When God created man, he made us as more than spirit and thought.  We, as well as the world around us, has material form.  There is design, there is order, and there is beauty.

This is also the way God speaks to us.  He not only speaks to us through story, but he also paints a picture.  From the beginning, the faithful were told to make memorials, build a temple, and take a physical action (such as marching around Jericho) to represent the war in the heavenlies that was in process.

Images have impact.  Regardless of their message, they communicate meaning.  In our culture full of positioned images, it is important to identify the message that is being communicated, whether that be through visual art or film.

This was the focus of one of my very first classes in my apologetics program and it was a very fun way to begin.  In addition to the required text, there was a list of required films to view ranging from The Birds by Hitchcock, to The Last Temptation of Christ by Scorsese, to The Decalogue by Kieślowski.  Two of my reflections from this class were published in the third edition of An Unexpected Journal, one on the deeper meaning in the Pixar short, Lava, and a second on the symbolism of hope found in the Fountain of Trevi.

Books on Film & Apologetics

Beholding the Glory:
on Amazon

Shows About Nothing:
on Amazon

Reel Spirituality:
on Amazon

Visual Faith:
on Amazon

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

Movies

Part of apologetics is knowing the conversation that are going on in our culture.  In today’s culture, morals and values are not transmitted by religious institutions, but by the shows we watch and the movies we go see.  This class covered not only the technical details of how stories are told, but examined what the underlying message of the storyteller was.  Some of these movies, such as Obvious Child, have no value in and of themselves other than highlighting how our postmodern culture views a certain topic (actually, Obvious Child is the only one on this list that has absolutely no redeeming qualities), others, such as Christopher Nolan’s films that explore the problem of evil from a nihilist perspective, are really discussing the same issues that philosophers have pondered for centuries.

The Birds:  On Amazon

Rear Window:
On Amazon

Moonrise Kingdom:
On Amazon

Palm Beach:
On Amazon

Psycho:
On Amazon

The Royal Tenenbaums:
On Amazon

Rushmore: On Amazon

The Life Aquatic:
On Amazon

The Fantastic Mr. Fox:
On Amazon

Crimes & Misdemeanors:
On Amazon

Dogma:
On Amazon

Shadow & Fog:
On Amazon

Lars & the Real Girl:
On Amazon

Obvious Child:
On Amazon

The Prestige:
On Amazon

The Dark Knight:
On Amazon

Close Encounters:
On Amazon

Fight Club:
On Amazon

Children of Men:
On Amazon

The Decalogue:
On Amazon

Inception:
On Amazon

Stardust Memories:
On Amazon

Tree of Life:
On Amazon