Page - 140 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

140 | Jochen Mündlein www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 139–142 ditions found in films to the reader’s personal experience. The second part of the title, “Religion im Film” is, however, misleading: the films are con- sistently considered only in light of the Christian tradition and a Christian perspective and never from the point of view of other religious traditions. This specifically Christian consideration of film highlights the many possibil- ities of Christian motifs in current cinema and illustrates the contemporary relevance of the medium of film for theology and the study of Christianity. The first part of the book is subdivided into ten chapters and considers Christian themes and motifs in selected films. The first two chapters con- centrate on the complex representation of social life organized by binding rules. Using specific films as examples, Kirsner illustrates the challenges of portraying the role of the divine in the genesis of these rules. In this way, Kirsner circumscribes two basic challenges of portraying religious motifs in film in a dense description: first, the challenge of representing transcend- ence, since images of the divine in films are dependent on and embedded in a cultural context and therefore can only ever claim to be a provisional and incomplete experience of transcendence, and second, the thematization of normative instructions for action as found in the Decalogue and naturalized as a primary human experience. Kirsner understands the representations of the divine as an expression of interpersonal relationships in society and at the same time as an expression of a relationship between humans and God. The dialectical character of theological film interpretation becomes clear in her hermeneutic reflection. From an emic perspective, the individual films can be understood as a foundational experience of Christian faith, while an etic perspective emphasizes the provisional nature of these experiences and their fundamentally anthropological character. In the following three chapters, the book uses selected films, such as Ar- rival (Denis Villeneuve, US 2016) and The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, US 2008), to discuss central themes of Christian theology: selfless sacrifice, misunderstood suffering, and resurrection. The existential longing for re- demption is presented here as a basic anthropological motif. The films are interpreted as a recapitulation of biblical narratives within a framework of Christian hope and expectation of salvation. At the same time, the audience can identify with the characters in the films and be reminded of their own hopes from a Christian perspective. The book summarizes the prerequisites for this need for salvation in Christian motifs. Kirsner argues that based on the typology of representations of evil and the analysis of apocalyptic and dystopian representations, films create imaginative places for negotiation of