Overview

How might film reveal God? In its most basic form, film is a series of images displayed over time. Of course, film has developed greatly since the Lumiere brothers by adding components such as sound, special effects, digital recording, and more to create an increasingly complex artistic medium. Historically, film studies has often focused on the narrative aspect of film as it seeks to tell a story. More recent studies, however, have turned attention to other elements of film, such as the musical score. Yet, film remains, in a sense, a series of images. In this Studies in Theology and the Arts (STA) volume, theologian Richard Goodwin considers how the images that constitute film might be a conduit of God's revelation. By considering works by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Bresson, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, and more, Goodwin argues that by inviting emotional responses, film images can be a medium of divine revelation. Blessed are those who have seen God... through film. The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.

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9781514002001

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Reviews

"""Seeing Is Believing breaks new ground for Christians desiring to become more discerning filmgoers. Helping viewers move beyond mere plot analysis, Goodwin heightens our awareness of what images also accomplish. If you love going to movies, you'll love reading this book. You'll also love watching your next movie more!"" Robert K. Johnston, senior professor of theology and culture and codirector of Brehm Film at Fuller Theological Seminary ""Protestant theology has never known quite what to do with visual images of any kind, much less moving images. In Seeing Is Believing, Richard Goodwin short-circuits the ambivalence toward the visual that has long defined (Protestant) theological engagements with film. In doing so, he doesn't merely invite us to clarify our vision with respect to the theological significance of film. Rather, as if we were Neo emerging from the Matrix, Goodwin asks us to consider what might transpire if we actually used our eyes, perhaps for the very first time."" Kutter Callaway, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue"

"""Seeing Is Believing breaks new ground for Christians desiring to become more discerning filmgoers. Helping viewers move beyond mere plot analysis, Goodwin heightens our awareness of what images also accomplish. If you love going to movies, you'll love reading this book. You'll also love watching your next movie more!"" --Robert K. Johnston, senior professor of theology and culture and codirector of Brehm Film at Fuller Theological Seminary ""Finally! A theological discussion of cinema that focuses on and takes pleasure in how a cinematic story is told, not merely in what the story supposedly means. Goodwin's book leads students of theology and film in the right direction, away from easy moralizing and toward a more enthusiastic encounter with God's active presence in the light that reflects off the silver screen."" --Elijah Davidson, author of How to Talk to a Movie: Movie-Watching as a Spiritual Exercise and codirector of the Brehm Film Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary ""Protestant theology has never known quite what to do with visual images of any kind, much less moving images. In Seeing Is Believing, Richard Goodwin short-circuits the ambivalence toward the visual that has long defined (Protestant) theological engagements with film. In doing so, he doesn't merely invite us to clarify our vision with respect to the theological significance of film. Rather, as if we were Neo emerging from the Matrix, Goodwin asks us to consider what might transpire if we actually used our eyes, perhaps for the very first time."" --Kutter Callaway, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue"

Seeing Is Believing breaks new ground for Christians desiring to become more discerning filmgoers. Helping viewers move beyond mere plot analysis, Goodwin heightens our awareness of what images also accomplish. If you love going to movies, you'll love reading this book. You'll also love watching your next movie more! Robert K. Johnston, senior professor of theology and culture and codirector of Brehm Film at Fuller Theological Seminary Protestant theology has never known quite what to do with visual images of any kind, much less moving images. In Seeing Is Believing, Richard Goodwin short-circuits the ambivalence toward the visual that has long defined (Protestant) theological engagements with film. In doing so, he doesn't merely invite us to clarify our vision with respect to the theological significance of film. Rather, as if we were Neo emerging from the Matrix, Goodwin asks us to consider what might transpire if we actually used our eyes, perhaps for the very first time. Kutter Callaway, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue

Author Information

Richard Vance Goodwin (PhD, University of Otago) is adjunct assistant professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary.

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