Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Applied Theology, and have been at Kent since 2004. From January 2011 I will be Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of European Culture & Languages. I was Head of the THRS section from 2006-8 and in 2009-10 I was the SECL Stage 1 Senior Tutor.

Previously, I studied at the University of Wales, Lampeter, where I undertook my BA in Theology, MA in Death and Immortality and my PhD, under the supervision of Chris Arthur, in the area of Film and Redemption. I was also a Leverhulme Research Fellow at Lampeter for two years.

My teaching areas include the stage 1 module ‘What is Religion?’ and stage 2 modules in Science and Religion, Modern Theology (with a particular focus on the Death of God movement), and Religion and Film. At MA level, I am teaching a module on Eschatology and Film, which builds upon my own research at both MA and PhD level.
I have written three monographs, with a fourth about to enter the proofreading stage, co-edited two books and written 17 articles to date in the field of theology and film.

Latest research

I have just completed a monograph for Routledge which looks critically at a range of definitional and methodological questions in applied theology, eschatology and film before investigating how films encroach upon theological territory regarding questions of the survival of personhood after death. Despite being perennial themes in both cinema (in films such as Ghost, What Dreams May Come, Heaven Can Wait, Defending Your Life, A Matter of Life and Death and Made in Heaven) and theology (where it is common to find scholars writing about such issues as the resurrection of the body, immortality of the soul, Heaven, Hell, judgement, purgatory, mind-dependent worlds, etc.), there have been no major attempts to bring these areas together.

I accord particular attention to the language of resurrection and immortality, followed by a critical evaluation of films which address questions of Near-Death Experiences and Mind-Dependent Worlds, with particular reference to academic scepticism in this area (e.g. Susan Blackmore). I am also focusing on critical links between ‘realized’ trends in theological and cinematic discourse. The book further investigates cinematic portrayals of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ in film, with specific reference to the theological challenges that are posed.

Specific questions addressed in my ongoing research include:

• Are there any differences between how theologians and filmmakers approach the topic of the afterlife?
• How successfully have filmmakers visualized competing claims of immortality of the soul versus resurrection of the flesh?
• To what extent do cinematic representations of NDEs/OBEs reflect and/or differ from theological and religious accounts of the afterlife, as undertaken by Raymond Moody and Kenneth Ring?
• With reference to the work of Susan Blackmore, to what extent does academic scepticism in the area of NDEs/OBEs preclude serious scholarly study of NDE-oriented films such as Flatliners (Joel Schumacher, 1990), Dragonfly (Tom Shadyac, 2002) and White Noise 2: The Light (Patrick Lussier, 2007)? Is Blackmore’s assumption that only a materialistic world-view holds sway challenged or reinforced by cinematic forays in this area?
• According to Henry H. Price, if there is to be any personal survival beyond death, it is our memories that are to play an instrumental role in that process. To what extent might a film such as What Dreams May Come (Vincent Ward, 1998) be said to comprise a cinematic analogue of Price’s paradigm of a memory-oriented, mind-dependent world?
• With reference to ‘realized eschatology’, are there are any examples in cinema where future, supernatural language has been successfully appropriated in the context of terrestrial existence?
• To what extent is there any mileage in the assertion that the this-worldly dynamics of The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) are no less terrestrial-based than what we find at the heart of Jewish and Christian scriptural teachings on heaven?
• To what extent have filmmakers contributed in any meaningful way to our cultural or theological understanding(s) of hell?
• To what extent do cinematic treatments of hell as a place or state in present existence have any theological value?

Research supervision

I am keen to supervise any postgraduate students in the area of modern theology and theology/religion and film. I am currently, or have recently, supervised students working on the following projects:

• The Contrasts between Leaders and Followers in Christian Theology and Popular Film
• The use of Christ-figures in the genre of children’s film: A response to the Secularisation Thesis and the decline in Sunday school attendance
• Socialisation and the Ontology of Community: A Study of Teilhard de Chardin's Theology
• Debates in Pythagorean cosmology, with specific reference to the concept of the soul as explored in popular culture

I have also been PhD external examiner for the following theses:

• Imag(in)ing God in Animation: Towards a Theological Understanding of the Textuality of the Animated Film (Lampeter, 2006)
• A Study of Popular Hong Kong Cinema from 2001 to 2004 as Resource for a Contextual Approach to Expressions of Christian Faith in the Public Realm after the Reversion to Chinese Sovereignty in 1997 (Edinburgh, 2008)

