This is the outline for two classes I taught as a substitute for Fr. Alan Deck, SJ, at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, November 2013. The course explored "the nature of and the connections between culture, faith, and spirituality … in the context of cultural, ideological, and religious pluralism and secularism using popular film …"
2. THINK THEOLOGICALLY
“You will need to know what you believe
about God as well as God’s ongoing, eternal
communication with us”
-
Meredith Gould “The Social Media Gospel”
3. THINK SACRAMENTALLY
• Sacraments are outward signs of invisible
grace
• Cinema reveals inner realities through
outward visual and aural signs
• What inner, transcendent, transforming
grace, signs of the divine, are being revealed
4. Common beliefs between the three
Abrahamic (monotheistic) faiths:
theology
• One God
• Personal
• Transcendent
5. Attributes of God
• Common
– Omniscinece
– Omnipotence
– Omnipresence
– Omnibenevolence
– Eternal
– Immaterial
– The source of morality
6. How we understand – and appreciate –
cinema depends on
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Age
Education
Life experience
Human development
Faith formation
Moral and ethical imagination
Expectations
7. Values
Values are overarching ideals that
guide our lives
What are the three most
important values that guide your
life?
8. Existential questions
What is really going on deep in the collective
human psyche?
What does it truly mean to be human? How can
we live transformatively?
Is God present here?
- N. Usslemann
9. Catholic Christians believe
What is truly human is truly of the Gospel and
what is truly pf the Gospel is truly human
Cf. Gaudium et Spes
10. Existential
• These existential questions are always present
to humanity but sometimes it takes a cultural
parable to make us aware and attentive to
these very questions.
• - N. Usslemann
11. Character
Empathy
What you do when no one is looking
“How would you feel if someone did that to you?”
Character education = human formation
The spiritual is built upon the human
12. Character
Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act
and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a
character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
15. What are Jesus’ family values?
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To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To give shelter to the homeless
To visit the sick
To ransom the captive
To bury the dead.
16. More of Jesus’ family values
The spiritual works of mercy
• To instruct the ignorant
• To counsel the doubtful
• To admonish sinners
• To bear wrongs patiently
• To forgive offences willingly
• To comfort the afflicted
• To pray for the living and the dead
17. Morality
• Why does morality matter?
• If you believe, then you believe what God tells
us is right and good
• Ten Commandments
• The Commandment of Love
• Principles & Themes of Catholic Teaching
20. Dilemma and Drama
• The most interesting movies deal with the
dilemma between following or not following
one’s conscience
• The consequences of one’s choices on one’s
life and the lives of others
21. Which religions
believe in these ideas?
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Human dignity
Common good
Solidarity
Option for the poor
Rights and responsibilities
Family, community, participation
Care for the earth
These are themes of Catholic social teaching
23. Spirituality
• Relationship with God and others that flows
from religious belief
• If you are “spiritual” but not “religious” it’s like
looking for freedom without responsibility
• Communication
• Encounter
• Way of seeing, way of believing, way of
being, way of doing
25. Homework
World cinema can enable profound learning
experiences for audiences about the lives of
others
To the extend that these are about the human
experience, they reveal people’s faith
26. Global film
• The meaning of the films rises from the
relationships of the characters with one
another, their society, their environment, their
beliefs
• It is in these stories’ exquisite expressions of
human love that God is revealed for the
characters and for the audience.
28. Let us remember that the world
is permeated by grace even
when it does not seem so
(cf. Karl Rahner)
Hinweis der Redaktion
What connects all Christians as far as “belief goes”? The Apostles CreedWho is God for you?And what response does this call forth from me in a constantly changing, mediated, digital world?
We have to be able to articulate our valuesWe have the Creed, the articulation of our faith, of our way of understanding God, the Trinity, Jesus, the Scriptures, virtueBut what are the human values that guide our lives?Take a few moments and jot down those valuesShare among yourselves those values that you have internalized, that have become habits for you, even virtues (habits of doing good)CommunityParticipationFamilyIntegrityHonesty
Character is first taught in the homeThose first five years are pivotalParents … the role of parents in the human formation of the child cannot be understatedYou want responsible use of social media? Starts with character, not rules – though rules are part of it.
Yes, age appropriate but the Gospels ground us in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy as the launch pad for being Christians in the modern worldGood character – good human formationHonestyIntegrityEmpathy Then Christian …