ABSTRACT

The religious imagination is alive and well in the movies. Contrary to those who criticize Hollywood, popular movies very often have metaphorically represented God on the screen. From Clint Eastwood as an avenging angel in Pale Rider and Nicolas Cage as a lovesick angel in City of Angels to Jessica Lange as an angel of death in All That Jazz, and from George Burns as God in Oh, God! to Audrey Hepburn in Always to pure white light in Fearless and Flatliners, God is very much present in the movies.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|10 pages

God in the Movies

chapter 2|12 pages

Movies as Story and Metaphor

chapter 6|16 pages

Is This Heaven? No, It’s Iowa

chapter 7|8 pages

Pale Rider

chapter 8|8 pages

Ghost

chapter 9|10 pages

FlatUners: Forgiveness Stronger than Death

chapter 10|10 pages

Jacob’s Ladder: God in the Nightmare

chapter 11|12 pages

Angel Angst and the Direction of Desire

chapter 12|6 pages

A Note on Purgatory in the Movies

chapter 13|12 pages

How to Put God in a Movie

chapter 14|20 pages

Magical Realism and the Problem of Evil

chapter 16|6 pages

Conclusion