Other appointments and affiliations

• Book editor – The Coming Deliverer (University of Wales Press, 1997) and Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (Ashgate, 2009).
• External Examiner, MA Theology & Religious Studies, York St. John University (2009-2012).External Examiner for MA in Communication Practice, International Institute for Communication Excellence, Oxford (2005-2008).
• External moderator for degree pathway in Philosophy & Ethics, Liverpool Hope (2003).
• Referee for University of Wales Pr ess (2004), Journal of European Studies (2007), Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (2007), Australian Religious Studies Review (2008), Journal of Contemporary Religion (ongoing).
• Called upon to provide expert advisory work for an ESRC seminar at Queen’s University, Belfast (November 2006).
• External peer review assessor, AHRB, August 2005, and AHRC, June 2009.
• Since 2009, I have been a peer review assessor for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the AHRC Research Fellowships Review Scheme, the AHRC Grants Standard Review Scheme, and the AHRC Research Fellowships Review Scheme.
• Member, UK Network Group in Theology, Religion and Popular Culture (2005-present).
• Member, American Academy of Religion (since 2007).
• Member, INTERFILM (2000-present), through which I have sat on the Ecumenical Jury at two international film festivals – Locarno (2000) and Karlovy Vary (2005).
• Co-organizer, Images of the Afterlife in Theology and Film conference, Katholische Akademie Schwerte, Germany, 25-28 June 2009.
• I am on the advisory committee of the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Film and the Moving Image, University of Kent.
• I have written an article on religion and film for ‘A’ level Sociology students, to be published in Sociology Review in April 2011.
• I often organize lectures and workshops for local schools, and have run a CRAC ‘Decisions at 18’ Conference Workshop for Religious Studies.

Publications

Books
Monographs

• Screening the Afterlife: Theology, Eschatology and Film, Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, pp. 195, ISBN 978-0-415-57258-3 (hardback), 978-0-415-57259-0 (paperback), 978-0-203-35601-2 (e-book)
• Theology and Film: Challenging the Sacred/Secular Divide (with Gaye Ortiz, ratio 70% Deacy, 30% Ortiz), Oxford: Blackwell, 2008, pp. 245, ISBN 1-405-144-378 (hardback), 1-4051-4438-4 (paperback)
• Faith in Film: Religious Themes in Contemporary Cinema, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, pp. 170, ISBN 0-754-65158-4
• Screen Christologies: Redemption and the medium of film, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2001, pp. 212, ISBN 0-7083-1712-X (paperback), 0-7083-1713-8 (hardback)

Edited books

• Seeing Beyond Death: Images of the Afterlife in Theology and Film (co-ed. with Ulrike Vollmer), Marburg: Schueren Verlag, 2011
• Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (co-ed. with Elisabeth Arweck), Farnham & Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2009, pp. 274, ISBN 978-0-7546-6527-4
• The Coming Deliverer: Millennial Themes in World Religions (co-ed. with Fiona Bowie), Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997, pp. 264, ISBN 0-7083-1338-8 – organizing/administrative responsibility only

