Sárospataki Füzetek 19. (2015)
2015 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Rácsok Gabriella: Teológia és film
Teológiai és film szükségessé teszi, hogy a tapasztalatot és érzelmet mint a teológia forrásait az őket megillető helyükön megerősítsük, ami nem azt jelenti, hogy feladjuk a teológia forrásainak sorrendiségét. Abstract Theology and film Setting out from a transcendental function of religion, theological approaches to film become essential. In linking theology and film, our inquiry cannot be confined exclusively to academic or church circles, but must include the wider public, social spheres as well. In establishing the relationship of theology and film, the first obvious option seems to be film retelling biblical stories and illustrating theological truths or ethical dilemmas. In this possessive approach illustrative and didactic functions are emphasized, and theology is viewed as rather static, when it seizes the task of interpreting the film narrative, and decides about its theological and religious content. A more dynamic view is reflected when theology looks at film as a “text” that can be placed beside other “texts”, allowing a dialogue between them. An essential condition to the dialogue is to respect the different languages of the texts. If we set out from the linking ability of the theological language, the context of the relationship between theology and film seems to be a proper place for doing theology. In cases of films retelling biblical stories and/or theological truths theology can connect the biblical times and/or the church traditions with their cinematic treatments, by creating a mutually enlightening interpretative arch or hermeneutical circle. This connection is done by placing the contexts of the author of the biblical text and that of the filmmaker side by side; comparing the two may shed more light on both the biblical text and the cinematic work. In this process of connecting, the context of the interpreter is determining, as it seems unlikely that without former biblical or religious paradigms (s)he may assign theological or religious meaning to the film. This meaning-making process in the viewer may be accompanied with experiences or expectations of being transformed. The interpreting task of theology in this case is not to tell the viewer what to find in the film, but to help place the constructed meaning, lived experience or formulated alternatives into a theological or religious framework. In the religious aesthetic approach to film, experiencing the divine as an aesthetic experience must be distinguished from the knowledge of God. Consequently, regarding the sources of theology (from special revelation to experience) one must differentiate and prioritize. 2015-1 Sárospataki Füzetek 19. évfolyam 81
