Description
Book Synopsis This investigation into the little-known genre of mission-oriented films uncovers how Protestant missionaries overseas sought to bring back motion picture footage from remote parts of the world. In the broader religious community, mission films aimed to educate congregants back home about efforts to evangelize communities around the world. This book, however, demonstrates the larger impact of mission films on American visual culture. The evolution and development of the genre is highlighted from an early emphasis on foreign views in the 1910s, to interwar films providing a more detailed look at how mission stations functioned in far-flung lands, to Cold War productions which at times functioned as veritable propaganda tools parroting anti-communist discourse emanating from the CIA.
Trade Review...this in-depth research significantly expands our understanding of how religious leaders utilized films in evangelistic and humanitarian work around the globe. This is an outstanding scholarly work that expands the boundaries of what film studies can be."—Terry Lindvall, author of
Sanctuary Cinema: The Origins and the Evolution of the Christian Film IndustryTable of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I—Putting Faith in Film: Mainline Protestants and the New Media
- One. deleteThe "Scientific Gradation of Vice"
- Two. deleteThe Screen Sermon
- Three. deleteLocation, Location, Location
- Part II—The Biggest, the Best, and the Most Remarkable: Foreign Views and the Evangelization of the World, 1908–1919
- Four. deleteBringing the Missionary Film Genre into Focus
- Five. delete"The World" in Pictures
- Six. deleteMissionary Film Companies and Ecumenical Partnerships in the Mid–1910s
- Seven. deleteCinema and the Sunday School Movement
- Eight. deleteMissions Accomplished in the East
- Part III—Putting the Reels in Mission: From Evangelization to Mission Work in the Interwar Years
- Nine. deletePost–World War I: The Challenges of Ecumenism
- Ten. deleteGoing It Alone
- Eleven. deleteRank Amateurs, Radical Missionaries, Traveling Pastors and Lone Wolves
- Twelve. deleteThe Expanding Genre in the Post–World War I Era
- Thirteen. deleteEcumenism Revisited
- Part IV—New Frontiers: Evangelicals, Cold Wars and the Institutionalization of the Genre
- Fourteen. deleteThe Institutionalization of the Missionary Film
- Fifteen. deleteGo Pro: Paul Gebauer, Henri Ferger, Alan Shilin and the Professionalization of the Genre
- Sixteen. deleteThe Geopolitics of Missionary Filmmaking
- Seventeen. deleteEvangelicals, Cold Warriors and Other Soldiers of the Faith
- Eighteen. deleteHeroes, Martyrs, Winged Messengers, and Journeys Long and Arduous
- Conclusion: A Half-Century of Missionary Filmmaking
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
