The Wages of Cinema

"In this volume, Crystal Downing explores how to approach film from an explicitly Christian perspective as informed by the work of Dorothy L. Sayers. Downing draws on Sayers's writing on the relationship between creativity and Christianity to call for a discerning Christian engagement with film. She also points to Sayers's own (often overlooked, even by some of her best biographers) interactions with cinema. This wide-ranging study combines theological engagement with film and a historical analysis of the development of film, along with the story of Sayers's own life and work. Sayers was passionate about artistic integrity and expressing truth in good art, and her insights can inform how Christians today appreciate works both old and new. Downing challenges Christian authors who, showing little to no interest in film history, art, and theory, have written books reducing film to a content-delivery system"--

Crystal L. Downing (PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara), an award-winning author, has published five books, including Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers, which received a Publishers Weekly starred review, and Salvation from Cinema: The Medium Is the Message.