Cinema and Sentiment

Cinema & Sentiment Film's challenge to Theology What do films do to people? What do people do with films? All film-watching happens within a cultural context. Exploring cinema-going as leisure activity and by comparing film-watching with worship, Clive Marsh demonstrates aspects of the religious function of film-watching in Western culture. Through a variety of case-studies, including a look at the films of Robin Williams and the Coen brothers, Marsh's study shows how film-watching as a regular practice contributes to the shaping of human living. Engaging with rapidly changing social and religious behaviour patterns in Western culture, Cinema and Sentiment suggests a need to recover a positive sense of 'sentiment', both in theology and film. Marsh locates his findings within recent studies of theology and film. In his final chapter he offers to church leaders, students of theology and film studies and all those with an interest in contemporary culture some very practical suggestions. 'This is a thoroughly intriguing book. Though I don't share its religious orientation, I love the way in which it recovers the sense that real audiences often report of the mysterious, the uplifting and the sometimes awesome experience of watching films.' -Martin Barker, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth 'Marsh is right! Popular movies do more than mindlessly entertain or illustrate truth already known... By considering the affective nature of the reader/viewer, Cinema and Sentiment explores the central point of connection between theology and film.' --Professor Robert K. Johnston, author of Reel Spirituality 'This is a timely contribution to the discussions around film and theology [and] will be valuable for students, academics, film buffs and other movie-goers.' -Jolyon Mitchell, New College, University of Edinburgh 'This books offers one of the clearest and most comprehensive defenses of the theological approach to film that has yet appeared.' -John Lyden, author of Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals Clive Marsh is Secretary of the Faith and Order Committee of the Methodist Church and a part-time lecturer in the Department of Theology at the University of Nottingham. He is also the author of Albrecht Ritschl and the Problem of the Historical Jesus and co-author of Jesus and the Gospels.