By Darrell L. Bock and Kymberli M. Cook
[Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor in New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Kymberli M. Cook is Assistant Director of the Hendricks Center and a PhD student in Theological Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.]
It may surprise you that sitting down in a velveted chair with a tub of popcorn could be a spiritual exercise. It may be an even bigger surprise to consider that the movie itself might be the fruit of a spiritual exercise on the part of the filmmakers. Film and Christian theology may seem a strange couple, but they actually have much in common. They both observe our world, identifying and teasing out themes they encounter. They are both eminently concerned with the internal state of the audience. They both seek to share a story and elicit a response. Both film and theology strive to communicate in intentional ways. Both attempt to shepherd hearts. Serious films and documentaries (also created in formats known as “shorts” because they can be as short as ten minutes) discuss life and its issues. Film reflects on the human condition. Through film we can see the world wrestle with life. What happens when film and theology come together?
Film As Ministry
The Hendricks Center’s The Table podcast explored various dimensions of the film-theology relationship through theological reviews of current and classic movies and in-depth conversations with Christian filmmakers. Some filmmakers have committed themselves to a ministry of creating Christian movies, such as Alex Kendrick, who has written and directed multiple movies, including Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, and War Room. Others have felt the call to engage broader topics, delving into spiritual truths as they explore the wider culture. The Center has partnered with John Priddy and Windrider Institute to do just that. Windrider, a “leadership forum, international short film showcase, producer, and content and resource provider,” inspires people to create. An official partner with the Sundance Film Festival, they seek to catalyze cultural reflection through the medium of film. Priddy says that, “wind riders [were] who we endeavor to be—folks that were trying to pay attention to where God’s Spirit was moving in the creative process through these stories. That’s the origination of Windrider—that we would be those folks that would ride God’s wind.”
Darrell Bock and Mikel Del Rosario, associate professor of Bible and theology at Moody Bible Institute, learned much about the Holy Spirit’s movement through the creative process inherent in us as human beings. They talked with Alex Kendrick and John Priddy, as well as Claude Alexander, a thoughtful film advocate and pastor of over thirty years at The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Film can do a lot for people in the church. People in the church can also do a lot for film. Kendrick’s personal story of getting into the industry shows what the Lord can do with an open and creative heart.
Del Rosario: What would you say, Alex, to a Christian who is wanting to get into filmmaking? They feel God’s called them to do this. What pieces of advice would you give them?
Kendrick: I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times with people. A young person will come up to me and say, “I want to make movies one day.” And so, because movies can tend to be a very ego-driven thing, I always ask, “Why do you want to make movies?” And if their answer is, “I want to be a star. I want to go to Hollywood. I want to make movies” . . . then it’s better that you don’t. It should not be an ego-driven thing. It should be like anything else. I’m a storyteller because I think God wired me that way. You want to use that avenue to draw people closer to him.
I found an article by George Barna where he had done a national survey. He basically said that movies, television, and the internet were the three most influential factors in our culture. I took that to our pastor and asked him if I could make a feature film for the community of Albany, Georgia. He said, “Do you know how to make feature films?” And I did not. So he said, “If you pray the money in, I’ll support you if God’s in it.” So I started praying, and the Lord began prompting people to come give me the funds needed. So $20,000 was given. I had written a movie called Flywheel—this was about lordship. We made that movie with just volunteers out of our church. Very low budget, $20,000. It was really, really hard to make, but it made a big splash in the community, and ended up selling more DVDs than I could count. There are some funny little moments that happened in that journey. . . . It was the first step in God saying, “I’ve called you to this, and I’ll be with you if you honor me.”
God calls some to tell stories that matter and make people think; this is a different but important kind of ministry. As a tool of that ministerial trade, Priddy suggests that eliciting these deeper biblical and theological reflections on spiritual truths inherent in our culture via film requires a different kind of hermeneutic. He states, we must “reverse the hermeneutical flow, which is instead of starting with our tradition and Scripture and working out to film or a story, we start with a story in and of itself and then bring it back, reverse it if you will, and bring it back to our context, back to our traditions, back to our Scriptures.” Christian filmmakers offer the entire industry the opportunity to reflect on deep truths that will ideally point them to the maker of those truths or at minimum heighten their appreciation for the depth of God’s creation. Priddy goes on to suggest that independent filmmakers, writers, or directors function as “poets and sages in many ways, prophets in some ways.” They give voice to those deeper themes in a compelling manner that makes it difficult for people to ignore.
