Religion on the Silver Screen (original) (raw)

Introduction [1] There is an ongoing debate in the field of religion and film studies about whether or not film makes a unique contribution to our understanding of religion. Since most religion and film scholars are concerned about the representation of religion on the silver screen, only a few scholars who are interested in something more than how religion is portrayed in the movies carry out the debate about the uniqueness of film. So far, the debate has not yielded results that would move the question of the uniqueness of film to the center of religion and film studies. It seems to me, however, that the uniqueness of film deserves more attention than it has received. In this paper, I explore the debate about the uniqueness of film, identify several of the efforts to explain the uniqueness of film, and try to see if there is enough in common to influence the future of religion and film studies.