Matthew S. Rindge - Profane Parables

Matthew S. Rindge

Baylor University Press

2016 by Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas 76798

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rindge, Matthew S., author.

Profane parables : film and the American dream / Matthew S. Rindge.

191 pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4813-0429-0 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. Motion picturesReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. Motion picturesUnited States. 3. American DreamReligious aspectsChristianity. 4. Fight club (Motion picture) 5. American beauty (Motion picture) 6. About Schmidt (Motion picture) I. Title.

PN1995.5.R56 2016

791.43682dc23

2015026592

Ce nest rien de mourir; cest affreux de ne pas vivre.

-Victor Hugo, Les Misrables

For Shannon, Andrew, and Sophia.

May we live before we die.

My love affair with film began in 1978, when my dad took a five-year-old boy to see a rerelease of Pinocchio in southern California. It was my first time in a theater; I was transfixed and instantly hooked. Disney was my gateway drug. I thank my dad, my original dealer, for providing the first hit.

Many people have shaped my understanding of Religion/Theology and Film, and deepened my love for the subject. I am indebted to Robert Johnston, Craig Detweiler, and Gary Laderman for encouraging my interest in this field, and my work on this specific project. As a student at Fuller Theological Seminary, I learned invaluable lessons from Rob, and I continue to do so from his writing. His influence is evident throughout these pages. Working as a teaching assistant with Craig was a delight, and instructive about how to teach well. This books initial shape emerged in a seminar I took with Gary in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Coteaching with him allowed me to explore some of these initial ideas with students.

Since 2009 I have taught a Bible and Film course every semester at Gonzaga University. A segment of this course addresses cinematic critiques of the American Dream, and considerable material in this book had its origins in different iterations of this course. I thank Gonzaga Religious Studies department colleagues for supporting my creation of this course, and its ongoing development. I am grateful to be able to teach material I know and love. Conversations about cinema with colleagues Ron Large, Patrick McCormick, and Kevin McCruden are fun and informative. Students in this course offer insights that have helped sharpen this book.

When I first shared my vision for Profane Parables with editors Carey Newman and Nicole Murphy in Atlanta, they expressed genuine interest and enthusiasm in the project. Carey has since then been an indefatigable and careful editor, closely reading my insomnia cures, and encouraging me to transform them into compelling prose. Readers owe him a debt, for the book is much improved as a result of his involvement. I thank Carey and the many other Baylor University Press staff for enabling my vision to materialize in concrete form. I thank Jordan Rowan Fannin, who was especially helpful with permissions issues, and Cade Jarrell, whose copyediting of the entire manuscript was meticulous and thoughtful.

Readers of various chapters have been more than generous with constructive feedback. I thank Adele Reinhartz, Richard Walsh, Kent Brintnall, Robert Johnston, Michael Kates, and Shannon Rindge for their insights, questions, and critiques. The anonymous external reviewers of the manuscript provided supportive and helpful suggestions.

The Bible and Film section in the Society of Biblical Literature has been an academic home of sorts for me during the last several years. Jeffrey Staley and Richard Walsh warmly welcomed me into this coterie and extended collegial hospitality. Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch and Lloyd Baugh have encouraged my academic work. Robert Seesengood, Laura Copier, and Caroline Vander Stichele have offered insightful feedback, and I have learned much from their own work. I have presented some of this material at SBL annual meetings in San Francisco (2011), Chicago (2012), and Baltimore (2013). Deans Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak and Patrick Burke invited me to present some of these ideas at the Gonzaga-in-Florence Capacity for Renaissance conference in Firenze, Italia (2014). I thank John Carroll for inviting me to write an article on Lukes parables for Interpretation, and discuss the same subject in a Gospel of Luke section at the SBL annual meeting in San Diego (2014). Material from that article and address has been adopted for use here.

A few people were kind enough to grant me permission to include their fine work in this project. I thank Alexander Payne for letting me use so much dialogue from his film About Schmidt; Steve Pope for letting me use a political cartoon from the late Mike Ritter; and Robert M. Johnston for allowing me to use his translation of two rabbinic parables.

Many churches and other organizations have invited me to share some of the ideas in this book. I thank Central Presbyterian Church (Atlanta, Georgia), St. Joseph Parish (both in Colbert, Washington and Otis Orchards, Washington), and in Spokane, Washington: First Presbyterian Church, Spiritus (the Episcopalian diocesan center for spirituality), and Jewish Family Services.

Much of this book was written in three superb coffee shops in Spokane. I thank the owners and baristas at Revel 77, Indaba, and Coeur for providing hospitable service, stellar coffee, and patiently tolerating this pesky author. Manito Tap House, another writing site, offers exceptional beer and gracious service. I finished editing the book during a seven week stay in Firenze, Italia, and I remain grateful for the warmth and kindness of this citys residents.

Shannon, Andrew, and Sophia enrich my life in countless ways. Their presence is a recurring and luxurious grace. I count myself luckyand am gratefulto be in their family. With deep love, I dedicate this book to them. We have been gifted by cinematic artists with occasional sacred encounters. I wish these would continue forever. Jorge Luis Borges once imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. If he is right, and we ever find such a place, I hope it offers film screenings as well as books.

Jorge Luis Borges, Blindness, in Seven Nights (trans. Eliot Weinberger; New York: New Directions Books, 1984), 110.

In the posteverything world it turns out humans cant kick the story habit. Homer gets the last laugh.

Glen Duncan

We are lonesome animals. We spend our lives trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to sayand to feelYes, thats the way it is, or at least thats the way I feel it. Youre not as alone as you thought.