Film and Religion

S. Brent Plate has edited four books in the area of religion and cinema, as well as authored his own book 'Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World', which is currently being expanded and revised into a second edition. He has served on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion's 'Religion, Film, and Visual Culture' program unit and is on the editorial board of the journal Religion and Film.

• Volume 1: Religion in Film Part 1: Reframing myths as plot device1. Adele Reinhartz, ‘Jesus in Film: Hollywood Perspectives on the Jewishness of Jesus’, Journal of Religion and Film, 2, 2, 1998.2. Scott R. Stroud, ‘Narrative Translation Across Cultures: From The Bhagavad Gita to The Legend of Bagger Vance’, Journal of Communication and Religion, 26, 1, 2003, pp. 51-82.3. Walter C. Metz, ‘Adapting Genesis’, Literature/Film Quarterly, 35, 3, 2007, pp. 229-36.4. Annalee R. Ward, ‘The Lion King's Mythic Narrative’, Journal of Popular Film & Television, 23, 4, 1996, pp. 171-8. 5. Bron Taylor and Adrian Ivakhiv, ‘Opening Pandora's Film’, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, 4, 4, 2010, pp. 384-393.Part 2: Screening rituals6. Maria Consuelo Maisto, ‘Cinematic Communion? Babette's Feast, Transcendental Style, and Interdisciplinarity’, in S. Brent Plate and David Jasper (eds.) Imag(in)ing Otherness: Filmic Visions of Living Together (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press / Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), pp. 83- 98.7. Meraj Ahmed Mubarki, ‘Exploring the ‘Other’: inter-faith marriages in Jodhaa Akbar and beyond’, Contemporary South Asia, 22, 3, 2014, pp. 255–267. 8. Nacim Pak-Shiraz, ‘Filmic Discourses on the Role of the Clergy in Iran’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 34, 3, 2007, pp. 331-349.9. Cora Dean and Kenneth Dean, ‘Making Bored in Heaven: A Film About Ritual Sensation’, Visual Anthropology Review, 30, 1, 2014, pp. 50–61. Part 3: Symbolism in the mise-en-scene: props, characters, shadows and light10. Francisco Cho, ‘The Play of Shadows in Japanese Cinema’, Material Religion, 11, 4, 2016, pp. 507-525. 11. Timothy K. Beal, ‘Behold Thou the Behemoth: Imaging the Unimaginable in Monster Movies’, in S. Brent Plate and David Jasper (eds.) Imag(in)ing Otherness: Filmic Visions of Living Together (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press / Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), pp. 197-211.12. Eve Mullen, ‘Buddhism, Children, and the Childlike in American Buddhist Films’, in Gary Storhoff and John Wahlen-Bridge (eds.) Buddhism and American Cinema (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2014), pp. 39-52. 13. Natalie Fritz, ‘Images Traveling through Time and Media: De- and Reconstruction of the Holy Family in Contemporary Independent Cinema’, in Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati (ed.) Religion in Cultural Imaginary: Explorations in Visual and Material Practices (Baden Baden, Germany: Nomos, 2015), pp. 173-203. Part 4: Sacred Space14. Marie-Therese Mader, ‘In Search of Orientation in Cinematic Spaces: The Journey Motif in Fiction Film from a Transdisciplinary Perspective of Film and Religion Studies’, in Mark K. George and Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati (eds.) Religious Representation in Place (London/New York: Palgrave 2014), pp. 159-176. 15. Linda C. Ehrlich, ‘Kore-eda's Ocean View’, Film Criticism, 35, 2/3, 2011, pp. 127-146.16. Walter Armbrust, ‘Islamically Marked Bodies and Urban Space in Two Egyptian Films’, Material Religion, 8, 3, 2012, pp. 354-373. Volume 2: Film as ReligionPart 5: Filmmaking as religious practice17. P. Adams Sitney, ‘Tales of the Tribes’, Chicago Review, 47, 4 - 48, 1 (2001 - 2002), pp. 97-115. 18. Scott MacDonald, ‘Sacred Speed: An Interview with Nathaniel Dorsky,’ Film Quarterly, 54, 4, pp. 2-11. 19. Macky Alston, ‘Filmmaking as Spiritual Practice and Ministry’ CrossCurrents, 54, 1, 2004, pp. 76-83.Part 6: The effect of the body watching films20. Patrick Colm Hogan, ‘On the Meaning of Style: Cognition, Culture, and Visual Technique in Bimal Roy's Sujata’, Projections, 3, 2, 2009, pp. 71-90. 