Articles

• ‘Cape Fear’ and ‘Gran Torino’, in Adele Reinhartz (ed.), Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films, Abingdon: Routledge, 2012 (forthcoming)
• ‘Film Noir’, in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Routledge, e-journal, 2011,
•  ‘Is film the new religion?’, in Sociology Review, 20 (4), 2011, pp. 2-5, ISSN 0959-8499
• ‘Apocalypse Now? Towards a Cinematic Realized Eschatology’, in Ulrike Vollmer & Chris Deacy (eds.), Seeing Beyond Death: Images of the Afterlife in Theology and Film, Marburg: Schüren Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-89472-742-0
• ‘Applying Redemption through Film: Challenging the Sacred-Secular Divide’, in Stephen Farrall & Shadd Maruna (eds.), Escape Routes: Contemporary Perspectives on Life After Punishment, London: Routledge, 2011, pp. 22-42, ISBN 978-0-415-55034-5
• ‘Using film in theology and religious studies’, in Religion Compass, Blackwell, e-journal, 3 (5), 2009, pp. 909-919,
• ‘Introduction: Why Study Religion and Popular Culture?’, in Christopher Deacy & Elisabeth Arweck (eds.), Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009, pp. 1-22, ISBN 978-0-7546-6527-4
• ‘Redemption’, in John Lyden (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film, London & New York: Routledge, 2009, pp. 351-367, ISBN 978-0-415-44853-6
• ‘“Escaping” from the world through film: Theological perspectives on the “real” and the “reel”’, in Geert Hallbäck & Annika Hvithamar (eds.), Recent Releases: The Bible in Contemporary Cinema, Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008, pp. 12-29, ISBN 9781906055363
• ‘The Pedagogical Challenges of Finding Christ Figures in Film’, in Greg Watkins (ed.), Teaching Religion and Film, Oxford: OUP, 2008, pp. 129-140, ISBN 978019533598-9
• ‘From Bultmann to Burton, Demythologizing the Big Fish: The contribution of modern Christian theologians to the theology-film conversation’, in Rob Johnston (ed.), Reframing Theology and Film: Moving the Discipline Forward, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007, pp. 238-258, ISBN 0801032407
• ‘Reflections on the Uncritical Appropriation of Cinematic Christ-Figures: Holy Other or Wholly Inadequate?’, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. XIII, Summer 2006, ISSN 1703-289X
•  ‘Redemption Revisited: Doing Theology at Shawshank’, in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 21 (2), 2006, pp. 149-162, ISSN 1353-7903(2006)21:2
• ‘Paradise Lost or Paradise Learned?: Sin and Salvation in Pleasantville’, in Jolyon Mitchell & Sophia Marriage (eds.), Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture, London: T&T Clark, 2003, pp. 201-210, ISBN 0-567-08807-3
• ‘Integration and Rebirth through Confrontation: Fight Club and American Beauty as Contemporary Religious Parables’, in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 17 (4), 2002, pp. 61-73, ISSN 1353-7903 (2002)17:1;-1
• ‘Fantasy and Redemption: Religious possibility in Little Voice, in The Journal of Religion and Film, 4 (2), 2000, <www.unomaha.edu/jrf/fantasy.htm>
• ‘Redemption and film: Cinema as a contemporary site of religious activity’, in Media Development, vol. XLVII (1/2000), pp. 50-54, ISSN 0143-5558
• ‘Screen Christologies: An evaluation of the role of Christ-figures in film’, in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 14 (3), 1999, pp. 325-337, ISSN 1353-7903 (199909)14:3;1-3
• ‘The Christian concept of redemption and its application through the films of Martin Scorsese’, in Religious Studies and Theology, 17 (1), 1999, pp. 46-70, ISSN 0829-2922
• ‘An application of the religious concept of redemption through film noir’, in The Scottish Journal of Religious Studies, 18 (2), Autumn 1997, pp. 199-212, ISSN 0143-8301

Book Reviews

• Review of Roy Anker, Of Pilgrims and Fire: When God Shows Up at the Movies (Grand Rapids & Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2010), in Modern Believing, 52 (2), April 2011, ISSN 1353-1425
• Review of Steve Nolan, Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Religious Film Analysis (London & New York: Continuum, 2009), in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 25 (2), 2010
• Review of Clive Marsh, Theology Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to critical Christian thinking (Routledge, Oxford, 2007) in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 23 (3), October 2008, pp. 379-81, ISSN 1353-7903 (print), 1469-9419 (online) /08/030369-36
• Review of Greg Garrett, The Gospel According to Hollywood (Westminster John Knox, London/Louisville, 2007) for Third Way, 31 (3), April 2008, p. 39
• Review of Melanie J. Wright, Religion and Film: An Introduction (I.B. Taurus, London, 2007), in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 22 (3), 2007, pp. 397-399, ISSN 1353-7903(2007)22:3;1-X
• Review of J. Shawn Landres & Michael Berenbaum (eds.), After The Passion Is Gone: American Religious Consequences (AltaMira, Walnut Creek, California, 2004), in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 21 (1), 2006, pp. 122-124, ISSN 1353-7903(2006)21:1;1-2
• Review of Robin Riley, Film, Faith and Cultural Conflict: The Case of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (Praeger, Westport, Connecticut & London, 2003), in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 20 (2), 2005, pp. 262-264, ISSN 1353-7903(2005)20:2;1-5
• Review of Erin Runions, How Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film (Palgrave MacMillan, New York & Basingstoke, 2003) in Journal of Contemporary Religion, 20 (1), 2005, pp. 130-131, ISSN 1352-7903 (2005)20:1;1-6
• ‘No Shame: The Triumph of Theology at the Movies’ - a review article on Robert Jewett, Saint Paul Returns to the Movies: Triumph over Shame (Eerdmans, Michigan & Cambridge, 1999) and Peter Fraser, Images of the Passion: The Sacramental Mode in Film (Flicks Books, Trowbridge, 1998), for the Journal of Beliefs and Values, 21 (1), 2000, pp. 127-33, ISSN 1361-7672
• Reviews of Kathryn Tanner, Theories of Culture and Paul Lakeland, Postmodernity (both Fortress Press, 1997) for Contact, 1998