Category Archives: Churches

Profiles on Rural Religion: Last Words

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Film Info: “Last Words” (1979) – Part of the”Profiles of Rural Religion” series produced by P.J. O’Connell for the Rural Documentary Project and Penn State Broadcasting – 58 minutes

Distributor:   Pennsylvania State University Media Sales DVD – $25

Summary: To conclude the “Profiles of Rural Religion” series, the series consultants, sociologists Don Crider and Joe Faulkner, come to the TV studio for some analysis and some dialogue with the subjects of the six documentaries. But the dialogue develops most strongly between the subjects themselves, as questions of diversity and religious choice become prominent. And the program provides a final, frontal encounter between Suzie Andresen and Glenn Stover (see “Separate Realities”). Their quite different religious views, untempered and forcefully put, illustrate the range and intensity of religious expression in Rural America.

Rossocontinuo

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Film Info: A film by Roberto Cipriani and Toni Occhiello.  48 minutes. Italian and English.  1989/1992.

Distribution: University Roma Tre, this is the link

Film Summary: This movie presents a popular religiosity event in Southern italy: the processions of so called “Red Christ” during Holy Week. Red color is both a religious and a political symbol.

Battle for the Bible

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Film Info:  Battle for the Bible – PBS “God and Politics” series (1987) – 60 minutes.

Distributor ??????????

Summary:  Illustrates a contemporary conflict between Christians who want to enforce a conservative orthodoxy in their denominations versus others who want to maintain their denomination’s tradition of freedom of conscience for individual believers.  Focused on the Southern Baptist Convention.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Black Delta Religion

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Film Info: Black Delta Religion – Center for Southern Folklore, Memphis (1974) – 15 minutes, B/W

Distributor: ??????????

Summary: A brief but lively depiction of a wide range of Southern black religiosity, including ecstatic dance, singing, preaching styles, social-community context.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Protestant Spirit: USA

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Film Info:  Part of “The Long Search”, a BBC series hosted by Ronald Eyre – 52 minutes

Distributor:  Ambrose Videos has the entire series on DVD for $99

Summary:  In the 1100 churches of Indianapolis, we see bewildering multiplicity of Protestantism. Churches with the seating and styling of deluxe first-run theaters. Services conducted with the professionalism of television spectaculars. And congregations that occupy every seat at four staggered services every Sunday. All are features of the US church-going boom. We discover that religion is not in a state of apathy in America; in some quarters it is decidedly big business.

Separate Realities

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Film Info: “Separate Realities” (1979) – Part of the”Profiles of Rural Religion” series produced by P.J. O’Connell for the Rural Documentary Project and Penn State Broadcasting – 58 minutes

Distributor:   Pennsylvania State University Media Sales DVD – $25

Summary: Suzie Anderson attends St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lock Haven, PA. Glenn Stover attends First Baptist, just across a 25-foot alleyway. But their religious beliefs and practices are separated by a far greater distance. Suzie is a “seeker”; she is exploring her religious commitment, asking questions, questioning the answers. Glenn is “born again.” There are no questions in his settled and serene religious faith. This film develops the religious viewpoints of two very different–but strongly committed–individuals and offers the opportunity to compare these two variations on the ages-old question of “proper” religious behavior.