21. S. Brent Plate, ‘Religious Cinematics: The Immediate Body in the Media of Film’, Postscripts, 1, 2-3, 2005, pp. 257-73.22. Vivian Sobchack, ‘Embodying Transcendence: On the Literal, the Material and the Cinematic Sublime’, Material Religion, 4, 2, 2008, pp. 194-203. 23. Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda, ‘Embodied Engagements: Filmmaking and Viewing Practices and the Habitus of Telugu Cinema’, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 7, 1, 2016, pp. 80-95. Part 7: Imperialism, colonialism, and post-colonialism24. Antonio D. Sison, ‘Afflictive Apparitions: The Folk Catholic Imaginary in Philippine Cinema’, Material Religion, 11, 4, 2015, pp. 421-442. 25. Gabriel Estrada, ‘Navajo Sci-Fi Film: Matriarchal Visual Sovereignty in Nanobah Becker's The 6th World’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 82, 2, 2014, pp. 521-530. 26. Ira Bhaskar, ‘Allegory, Nationalism, and Cultural Change in Indian Cinema: Sant Tukaram’, Literature and Theology, 12, 1, 1998, pp. 50-69.27. Jolyon Mitchell, ‘Decolonizing Religion in African Film’, Studies in World Christianity, 15, 2, 2009, pp. 149-161. 28. Edna M. Rodriguez-Mangual, ‘Santeria and the Quest for a Postcolonial Identity in Post-Revolutionary Cuban Cinema’, in S. Brent Plate (ed.) Representing Religion in World Cinema (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 219-238.Part 8: Religious critics of film and films critiquing religion29. Gregory D. Black, ‘Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940’, Film History, 3, 3, 1989, pp. 167-189.30. Sheila J. Nayar, ‘Media Review: Bollywood Religious Comedy: An Inaugural Humor-neutics’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83, 3, 2015, pp. 808-825. 31. Elijah Siegler, ‘David Cronenberg: The Secular Auteur as Critic of Religion’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 80, 4, 2012, pp. 1098–1112.32. John C. Lyden, ‘To Commend or To Critique? The Question of Religion and Film Studies’, Journal of Religion and Film, 1, 2, 1997.Volume 3: Film in ReligionPart 9: A medium with a mission 33. Dwight H. Friesen, ‘How Karunamayudu (1978) Became an Evangelistic Tool: Implications for Understanding Evangelicals and Media’, Exchange, 41, 2, 2012, pp. 120-143. 34. Adam T. Shreve, ‘Religious Films in Zimbabwean Contexts: Film Reception Concerning Representations of Jesus’, International Journal of Public Theology, 9, 2015, pp. 193-211. 35. Birgit Meyer, ‘Pentecostalism, prosperity and popular cinema in Ghana’, Culture and Religion, 3, 1, 2002, pp. 67–86.36. Tony Shaw, ‘Martyrs, Miracles, and Martians: Religion and Cold War Cinematic Propaganda in the 1950s’, Journal of Cold War Studies, 4, 2, 2002, pp. 3-22. Part 10: Remaking myths and rituals in light of films37. Patrick T. Kinkade and Michael A. Katovich, ‘Toward a Sociology of Cult Films: Reading "Rocky Horror"’, Sociological Quarterly, 33, 2, 1992, pp. 191-209.38. Gregory W. Schneider, ‘Cinematic Ceremony: Toward a New Definition of Ritual’, Visual Anthropology, 21, 2008, pp. 1–17. 39. Luis A. Vivanco, ‘Performative Pilgrims and the Shifting Grounds of Anthropological Documentary’, in S. Brent Plate (ed.) Representing Religion in World Cinema (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 159-177.40. Philip Lutgendorf, ‘Ritual reverb: Two 'blockbuster' Hindi films’, South Asian Popular Culture, 10, 1, 2012, pp. 63–76. 41. Martyn Rogers, ‘From the Sacred to the Performative: Tamil Film Star Fan Clubs, Religious Devotion and the Material Culture of Film Star Portraits’, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 23, 1, 2011, pp. 40-52.42. Jolyon Baraka Thomas, ‘Shûkyô Asobi and Miyazaki Hayao's Anime’, Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 10, 3, 2007, pp. 73-95. 