Films, Bible Passages, and Related Terms of Comparison

    College students and people in general rarely have the foggiest idea of what lies between the pages of the Bible. There are also many great films they have never seen. One avenue of approach toward filling in some gaps is to view films against the background of biblical themes they develop and illuminate, and think of both in light of “history of ideas” research. Below the jump, a list that moves in that direction. I’m hoping commenters will have ideas of their own to throw into the pot.

Pulp Fiction     Ezekiel 25:17     Abraham Heschel on God’s anger
Dead Man Walking     Exodus 21:24    Moshe Greenberg on lex talionis
Nell     Song of Songs 6:4       Michael Fox on Love in the Love Songs
Chariots of Fire          Isaiah 40:15-31          Psalm 19
The Truman Show        Psalm 139       John Goldingay on Openness to God
True Grit     Proverbs 28:1     Meir Y. Soloveichik on “The Virtue of Hate”
Breaker Morant      Matthew 10:36       Martin Buber, “Plato and Isaiah”
The Mission      1 Corinthians 13    Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros
Praying with Lior      Lev 19:14; Prov 22:6    Forrest Gump
Shawshank Redemption      Mark 13:35     Johnny Cash, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”

Comments

[Tim Bulkeley]

I love the idea, a few years ago I used to use clips from films to get students thinking about some of the themes in Genesis passages we were looking at. You'd perhaps not call it a great film, but the scene in Titanic where Jack tells the toffs how he won his ticket and they reply with comments like "Life's a game of chance" "A real man makes his own luck" etc. and Jack says "Life's a gift" is a nice illustration of different worldviews, and relates to Babel... But it's only a clip and old.

[JohnFH]

I have 45 students working off the above list this semester.

BTW, Forrest Gump is an amazing examination of the place where the givenness of life, its pre-determinedness, and free will meet.

[Steve Pable]

In working with young people, I find it frustrating that so many films get dated so quickly. You wind up having to give so much synopsis that the clip loses its punch.

I've used "Bruce Almighty" and "Star Trek" to illuminate passages like Luke 12:48, or Isaiah 55:8 (for Bruce Almighty).

I love little insertions like in Evan Almighty when God (Morgan Freeman) appears in the back of his car and Evan (Steve Carrell) screams in terror. God chuckles and says, "Good! It's the beginning of wisdom."

If anyone knows of a list of very current/popular films with suggested scripture and faith connections, I'd be very interested!

[JohnFH]

hi Steve,

True Grit isn't out in DVD yet. But a key text in the film is Proverbs 28:1. One half only of the verse is quoted in the film; if you know the other half, you understand the other half of the film as it were.

[Frank Bellizzi]

THE TEXT THIS WEEK is a website for preachers who follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Lots of links to resources for specific biblical texts. Included in that are indexes for both movie titles and themes.

http://www.textweek.com/movies/movies.htm

[Keng Yang]

Yes I agree that a lot of people in general don't see good films such as, Fire Proof. I think it's because they see it as a "Christian" film and not a lot of people are Christians. One time I wanted my boss to watch it because I personally think that, one, it's a good movie to watch with your spouse, two, it's inspiring, and three it's a good way to think about who God is. This film is so touching and brought me closing to my partner and especially God.

[JohnFH]

Hi Frank,

Thanks, I didn't realize how developed that part of textweek.com is.

[JohnFH]

Keng,

Thanks for the tip.

[James Pate]

The thing is...Samuel L. Jackson was expanding on the Bible passage in Pulp Fiction. I wonder if he was taking a targumic approach!

[Nell 4]

I don't think you have to be a college student to think that understanding the bible is hard. The book itself is so complex. I do believe in relating bible verses to movies do make my understanding of the bible a little bit easier. Some people just need that visual interpretation.

For example the movie Noah's Ark was talked about in the biblical story of Genesis of how God floods the world for 40 days and 40 nights and Noah rescues his family and the animals in the gigantic ark that he built. Watching that movie definitely engaged my way of thinking and interpretations of understanding the movie better.