Tony Watkins

Using film in Christian communication – part 6

Read the rest of this series.

Why use film in Christian communication?

Although aspects of the Christian worldview still do hang on in western culture, it’s all too obvious that very few films communicate much of it clearly. As I have already noted, films are primarily about telling a story, and often the worldview [...]

Using film in Christian communication – part 5

Worldview dimensions, continued Morality

Image from iStockphoto.com

Some of the issues which I raised in the previous post, in relation to human nature are profoundly moral questions. What does it mean when we say that darkness and evil reside in the human heart, and that genuine goodness can be found there too? What [...]

Using film in Christian communication – part 4

Worldview dimensions, continued Humanity

A human head, divided according to Gall and Spurzheim's system of phrenology. Coloured lithograph by C. Ingrey, 1824. Image courtesy Mary Margret, used under a Creative Commons licence

The second key aspect of worldviews is the nature of human beings. What does it mean to be human? This is [...]

Using film in Christian communication – part 3

In the third part of this series on using films in Christian communication, we start looking at the five key dimensions of worldviews.

Worldview dimensions

There are five key dimensions of any worldview map to which we we need to pay very careful attention. They may seem a little abstract or theoretical at first. [...]

Using film in Christian communication – part 2

In the first post in this series, I reflected on life in the mediasphere, and the influence which films can have on us. In this post, we begin to get into the subject of worldviews.

Film and worldviews

Photo by Andrew Bossi, Flickr; used under a Creative Commons licence www.flickr.com/photos/thisisbossi/4273347964/

While films tell [...]

Using film in Christian communication – part 1

Life in the mediasphere

Sean Penn’s wonderful film Into the Wild (2007) tells the true story of a young man who abandons normal middle class life, gives everything away and hitch-hikes to Alaska where he plans to live in the wilderness. He wants to be surrounded by a beautiful landscape, not a cityscape. Most [...]

Mark Kermode interviews Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman is an extraordinarily talented actor, as well as a theatre director for the last thirteen years. Now he’s turning his skills to directing a feature film for the first time with Jack Goes Boating, which is released in UK cinemas on 8 July. It looks like it’s going to be a [...]

The First Grader

The First Grader (Soda Pictures, 12A, UK release date: 24th June) is a heart-warming true story of Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, an octogenarian Kenyan man who exercised his right to an education and battled bureaucracy to take his place at primary school. Set against the background of Maruge’s history as a Mau Mau rebel, The First Grader [...]

William Lane Craig, Richard Dawkins and the Empty Chair

The Christian philosopher William Lane Craig wants to have a debate with Richard Dawkins. But Dawkins refuses again and again. This video is a tongue-in-cheek challenge to Dawkins to accept when Craig tours the UK later this year.

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011

The Wonderful online video site mubi.com is making available for free three of the documentaries screening at the Sheffield documentary film festival this week. It’s worth signing up to Mubi just for this! Details below, taken from the Mubi site:

“No longer critically marginalized as of lesser importance than the fiction [...]

Why We Love Men in Capes

My friend Mark Meynell is a great film fan, an enthusiast for superheroes and an excellent communicator. So I’m excited to see his new venture – an audio documentary about the significance of superheroes. It’s 30 minutes long and is at the bargain price of £1.29 on iTunes (see below). I’ve not yet had [...]