2022 | 1

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  • Journal Issue
  • Article
    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Editorial
    Fritz, Natalie; Mäder, Marie-Therese; Scolari, Baldassare (2022)
  • Article
    Angels as Interpretive Figures: Interdisciplinary Aspects of a New Angelology
    Funiok, Rüdiger (2022)
    This article treats Angelology (or Angeletics) as a series of theories about angels. Angeletics applies a communication theory approach to its subject of study. It underlines the elements “message” (content) and “messengers” (media) and suggests evaluating the message (whether positive or negative) and developing mutual responsibility between communicants. The classical theory of angels follows a theological approach and is based not only on biblical and qur’anic narratives but also uses systematic reflections and philosophical speculations. Modern literature rather avoids the idea of angel figures; nevertheless it describes existential situations in which a “heavenly” message is received. For centuries, the fine arts have depicted angels in biblical scenes not only in an illustrative but also in a more abstract, even critical, way. Ultimately, angels can be seen as an invitation to develop human virtues, especially those needed in a world full of pain.
  • Article
    “Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Women! Encountering Media Ethics and Religion in Theory and in the Classroom
    Fritz, Natalie; Mäder, Marie-Therese; Scolari, Baldassare (2022)
    The article presents a theoretical and methodological framework for a cultural studies-oriented approach to the complex relationship between media, religion and ethics. On the basis of several concrete examples, the article sheds light on the centrality of religious worldviews, symbols, figures and narratives within different media practices, in which moral norms, principles and values are reproduced, rediscovered, discussed, legitimated and contested. Moreover, the article highlights how the examination of concrete media contents can be implemented in teaching in order to stimulate and increase students’ capacity to understand, analyze and evaluate the normative function and power of the media, especially in the contemporary, digitalized and globalized world.
  • Review
  • Article
    “There is no order in which God calls us” The Depiction of Christianity and Christians in the Netflix Series SQUID GAME
    Bosman, Frank (2022)
    The highly successful and also somewhat controversial Netflix series Squid Game takes a very critical stance on the – supposed – intimate relationship between South Korean Christianity and capitalism, especially regarding what is known as the ‘prosperity gospel’. The series features some explicitly Christian characters who do not act according to what they preach, that is, they behave explicitly egoistically instead of altruistically. The series even seems to suggest that ‘true’ Christian compassion and self-sacrifice are to be found outside the boundaries of institutionalized Christianity rather than among nominal Christians. In this article, the author explains in more detail this twofold criticism that the series gives regarding (South Korean) Christianity by carefully examining key scenes and figures from the series, and positioning the series within South Korean (religious) society.
  • Review
  • Review
    Book Review. Robert Covolo, Fashion Theology
    Kealty, Céire (2022)
  • Review
  • Review
  • Article
    Liturgy on the Reel: Ascesis through Film
    Radovic, Milja (2022)
    This paper investigates representations of ascesis in film. Ascesis (askesis-ἄσκησις) is an ancient Christian praxis, which remains an integral part of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its aim is the restoration of the human being into its wholeness, which in Orthodox theology is referred to as the ‘growing of man from the image to the likeness of God’. Ascesis is bound to the Divine Liturgy: it is a continuation and manifestation of the experience of liturgical life and its aim is the (kenotic) fulfilment of love. Ascesis is a constant metanoia, a pre-condition of reconciliation, a transformative process, artistic creation and the Divine inspiration that leads to salvation. This paper examines the depictions of ascesis in two films: 1. Ostrov (The Island, Pavel Lungin, Russia, 2006) and 2. Man of God (Yelena Popovic, Greece, 2021). The overarching aims of this paper are to show: 1) the ways in which asceticism is conceptualised and expressed in Orthodox Christianity and 2) the ways in which film expresses the inexpressible, moving from the descriptive language to the expression of inner liturgical life by the means of film language. The paper hopes to provide novel perspectives to the field of religion and film in researching asceticism through film. Building upon Andrei Tarkovsky’s thought, this paper finally suggests approaching ascesis in film through the lens of poetic cinema.
  • Review
    Exhibition Review. Olafur Eliasson, Life
    Fritz, Natalie (2022)
  • Article
    Serious Games: The Asymmetry of Images in Harun Farocki’s Work
    Guerri, Maurizio (2022)
    The video installation Serious Games (2009–2010) by director, artist and image theorist Harun Farocki (1944–2014) investigates the relationship between virtual reality, augmented reality and war in the contemporary world. The question that guides Farocki’s research is: how have new technologies and new ways of producing images changed contemporary wars? Farocki’s analysis shows how the images themselves have become a part of war – not as propaganda, but as part of communication and part of the tactics of war, and how, within the way wars are conducted, images are becoming more and more «operational» and therefore entail an increasing asymmetry in both the materiality of conflicts and their perception. Farocki’s work on the relationship between images and wars is not only a genealogy of our view of wars, but also an attempt at “profanation” – to use Giorgio Agamben’s notion – that allows for a restitution of the testimonial capacity of images in relation to wars.
  • Article
    The Face of the Other (Faith) as a Threat: How Images Shape Our Perception
    Paganini, Claudia (2022)
    According to Emmanuel Lévinas, the face of the other is the starting point of ethics. The following article therefore examines in which form of media representation we Christians meet with the other or more precisely with “the faith of the other”. Across the photo reporting of migration, war and terror, it will be shown that de-subjectifying images dominate and that the face of the other is absent. The same applies to religious websites and social media, where biblical quotations and idyllic landscape images predominate and people – or people’s faces – who could be a challenge to one's own faith hardly appear. This affects the perception of ‘the own’ and ‘the foreign’, and it does so in an even more negative way as the competence to interpret images correctly is not particularly well-developed in most people.