The Big Picture

The Gospel message has been presented in many ways over the last two thousand years and the most effective presentations are those that are culturally relevant. Movie going is one of the most popular pastimes, and if you include the number of DVDs and videos that are bought or rented every week, it is easy to see how large a role movies play in popular culture. Yet the church often lags behind in engaging fully with this popular culture, by either condemning all movie-going as sinful or failing to provide any guidelines for movie watching at all. In this book, Mark Stibbe and J. John demonstrate the need for discernment in movie watching, but then encourage Christians to fully engage with popular movie culture. Analyzing eight films in detail including Tomb Raider, Billy Elliot, The Matrix, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Fargo, Castaway and The Godfather they reveal how each contains elements of the Gospel message which can be as relevant today as visual parables which Jesus told in the Bible.