ABSTRACT

Salvation from Cinema offers something new to the burgeoning field of "religion and film": the religious significance of film technique. Discussing the history of both cinematic devices and film theory, Crystal Downing argues that attention to the material medium echoes Christian doctrine about the materiality of Christ’s body as the medium of salvation. Downing cites Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu perspectives on film in order to compare and clarify the significance of medium within the frameworks of multiple traditions. This book will be useful to professors and students interested in the relationship between religion and film.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

Toward a Union of Medium and Message

part |78 pages

Theories of Film Salvation

chapter |21 pages

Let There Be Enlightenment

Salvation from Religion and Film

chapter |17 pages

Light from Light

Seeing Cinema Constellations

chapter |19 pages

Gazing at the Stars

Nudity on the Screen

chapter |19 pages

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Salvation from the Screen

part |86 pages

Salvation from Film Theory

chapter |26 pages

Enlightenment as Mass Deception

Certain Tendencies in Film Theory

chapter |23 pages

The Gift of Salvation

Derrida and Holocaust Cinema

chapter |19 pages

Seeing Cinema Differently

Salvation from Charles Sanders Peirce

chapter |16 pages

From Delusion to Deleuzean Cinema

Salvation from Hugo