Before a Christian embarks on a serious, sustained engagement with some particular genre of art or popular culture (like movies), it’s important to think through foundational concepts and establish a big-picture vision for what healthy Christian engagement with culture looks like—and an understanding of what it’s for. Why should Christians care about movies or pay attention to what’s happening in pop culture? Should we view movies primarily as an artform where, by common grace, good, truth, and beauty can be expressed? As helpful “intel” on the longings at play in secular culture, to aid us in evangelism and apologetics? Simply fodder for leisure and entertainment? We’ll look at these questions and more.

Any fruitful engagement with film, from a Christian perspective, must take seriously questions of discernment. Hollywood’s reputation for being morally lax and—at times—purposefully transgressive is well-earned. At a time when the explicit-content boundaries continue to be pushed to new extremes, how should Christians think through the wisdom of when to watch and when to abstain? How does our “no” and “yes” to certain films affect our witness? How does what we watch affect our souls? We’ll discuss these questions and look at the broader history of Christianity’s relationship with Hollywood—which has often been fraught. How do Christian viewers—and Christian filmmakers—enter into this highly secular sphere without being morally compromised by it?

How does Christianity fare as a subject matter in contemporary movies? How do modern filmmakers use Christian imagery, motifs, and virtues in both positive and critical ways? What are the best recent examples of sympathetic portrayals of Christianity, and how might we learn from the more unsympathetic portrayals? What is the “push and pull” of post-Christendom culture, and how does it show up in movies? We’ll explore these questions and spend time discussing two recent movies: Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) and Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland (2023). We’ll also explore how the post-Christendom push-and-pull dynamic parallels metamodernism and oscillation between modernism and postmodern dispositions.

Occasionally Hollywood turns out movies that depict Christian faith in substantive, even challenging ways. What are some inspiring, compelling examples of biographical films about Christians? From Chariots of Fire to Sophie Scholl to the recent documentary on John Allen Chau (2023’s The Mission), Hollywood sometimes finds faith not objectionable but even imitable. We will spend most of this session discussing two of the most significant recent films of this sort: Xavier Beauvois’s Of Gods and Men (2010) and Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life (2019).

Why is science fiction particularly well suited for wrestling with big questions and giving expression to cultural anxieties about humanity, technology, even eschatology? What recent science fiction films have been particularly helpful or insightful? We’ll discuss the genre as a whole through a theological lens, as well as two recent sci-fi films in particular: Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar

From The Searchers to Unforgiven to Meek’s Cutoff annd many more, Westerns have frequently provided fertile ground for all manner of moral and existential inquiry. Thoughtful Westerns frequently ponder sin and depravity, gallantry and cowardice, and human finitude in a world of death and decay. What examples from the Western genre have you found particularly helpful or insightful? We’ll discuss the genre as a whole through a theological lens, as well as two recent—and very different—takes on the genre: The Coen brothers’ Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Chloe Zhao’s The Rider.

Hollywood has always cashed in on audience hunger for gangster films, heists, brooding film-noir, and anti-hero displays of bad behavior. Why are these films so attractive to audiences? What is so engrossing in watching bad people do bad things? How is this genre particularly in conversation with human longings for justice? We’ll discuss the genre as a whole through a theological lens, as well as two films—one American, one European—which offer very different examples of the genre: Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition and the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant.

In the final cohort meeting, we’ll discuss films made by Christians. Should we understand “Christian film” as a genre, a movement, a marketing term, or is the label entirely unhelpful? We’ll discuss various diverse examples of films made by Christians, as well as the notion of a Christian aesthetic or style of filmmaking. What are the possibilities and pitfalls for Christians working in the film industry? Who is doing it well, and what would we like to see going forward? We’ll discuss these questions and more in this concluding meeting of the cohort.