New Takes on the Old Book

Looking for movies that deal with Christianity in new or surprising ways?
Here's a list:

1. Dogma
Two fallen angels find a loophole in the church dogma that may allow them back into heaven. Irreverant and sometimes disgusting, always funny. Alanis Morrisette plays God and Chris Rock is the 13th Apostle!

2. The Last Temptation of Christ
A new take on the man who represents the struggle between the spirit and the flesh. Stars Willem Dafoe (Jesus), Barbara Hershey (Mary Magdalene), Harvey Keitel (Judas) and David Bowie (Pontius Pilate)

3. The Decalogue
Originally made for Polish TV, each episode revolves around one of the Ten Commandments and the lives of people in a Warsaw apartment complex.

4. The Life of Brian
The Monty Python movie that is often considered blasphemous and sacrilegious, this is the tale of Brian, a nobody in Jerusalem who seems a lot like Jesus.

5. Saved!
Mary is a good girl at a Christian school. When her boyfriend tells her he thinks he's gay, she decides to save him by having sex with him. You can't get pregnant your first time, right? What follows is a funny, punchy, smart story of Mary and the misfits that surround her.

Books About Grappling with Faith

1. Blankets, by Craig Thompson













Craig is a pious teen who is an outcast, even at religious camp. Rather than trash-talk, Craig actually reads the Bible and also draws. When he meets beautiful Raina, he must reconcile is feelings about love, spirituality, God and the church. (graphic novel)




2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X and Alex Haley



Famous civil rights leader tells his story of transformation from
a street-savvy criminal to a follower of the Nation of Islam,
and to his ultimate spiritual awakening as a Muslim that peaks
with the hajj journey from Mecca to Medina.





3. Dare Truth or Promise, by Paula Boock



Willa and Louie are two girls who are falling in love in this
story set in New Zealand. Louie struggles not only with
her sexual identity, but how she can reconcile it with her faith,
and ultimately finds hope through a discussion with a young priest.


4. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande



Mena’s life couldn’t get much worse: by her first day of
high school, she has been kicked out of church, bullied
by former friends, and hated by her parents, all because
she took a stand to do the right thing. Her freshman year
improves when she is paired with Casey in biology, and
her brilliant science teacher helps Mena explore how belief
in science isn’t necessarily opposed to a belief in God.


5. The Ransom of Mercy Carter, by Caroline B. Cooney


Based on true events, this is the tale of Mercy Carter, an
11-year-old girl who is taken prisoner by the Mohawk Indians
after a raid her village of Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1704.
After trekking to a traditional Indian village in Canada, Mercy
struggles to reconcile her attraction to the Kahnawake Mohawk
way of life (including the newly Catholic tribe’s rituals) with her
Puritanical upbringing.