirited Away (Japanese); Slumdog Millionaire (English/Indian); Water (Indian); Atonement (English); The Debt; Decalogue I (Polish); The Adjustment Bureau.

2. The following texts:

Ecclesiastes.

Boorstin, Jon. Making Movies Work. Silman-James Press, 1995. (160 pgs.) ISBN: 1879505274. $13.57.

Callaway, Kutter. Hearing Images. Baylor University Press, 2012 (forthcoming). (200 pgs.)

Johnston, Robert. Reel Spirituality. 2nd ed. Baker, 2006. (290 pgs.) ISBN: 978-0801031878. $15.63.

________. Useless Beauty. Baker, 2004. (190 pgs.) ISBN: 08010278-3. $10.00.

Class reader (approx. 300 total pgs.): critical essays and chapters by bell hooks, Gordon Lynch, Joel Green, Ellen Davis, Clive Marsh, William Placher, Kathryn Tanner, and others.

1. Online class participation, which includes viewing and journaling on the assigned movies (10%), and contributing substantively to weekly threaded discussions (15%)

2. Quiz on Boorstin, Making Movies Work (5%)

3. One 2-page critical review of Johnston, Reel Spirituality (10%)

4. One 2-page critical review of Callaway, Hearing Images (10%)

5. One 3-page report on ministry project using a film from Finding God in the Movies (20%)

6. One 10-page paper on a film(s) (approved by the instructor) bringing the movie(s) into dialogue with Ecclesiastes, whether letting the film shed light on the biblical text, using the biblical text to critique the movie, or otherwise engaging in dialogue (30%)