Screening the Afterlife: Theology, Eschatology and Film

This book looks critically at a range of definitional and methodological questions in 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 also focus 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.