In the last two installments of “How to Watch a Movie,” we covered the nine elements of (nearly) every Hollywood movie and then applied those nine elements to two particular movies, Braveheart and Tommy Boy. In this post, I will choose six “themes” that are prevalent in Hollywood and list a couple of movies that [ Read More ]
In the third installment of our series on “How to Watch a Movie”, we explored the nine elements in (nearly) every movie; in the current installment, we’ll illustrate those nine elements by delving into the storyline of two popular movies–Braveheart and Tommy Boy. Why these two movies? For two reasons. First, they are familiar. In [ Read More ]
Having explored the Bible’s overarching story in the second installment of “How to Watch a Movie,” this third post will delve into the major components of a Hollywood storyline. Drawing upon Brian Godawa’s Hollywood Worldviews, we will explore the nine things you’ll find in (nearly) every Hollywood movie: theme, hero, hero’s goal, adversary, character flaw, [ Read More ]
As I mentioned in the first installment of this series, Hollywood serves as America’s most influential “seminary.” Given cinema’s pervasive reach and its powerful ability to tell stories that are loaded with religious and philosophical meaning, pastors and churches must find ways to help their people be shaped more by the Bible’s narrative than they [ Read More ]
No offense to professors and pastors, but the most influential philosophers and religious teachers in our nation are its screenwriters, producers, directors, actors, and soundtrack artists. These artist-priests convey their worldviews and dogmas through Hollywood movies, which are unusually powerful and effective media for conveying messages, making impressions, and rousing emotions. They create an imaginative [ Read More ]
From the U.S. Senate race in Alabama to the tax debate in the U.S. Congress, the role of religion in American politics is once again front and center. In Alabama, Republican candidate Roy Moore is an unabashed Christian nationalist, arguing that the United States was established as a Christian nation, to be governed by Christian [ Read More ]
Today, Zimbabwe’s governing party moved to oust Robert Mugabe as its leader, four days after the military arrested him on charges of corruption and effectively ended his authoritarian rule of nearly four decades. Although the Trump administration has taken a largely “hands-off” approach to Zimbabwe, President Trump now has the opportunity to exhibit leadership by [ Read More ]
During the past 18 months, college students have engaged in disruptive and even violent activities toward guest speakers whose ideas they considered offensive. In response, college administrators have tended to capitulate to—or collaborate with—the demonstrators by disinviting scheduled speakers and disciplining students or professors whose views were considered offensive. In fact, recent studies by the [ Read More ]
Two years ago, I began doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I began writing regularly about the interface between Christianity, politics, and public life. And, I began writing primarily for everyday Americans rather than for scholars and graduate students. The transition has not been an easy one for me. I had grown accustomed to [ Read More ]
Several recent polls reveal a troubling trend: younger Americans have positive views of socialism and Communism. Although this trend has been evident for years, a recent poll found that nearly half of Millennials say prefer Socialism or Communism over democratic capitalism, with upwards of twenty percent going so far as to consider Josef Stalin was a [ Read More ]