When it comes to art and politics, Christians aren’t always the most interesting people to talk with. At times, the renewing of our minds can lead to not only transformed, but dramatically narrowed perspectives. In our enthusiasm to spurn Satan’s influence, some of us curb or wholly eliminate certain kinds of cultural production from our diet. I’ve come across students who sold all their comics or tossed out their CD collections during periods of spiritual cleansing, and have marveled at the self-control of friends who decided to completely eliminate television or movies from their homes. Still others continue to imbibe, but with a moral imperative to judge in the most absolute terms any media artifacts poured into their glass. This 200-proof thriller obviously deserves a quick trip down the drain, but that fruity bit of romantic comedy can be served all around, etc. Depending on the venue in which such assessments are launched, and the authority with which they’re voiced, this kind of essentialization can lead to quick censorship, abundant boycotts, and other kinds of close-mindedness. Witness my bursting in-box . . .

None of that here.

At Cinekklesia, we mean to champion that freedom Paul says so much about in Romans and I Corinthians, and none of us intend to have the last word. Far from it. What we’d love to see is a number of ongoing, provocative conversations spinning around about a century worth of cinema. Sometimes, we’ll model this kind of constructive dissent ourselves, devoting a weekly feature to a roundtable in which a few us float radically diverging opinions on a given film. Often, we’ll leave it to our readers to provide the site with useful, alternate viewpoints.

Christian community, as detailed by a number of word pictures across the New Testament, calls for a tight interlocking of individual members that recognizes the seams between them. Separate branches on a single vine, layered bricks forming a joint foundation, assorted extremities and differentiated organs contained within a single body—each of these important metaphors calls for a mysterious, Christ-directed melding that incorporates without subsuming difference. The creators of Cinekklesia want to foster just such a synergy of distinct voices, a cacophony of disparate perspectives united loosely (but tangibly) by their shared consciousness of that divine melody singing within believers. Or, to put it another way (without the poetic posturing), we’d like a place where thoughtful folk can can freely express their unique, sometimes dissenting opinions on film. Go to it!

Paul Marchbanks
1 May 2005