Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience
Author(s): Kutter Callaway (Author)
Publisher: Baylor University Press
Publication Date: December 18, 2012
Language: English
Print length: 263 pages
ISBN-10: 1602585350
ISBN-13: 9781602585355
Book Description
Films are the lingua franca of western culture; for decades they have provided viewers with a universal way of understanding the human experience. And film music, Kutter Callaway demonstrates, has such a profound effect on the human spirit that it demands theological reflection.
By engaging scores from the last decade of popular cinema, Callaway reveals how a musically aware approach to film can yield novel insights into the presence and activity of God in contemporary culture. And, through conversations with these films and their filmmakers, viewers can gain a new understanding of how God may be speaking to modern society through film and its transcendent melodies.
Editorial Reviews
Review
…a welcome advancement in studies pertaining to the Christian faith and the arts. It is clearly written, insightful, interesting, controversial at points, and trendsetting for further discussions.
— Jeremy Evans, Wake Forest ― Southeastern Theological Review
Adding its voice to the choir, Scoring Transcendence charts a new way forward for music in the field of film and religion, providing a coherent paradigm that elevates film music to its rightful place next to the images.
— Carl Laamanen ― Music, Sound and the Moving Image Journal
Scoring Transcendence stands as a benchmark for theology’s involvement with cinema. It’s spirited, and every page evokes an enthusiasm for cinema and theological criticism that readers are sure to find stimulating… Callaway’s work could very well be the decisive text that brings theological film criticism into the fold of contemporary film scholarship.
— Brandon Konecny ― Film International
… an important contribution to Christian theological approaches to film.
― Choice
Review
Scoring Transcendence is the most significant work written on theology and film music to date. An enlightening and extremely thoughtful piece of scholarship!
— John Lyden, author of Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals
About the Author
Kutter Callaway is Director of Church Relations and Affiliate Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Pasadena, California.
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