Cinema Credo

Michael McGrath joins me this week to talk about his journey away from and eventually back to Christianity and various aspects of Monty Python’s Life of Brian, from it’s seemingly quite well researched “Historical Jesus” viewpoint to it’s advocacy of asking questions, even if the Python’s answers (and questions?) may leave a bit to be desired.

Throughout the episode Micheal and I also make frequent reference to a 1979 British television debate about the film between Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin on one side and Malcolm Muggeridge and (then Anglican Bishop of Soutwark) Mervyn Stockwood on the other. The whole segment can be seen on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYMpObbt2rs

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Professor of Theology Katherine Schmidt joins me this week to talk about John Michael McDonagh’s 2014 film Calvary, and along with it thoughts on Digital Theology, paradigm shifting scandal, and continuing on in a faith that is ingrained in your sense of self.

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Television editor Adam Spieckermann joins me this month to talk about John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley. Adam grew up in small town Missouri before moving to LA for film school, and seeing the film helped to convince him that that was the career path he needed to be on. But Valley isn’t just inspiring in its film craft, it’s an inspiring look at a Christianity that is concerned about the plight of working class laborers.

Adam has been revisiting the works of John Ford here: https://letterboxd.com/lockedcut/list/john-ford-ranked-reviewed/
You can find giving a more film craft-related review of How Green Was My Valley there as well.

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David Emch grew up homeschooled in conservative evangelical communities, went to Liberty University and was well on his way to being a youth pastor for a non-denominational Christian church. Seeing The Village (2004), the story of an insular community that uses fear to control its young people, led to some cracks in his worldview and accompanied many changes in his life.

David currently works in Thailand providing counseling services to the children of Christian missionaries helping them to navigate growing up in a situation many of them didn’t ask for. If you’d like to support David’s work click here: https://www.paraclete.net/emch

I briefly compared the titular Village to Rod Dreher’s dream of a “Benedict Option” where [socially conservative] Christians withdraw from broader society in an America where things like same-sex marriage are legal. For anyone looking for more context on Dreher’s Option (and nothing on The Village) I recommend The Magnificast Ep. 2: They’re In the Basement, Officer.
https://soundcloud.com/themagnificast/ep-2-theyre-in-the-basement-officer

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It’s a short solo episode this month as I talk about my religious interpretation of Avengers: Infinity War. I’m reminded of a professor I had in college who once finished an hour and a half long lecture in an hour long class with the phrase “Of course only two serious Poe scholars believe this interpretation, and I’m one of them.”

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Justin Ridgley entered high school, experienced 9/11, and saw The Fellowship of the Ring in a four month period and that maybe had some formative influence on him. We discuss the similarities between my and Justin’s conservative upbringings, our changing definitions of “good” and “bad” from what we were raised to believe, and the difficulty of hanging on to hope in today’s world.

Editor’s note: Justin did a fantastic job following my instruction to engage with the microphone while we recorded. I did not. I’m sorry that my voice is so much quieter than his in this recording but there was little I could do in editing. Time to invest in a second mic.

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Unfortunately, I was struck by a car while bicycling to work. I expect a full recovery, but surgery and recovery will take time. As such I’ll be taking this month off from Cinema Credo. I’ll see you all in July.

Thanks for listening.

Joey Schulte has gone from enthusiastic Catholicism to New Atheism to liberal Protestantism and with each new step he has found something to relate to, something to draw from, something to push him forward in music of Jesus Christ Superstar, particularly Norman Jewison’s 1973 film version. We talk about that journey toward finding peace in ambiguity.

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Corinne Labita knows that the term “new age” may cause eye rolls, but her spirituality of relationships includes tarot reading and Jungian Shadow work, so there’s no other shorthand description. We talk about remembering and forgetting and growing from each as we discuss Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Check out her website at https://www.livinlabitaloca.com/

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Musician Jonathan Hape joins me to discuss how you don’t have to be perfect to try to be better even in a hard world. Danny DeVito’s Death to Smoochy, like Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, wonders if it’s even possible to live sincerely in the modern world. And while the Russian novel ends on a dark note, DeVito may just have come out in favor of hope.
Check our more from Jonathan, including his track Spinner inspired by Death to Smoochy, at JonathanHape.com

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