The Power In A Fourth Wall
The fourth wall, that invisible barrier that keeps characters and stories in a world apart from our own, is a powerful instrument for communication. Throughout our conversations with these film-makers, we encountered three different strengths offered by the fourth wall. First, it guards against polarization. Priddy and Bock discussed this phenomenon in connection with a film from a recent Sundance Festival.
Bock: Okay. So, let me talk about three different pieces. The one that you have currently on your website is called For the Love of Neighbor. . . . My understanding is it’s about three different people in the public service sphere, politicians, and for different levels, local and national. Tell me more about that, For the Love of Neighbor. Right now, when I think of politics, that’s not the first phrase that often jumps into my mind. So let’s talk about why you saw that piece as valuable.
Priddy: At Windrider we try to stay out of electoral politics in general because once electoral politics enter into the conversation, there is no conversation. So we’ve been really disciplined over the years to try to stay out of electoral politics. But For the Love of Neighbor was a film that was commissioned by the American Enterprise Institute and their Faith & Public Life division, which is taking some of the very brightest, young, Christian leaders in universities across the country and basically doing a level of teaching and interaction [with] those that feel called to serve in the public realm.
So For the Love of Neighbor—the filmmaker’s a tremendous filmmaker. His name is Ryan Patch, close friend of Windrider. In fact, there’s another film in our library called Regulation, a narrative film that he did. It’s fantastic, so I commend that to you. But For the Love of Neighbor was a way that a filmmaker could tell a story about three different people who come at public service in three different ways.
They did a great job of not coming at it in a politicized way that says it’s either Republican or Democrat. It led with the idea of the value of public service, the high calling of public service, and the reason why young people who are bent that way now need to be encouraged, not discouraged, from going into that space, because if you spend your time around the political environment and you’re watching any of the news channels, or even social media, you would be dissuaded from [entering public service]. So this tells the story of three different people serving in three very different ways in the political spectrum, in the public service spectrum. I think it’s well done. And I think we need it. It feels like a tonic or a healing balm for why public service is important.
Bock: I’m attached to an organization here that’s primarily local, called Christians in Public Service, in which the attempt is to minister alongside public servants and people who step into that role. [They] are under incredible pressures from constituents in terms of both the kinds of decisions they face, the expectations that are had of them—the way in which, at least in many political environments today, you have to be constantly raising a lot of money in order to run. They’re under terrific pressure.
So we’ve tried to come alongside them, almost like a chaplaincy, with people who’ve done public service before. It’s completely nonpartisan and [we are] just trying to serve them as Christians alongside. I think it’s an aspect of public service that, again, most people—it’s like the filmmaking—aren’t even aware of what . . . that can mean for them and the pressure that they’re under. So I was actually intrigued to see this, and I’m looking forward to watching it as a good example.
Polarization is diminished when you are able to put yourself in the other side’s shoes. You are pulled into their world, and you are no longer looking through your own eyes but through a completely different lens. This, the second strength of the fourth wall, broadens our perspective.
Priddy: [Films] take us to places we haven’t been. They introduce us to people we haven’t met. And they bring the human component into our world, and empathy is unleashed. And so, we’re able to have conversations around very important subjects, subjects that the people of faith are already having conversations around. But they sort of remove the barrier of polarity. We’re not sitting on this side or that side of a political or theological conversation. We’re looking at the story as a standalone piece of art. Then we interact with it directly. In the same way, it’s true for short films, because most [if not] all short films are independent films. They bring to us that unique, independent voice that allows us to interact.
Standing in a new place that is less polarized because of a developed sense of compassion provides fertile ground for self-reflection. This is the third strength of the fourth wall. It opens you up to helpful critique.
Alexander: We watched films and then began to look at what they’re saying. What are they saying about what it means to be alive, to be human? Every film is raising a question or providing a view in terms of what it means to live, how one transcends, et cetera.
Not only does the fourth wall open us up to new thoughts and voices, but at times it speaks with a prophetic voice.
Alexander: [Films] function the same way parables function, and that is, a story is told that draws you in. Almost disarmingly so. It confronts you with an issue, and you begin to make decisions or judgments.
To open that fourth wall is a privilege and responsibility. Believers in the industry can reduce the tribalism rife in our society in a fresh, persuasive manner by sharing various perspectives and challenging us to address the logs in our own eyes. Film not only provides a powerful ministry platform but also serves as a potential partner alongside the church.
Film Engagement In The Church
How might the church intentionally work alongside Christian filmmakers and the film industry in general? For those who find themselves in movie theater seats, it is important to sit there thoughtfully. Two skills in this area surfaced as Bock and Alexander spoke.
