Friday Flicks Explore Faith

News Release

PRINCETON, N.J. – Dead Man Walking, starring Susan Sarandon, is just one of many contemporary and classic motion pictures that Princeton Theological Seminary will host this fall. The movie screenings are a part of a class, Faith and Film: Ministry in the Movies, which examines theological themes and pastoral issues portrayed in cinema that Christian leaders may face.

“By viewing these films, I want participants in the course to encounter a broad range of commonplace occurrences in modern ministry and to reflect, scripturally and theologically, on their responses to experiences they themselves are someday likely to encounter,” says Clifton Black, PhD, MDiv., Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology at the Seminary.

Screenings are on Fridays until Nov. 30. Each showing will be held on the Seminary’s campus in Stuart Hall, Room 6, at 2 p.m. The viewings are free and limited street parking is available.

The films screened in this course have been carefully selected for their capacity to raise fundamental questions about challenges, often crises, experienced by clergy in different Christian denominations. Some of the topics that will be addressed include ministry in settings of urban corruption, ministers dealing with their own doubts about faith, ministry to prisoners on death row, clergy burn-out, ministry corrupted by pastoral abuse, and how ministers cope in circumstances that exact great cost and may even endanger their own lives.

“Critical study of film is an educational model that is widely accepted and has proven effective,” says Black. “Yet the study of film for the consideration of biblical and theological issues is still in its infancy. It is exciting to offer this innovative approach to theological formation.”

The following films are scheduled for screening:

Winter Light | Sept. 28, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Produced by Allan Ekelund.
Starring: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, and Gunnel Lindblom.
(Running time: 81 minutes. Not Rated. Sweden, 1962)

Babette’s Feast | Oct. 5, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, based on the story by Isak Dinesen. Produced by Just Betzer and Bo Christensen.
Starring: Stephane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, and Bodil Kjer.
(Running time: 102 minutes. Rated: G. Denmark, 1987)

Dead Man Walking | Oct. 12, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Tim Robbins, based on the memoir by Helen Prejean. Produced by Tim Robbins, Jon Kulik, and Rudd Simmon.
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, and Robert Prosky.
(Running time: 122 minutes. Rated: R. USA, 1995)

The Apostle | Oct. 19, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Robert Duvall. Produced by Robert Duvall, Steven Brown, and Rob Carliner.
Starring: Robert Duvall, Farrah Fawcett, Miranda Richardson, and Billy Joe Shaver.
(Running time: 134 minutes. Rated: PG-13. USA, 1997)

Doubt | Nov. 2, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, based on his play. Produced by Scott Rudin.
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis.
(Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG-13. USA, 2008)

Of Gods and Men | Nov. 9, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Xavier Beauvois. Produced by Pascal Caucheteux and Étienne Comar.
Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, and Olivier Rabourdin.
(Running time: 122 minutes. Rated PG-13. France, 2010)

Calvary | Nov. 16, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by James Michael McDonagh. Produced by Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo, and James Flynn.
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, and Dylan Moran.
(Running time: 101 minutes. Rated: R. Ireland/UK, 2014)

First Reformed | Nov. 30, 2:00 p.m., Stuart Hall, Room 6
Written and directed by Paul Schrader. Produced by Jack Binder, Greg Clark, and Victoria Hill.
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, and Cedric Kyles.
(Running time: 113 minutes. Rated: R. USA, 2017)