Some thoughts on film as a possible means in the mission of the church in the context of today’s changing religiosity

Abstract

The paper seeks to present topics and themes that seem inevitable to be reviewed when looking for the answer to the question whether the motion picture medium can become a suitable means for the church to communicate and convey the message entrusted to it. The essay first tries to describe what characterises the religiosity of the people of our time. This brings us to a phenomenon which is better described by the term ‘subjective turn’ rather than postmodern. The functional definition of religion can be used to describe the religious functions of film. Starting from the transcendent function of religion a theological approach to film also becomes necessary. In linking theology and film, our inquiry cannot be confined exclusively to academic or church circles, but must include the wider public, social spheres as well. A theological approach to culture helps us to place the topic in a more general, broader framework. Karl Barth’s interpretation of culture can be a warning that the self-revealing God can also provide, outside of Scripture and the church, true words and worldly parables that can become unconscious, involuntary witnesses of the One True Word. Since film as a mediating medium provides the possibility of transcultural communication and contextualization, it allows us to view the relationship between theology and film from the perspective of contextual theological approaches to culture.