Even before Mel Gibson grabbed hearts and headlines with The Passion of The Christ, Christians were finding a new fascination with the spiritual significance they're encountering at the multiplex. Every month sees a new film-and-faith book hit the shelves, film clips are showing up in Sunday sermons like never before, and believers gather in study groups where the VCR and DVD player are almost as important to the proceedings as Bible or concordance. Jesus "spake not except in parables," and the spiritual impact of story didn't end with Christ.
The folks at Arts & Faith, an online discussion group comprised of film critics—including Christianity Today Movies critics Jeffrey Overstreet, Peter T. Chattaway and myself—and other movie buffs have been carrying on a lively conversation about spirituality and film for years. Recently, the participants forged a terrifically diverse and intriguing list of 100 Spiritually Significant Films—an incomparable resource for anyone interested in exploring transcendent themes in the movies.
This is an interesting list of the top 100 most spiritually significant films, it's alphabetised, not ranked (which is a great idea) and includes small commentaries as to why they are each spiritually significant.
My example is Dogma by Kevin Smith.
Just how close to the cliff's edge of apostacy does God permit a searcher to go? How far is too far for a church and the clergy to go in the quest to attract the hip, happenin' younger generation? How much dissonance, offense to propriety and scruples can you endure for His sake in the daily challenge of being an Ambassador for Him. These questions and more will occupy the viewer willing to brave non-stop profanity and vulgar images. Just because the story revolves around a world weary lapsed Catholic, does not mean that protestants and evangelicals will be immune from the implications of this story. A scene in which a bored, exiled archangel toys with the mind of a religious calls to mind the lapses this devout christian has suffered while letting spiritual dry patches get the best of him. This film has rewards a plenty for the brave.
Link of list: Link
Get invollved in the discussion for 2005's list: Link
Andrew Careaga's Blog again: Link
Andy got the link originally from Christian Movies today: Link
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