Bock: I sometimes find myself wondering how people in the church engage with media, particularly the medium of films. Some of this has [the potential] to have us think about the way we live through the eyes of someone else who’s helping us see. What advice would you give to people as they think about what they take in?
Alexander: Well, first, films provide an opportunity for either a window to be given through which we’re able to look outwardly or a mirror to be held before us in which we are able to look introspectively. And good films do both. Good films provide both a window through which one is able to see as well as a mirror from which one is able to see oneself. Secondly, being able to identify, “What is the tension that this film is creating within me?” There is a tension that a film always has within itself, that it will either bring to resolution or leave unresolved. Within the course of that, we are drawn into it and certain tensions are created within us. . . . With the movie When You Finish Saving the World, one of the points of tension that it created within me was seeing what was driving both the mother and the son—how they were the same, but they were . . . not recognizing it in each other until the very, very end. And how often is that the case between parent and child? [I’m] able to interrogate the tension that the film is causing within me as I’m watching it either be resolved or not as a film.
Christian viewers need to develop the ability to identify a film’s presented perspective and how that perspective affects self-understanding. While likely an uncomfortable process, it is important to sit in that discomfort and engage our curiosity surrounding that felt tension. That process will likely surface the transformational gem.
After becoming a thoughtful viewer, one must become an invested one. The church must recognize art’s power within our society and make it a value rather than a luxury. Priddy and Bock discussed the importance of the church financially supporting artists.
Priddy: It is very difficult to be an artist because it’s difficult to earn a living as an artist. It’s difficult to be understood as an artist. That’s why I recommend Makoto Fujimura’s book Art and Faith to your audience. I would say it’s important for those that don’t consider themselves “artists” in the truest sense of the word—painters, sculptors, craftsmen, artisans of any kind. The church needs to surround those folks and to help provide them resources, buying their art. Be an art buyer.
I love to buy art from local artists. I like to think about a place in my house where a piece of art is needed and then go find that from a local artist. So I think in many ways the challenge of the arts is our lack of appreciation, understanding of the artist, and the need that we have. We work really closely with the International Arts Movement, and we hear that over and over again from artists across the board. [They want] just to be recognized and seen and come alongside as a valuable part of our communities.
We have a little video with Makoto [in which] he said artists are like honeybees—they pollinate. And so we need artists. . . . I’ve spent a bit of time on [this question] because it’s near and dear to my heart. That’s how I got involved originally is by coming alongside artists and being in the room with them as they’re trying to present and sell their art, standing with them arm-to-arm. I think it’s an important thing, and there are a lot of gaps in our communities around that.
Bock: Yeah. When the culture is only filled with art coming from somewhere else without asking some of the questions that the kinds of artists you are highlighting [are asking], then the challenge even becomes greater. So we need artists who can speak into the space—“speak” in quotes. I mean tell stories in that space, and in some cases just visualizing that space in a way that causes people to reflect.
In addition to this call for patronage of art created within a community, Del Rosario and Kendrick identified the posture the church should have toward the role of the filmmaker. Instead of seeing them as pursuing a lucrative business or out to make a name for themselves, Kendrick exhorted the church to pray for and support those in the arts.
Del Rosario: How can pastors come alongside Christians who are involved in the arts—who are actors, who are filmmakers—and be a better support and encouragement?
Kendrick: They should treat them like they treat a missionary: to pray over them regularly, to send them into an area of the world that desperately needs Jesus, and to love and support them. It may be—if someone is called into the arts, but they recognize they’re called to do it for God’s glory—that they get the same level of support from their church or ministry that a missionary would because we can use the screen and the television and the Internet to present the gospel just like someone going to a foreign country. . . . If their heart is right and they can do it for God’s glory, then we should support them. You rarely see a missionary that’s haughty and egotistical going to another country. Right? Well, people in the arts should be the same way. You should be humble and honor the Lord. . . . Check out [our books and movies], and if you agree with what we’re doing, then let your people know about them and use them as ministry tools. There are people that will come see a movie that may not come in the door on Sunday morning to hear a sermon. So use them as ministry tools. We’re grateful for those pastors that bring groups on opening weekend to our films, because when our distributor sees that the films are working, then they give them even more theaters and more support, and that means more people see the ministry of it.
Conclusion
While an odd coupling at first glance, theology and film really can go hand in hand. Like Christian theology, filmmaking’s artistry offers a powerful platform for a compelling message. Whether explicitly Christian or creatively subdued, the message engages kingdom values. The work of those behind the script and the camera can minister to the body of Christ and all society. The church ought to intentionally support the arts, engage thoughtfully, and enjoy the show.
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