In this study in IVP Academic's STA series, theologian Richard Goodwin considers how the images that constitute film might be a conduit of God's revelation. By considering works by Stanley Kubrik, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, and more, Goodwin argues that by inviting emotional responses, film images can be a medium of divine revelation.

In a cinematic culture where multiple visions of reality "play" at the same time, it is critical that Christian believers know how to confidently identify and "discern," among other stories, the Jesus-story that defines their most important commitment in life. Using the optical metaphor of the "eye of faith," the author identifies the spiritual life as a "visual life." Through themes such as "looking through Jesus' eyes," the bible as a "visionary text," and the church as a "wide-eyed people," he builds a connecting bridge between the seeing-soul in Christian spirituality, and the twenty-first century as the "age of the eye." The key words for this exploration are spirituality, discipleship, insight, luminescence, and optical "therapy." The author proposes the need for a "catechism of the eye" that will lead to the renewal of Christian ministry, spirituality, discipleship, and identity.

Social media platforms are often denounced as “bubbles” or “echo chambers.” In this view, what we see tends to reinforce what we already believe, and what we already believe shapes what we see. Yet social movements such as Black Lives Matter rely heavily on the widespread dissemination of digital photographs and videos through social media. In at least some cases, visual images can challenge normative and normalized ways of grasping the world and prompt their viewers to see differently—and even bring people together. Seeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for social justice. Ellen T. Armour examines what distinguishes digital photography from its analogue predecessor and places the circulation of digital images in the broader context of virtual visual cultures. She explores the challenges and opportunities that visually saturated social media landscapes present for users and organizers. Despite the power of digital platforms and algorithms, possibilities for disruption and resistance emerge from how people engage with these systems. Armour offers ways of seeing drawn from Christianity and found in other religious traditions to help us break with entrenched habits and rethink how we engage with the images that grab our attention. Developing theological perspectives on the power and peril of photography and technology, Seeing and Believing provides suggestions for navigating the new media landscape that can spark what Armour calls “photographic insurrection.”

Television has a powerful impact on our beliefs and is open to use as a political and propaganda tool. Greg Philo has taken a new approach to examining these issues by inviting groups of television viewers to write their own news programmes, based on news pictures from the 1984-5 British miners' strike.

"What are you looking for?" These are Jesus's first words in John's Gospel, and he asks us the same question when we decide to follow him. We read John's Gospel because it helps us get closer to Jesus. We're like the first disciples, who answer his question with their own, "Master, where can we find you?" Only near the end of John's story do we learn the answer: Jesus lives in the hearts of all who love him. Believing is Seeing guides readers to believe more deeply in Jesus of Nazareth as the human face of God, seen through the eyes of his beloved disciple. It beckons us to bring to his gospel our soul-searching questions. Do Jesus's words stake a claim on my life? Does John's gospel test me intellectually, spiritually, or morally? Does John's portrait of Jesus make me see him a new way, pray differently, even live differently? Believing in Jesus, the Son of God, shapes how we perceive our own identity, the world around us, the nature of truth, and our relationship with God. To believe is to see with love's eyes.

Is your worldview enlightened enough to accommodate both science and God at the same time? Dr. Michael Guillen, a best-selling author, Emmy award–winning journalist and former physics instructor at Harvard, used to be an Atheist—until science changed his mind. Once of the opinion that people of faith are weak, small-minded folks who just don’t understand science, Dr. Guillen ultimately concluded that not only does science itself depend on faith, but faith is actually the mightiest power in the universe. In Believing Is Seeing, Dr. Guillen recounts the fascinating story of his journey from Atheism to Christianity, citing the latest discoveries in neuroscience, physics, astronomy, and mathematics to pull back the curtain on the mystery of faith as no one ever has. Is it true that “seeing is believing?” Or is it possible that reality can be perceived most clearly with the eyes of faith—and that truth is bigger than proof? Let Dr. Guillen be your guide as he brilliantly argues for a large and enlightened worldview consistent with both God and modern science.

Developments in medieval science that elevated sight above the other senses found religious expression in the Christian emphasis on miracles, relics, and elaborate structures. In his incisive survey of Gothic art and architecture, Roland Recht argues that this preoccupation with vision as a key to religious knowledge profoundly affected a broad range of late medieval works. In addition to the great cathedrals of France, Recht explores key religious buildings throughout Europe to reveal how their grand designs supported this profusion of images that made visible the signs of scripture. Metalworkers, for example, fashioned intricate monstrances and reliquaries for the presentation of sacred articles, and technical advances in stained glass production allowed for more expressive renderings of holy objects. Sculptors, meanwhile, created increasingly naturalistic works and painters used multihued palettes to enhance their subjects’ lifelike qualities. Reimagining these works as a link between devotional practices in the late Middle Ages and contemporaneous theories that deemed vision the basis of empirical truth, Recht provides students and scholars with a new and powerful lens through which to view Gothic art and architecture.

A journey into the mysterious and spiritual world of Angels. One woman's account of angelic experiences and the way that it inspired her and changed her life.