History 3910:
Film and Religion

Course Outline

Use this outline to print lecture notes and readings: simply click on the lecture title for a printable PDF. Clicking on the title of a reading will also result in a printable PDF. Finally, you can access the full syllabus for this course by clicking here.

Th 8/24 Watching Religion

T 8/29 Course Requirements and Introduction to Religion in Film

TH 8/31 Biblical Epics: Sex, Violence, and Uplifting the Masses
• Read: W. Barnes, "King of Kings" in Jesus at the Movies (1997)

T 9/5 Silent Movies

TH 9/7 Jews, Assimilation, and the Jazz Age
• Read: Henry L. Feingold, "Acculturation and its Discontents" and "Yom Kippur"

T 9/12 Jazz Singer (1927)
• Call Number: PN1997 .J296 1991

TH 9/14 Revivalists, Celebrities, Churches, Theaters
• Read: Tucker and Liefeld, "Modern Pentecostalism and Denominationalism: Tent-toting Evangelists and Ordained Ministers"

T 9/19 Miracle Woman (1931)
• At Reserve Desk in Library
• Read: Neela Banerjee, "Clergywomen Find Hard Path to Bigger Pulpit" from The New York Times

TH 9/21 World War II and the Movies
• Read: James D'Arc, "Saints on Celluloid"

T 9/26 Brigham Young (1940)
• Call Number: PN1997 B7623

TH 9/28 Cold War Religion
• Read: Lary May, "Outside the Groove of History: Film Noir and the Birth of a Counterculture"

T 10/3 Night of the Hunter (1955)
• Call Number: PN1997 .N5223 1987

TH 10/5 No class, Fall Break

T 10/10 Examination I

TH 10/12 The Holocaust, Existential Reality, and Urban Angst
• Read: Leonard J. Leff, "Hollywood and the Holocaust"

T 10/17 Pawnbroker (1964)
• Call Number: PN1997 P38

TH 10/19 Counter Cultures
• Read: Rebecca Sullivan, "Cracks in the Cloister: The Changing Cultural Role of Nuns"

T 10/24 Change of Habit (1969)

TH 10/26 Catholic Horror
• Read: Peter Gardella, "Catholic Horror (Revised)"

T 10/31 The Exorcist (1973)
• Call Number: PN1997 .E95 2000

TH 11/2 Saving Jesus from Christianity
• Read: W. Barnes Tatum, "Martin Scorsese, The Last Temptation of Christ"
• Read: Colleen McDannell, "Votive Offering: The Passion of the Christ "

T 11/7 The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
• Call Number: PN1997 .L3795 1989

TH 11/9 Progressive Christianity in a Post-Reagan World

T 11/14 Dead Man Walking (1995)
• Call Number: PN1997 .D417 1999
• Read: Helen Prejean, "Introduction, Chapter One"
• Read: Jason DeParle, "Orphaned" from The New York Times

TH 11/16 Evangelical Protestantism
• Read: Paul Harvey, "God and Negroes and Jesus and Sin and Salvation"

T 11/21 The Apostle (1997)
• Call Number: PN1997 A65346

Th 11/23 No class, Thanksgiving Break

T 11/28 Examination II

TH 11/30 Slacker Religion
• Read: Amy Frykholm, "Catholicism Wow!"

T 12/5 Dogma (1999)
• Call Number: PN1997 .D62873

Th 12/7 Conclusion