43. Heather Hendershot, ‘Waiting for the end of the world: Christian Apocalyptic Media at the Turn of the Millenium’, in Jon Lewis (ed.) The End of Cinema as We Know It: American Films in the Nineties (New York: NYU Press, 2001), pp. 332-341.44. Gary Laderman, ‘The Disney Way of Death’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 68, 1, 2000, pp. 27-46. Part 11: Reframing identity 45. Judith Weisenfeld, ‘‘My Story Begins Before I Was Born’: Myth, History and Power in Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust’, S. Brent Plate (ed.) in Representing Religion in World Cinema (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 43-66.46. Ulrike Vollmer, ‘Towards an Ethics of Seeing: Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson’, Literature and Theology, 19, 1, 2005, pp. 74-85.47. Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi, ‘Iranian Women, Iranian Cinema: Negotiating with Ideology and Tradition’, Journal of Religion and Film, 19, 1, 2015.48. Stefanie Knauss, ‘Exploring Orthodox Jewish Masculinities with Eyes Wide Open’, Journal of Religion and Film, 17, 2, 2013.49. Jane Naomi Iwamura, ‘The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture’, in Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan (eds.) Religion and Popular Culture in America, revised edition (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), pp. 25-43.Volume 4: Biblical and Theological Connections to Film Part 12: From text to screen: the bible on film50. Larry J. Kreitzer, ‘The Scandal of the Cross: Crucifixion Imagery in Bram Stoker's Dracula’, in George Aichele and Tina Pippin (eds.) The Monstrous and the Unspeakable: The Bible as Fantastic Literature (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), pp. 181-219.51. J. Cheryl Exum, ‘Michal at the Movies’, in M. Daniel Carroll R., David J. A. Clines, and Philip R. Davies, (eds.) The Bible in Human Society: Essays in Honour of John Rogerson JSOT Supplement 200. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), pp. 273-92.52. Fiona C. Black, ‘A Miserable Feast: Dishing Up the Biblical Body in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover’, Biblical interpretation, 14, 1-2, 2006, pp. 110-126. 53. Frances Flannery Dailey, ‘Bruce Willis as the Messiah: Human Effort, Salvation and Apocalypticism in Twelve Monkeys’, Journal of Religion and Film, 4, 1, 2000.Part 13: Intertexts: exegesis meets cinema meets socio-political life54. George Aichele, ‘The Possibility of Error: Minority Report and the Gospel of Mark’, Biblical Interpretation, 14, 1-2, pp. 143-157. 55. Tod Linafelt and Jennifer L. Koosed, ‘How the West Was Not One: Delilah Deconstructs the Western’, Semeia, 74, 1996, pp. 167-81. 56. Richard Walsh, ‘(Carrying the fire on) no road for old horses: Cormac McCarthy's untold biblical stories’, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 24, 3, 2012, pp. 339-351. 57. Erin Runions, ‘Tolerating Babel: The Bible, Film, and the Family in U.S. Biopolitics’, Religious Studies and Theology, 29, 2, 2010, pp. 143-169. Part 14: Theological themes in film58. Jeffery A. Smith, ‘Hollywood Theology: The Commodification of Religion in Twentieth-Century Films’, Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, 11, 2, 2001, pp. 191-231. 59. Richard A. Blake, ‘Redeemed in Blood: The Sacramental Universe of Martin Scorsese’, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 24, 1, 1996, pp. 2-9. 60. Bryan Stone, ‘The Sanctification of Fear: Images of the Religious in Horror Films’, The Journal of Religion and Film, 5, 2, 2001.61. Theresa Sanders, ‘God and Guns’, in Colleen McDannell (ed.) Catholics in the Movies (New York: Oxford, 2008), pp. 127-48.Part 15: Theologizing with film62. Joseph G. Kickasola, ‘The Mystery Dialectic in Cinema: Paradox, Mystery, Miracle’, Christian Scholars Review, 40, 4, June 2011, pp. 425-440.63. Kathleen E. Urda, ‘Eros and Contemplation: The Catholic Vision of Terrence Malick's To The Wonder’, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought & Culture, 19, 1, 2016, pp. 130-147. 64. Kent L. Brintnall, ‘Tarantino's Incarnational Theology: Reservoir Dogs, Crucifixion, and Spectacular Violence’, CrossCurrents, 54, 1, 2004, pp. 66-75. 65. Gerard Loughlin, ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, Theology and Sexuality, 13, 2000, pp. 92-118.66. Soffa Sjö, ‘Saviours and Sexuality in Contemporary Science-fiction Film: Reflections on Virginity, Chastity and Gender’, Theology & Sexuality, 15, 3, 2009, pp. 293-309.