@article{1479860,
      recid = {1479860},
      author = {Lindvall, Terry, },
      title = {Sanctuary Cinema : Origins of the Christian Film Industry  /},
      pages = {1 online resource},
      abstract = {Winner of the Religious Communication Association Book of  the Year Award for 2008Sanctuary Cinema provides the first  history of the origins of the Christian film industry.  Focusing on the early days of film during the silent era,  it traces the ways in which the Church came to adopt film  making as a way of conveying the Christian message to  adherents. Surprisingly, rather than separating themselves  from Hollywood or the American entertainment culture, early  Christian film makers embraced Hollywood cinematic  techniques and often populated their films with attractive  actors and actresses. But they communicated their sectarian  message effectively to believers, and helped to shape  subsequent understandings of the Gospel message, which had  historically been almost exclusively verbal, not  communicated through visual media.Despite early successes  in attracting new adherents with the lure of the film, the  early Christian film industry ultimately failed, in large  part due to growing fears that film would corrupt the  church by substituting an American "civil religion" in  place of solid Christian values and amidst continuing  Christian unease about the potential for the glorification  of images to revert to idolatry. While radio eclipsed the  motion picture as the Christian communication media of  choice by the 1920, the early film makers had laid the  foundations for the current re-emergence of Christian film  and entertainment, from Veggie Tales to The Passion of the  Christ.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1479860},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814753231.001.0001},
}