Synopses & Reviews
View the
Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.
Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2003
"Lyden's book is well-written, insightful, and especially engaging for anyone who loves movies."Religious Studies Review
"..offers several new perspectives on this increasingly popular and gradually more critical area. It also is wellsuited for the religious studies classroom. Lyden's writing is clear, and he nicely describes some of the more difficult theories of religion in ways that are accessible to undergraduates. In fact, the next time I teach my course "Myth and Ritual on Film" I will assign Film as Religion because of its analogizing methods of showing how film does indeed function as religion in contemporary U.S. culture."Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"Lyden offers perceptive criticisms of some of the most influential ways of talking about myth."
Crisis Magazine
"Lyden has articulated a well-defined methodology that relies on some of the best resources religious studies can bring to the table." Film Quarterly
"Lyden lays an imrpessive and sound foundation for his vision: to provide a systematic method for connecting religion and film studies. . . . This is truly significant, immensely compelling, and dynamically provocative work. Essential."
Choice
“Lyden's book gives a valuable overview of the state of research in this field as well as inspirational ideas for further study. Lyden's theories offer important new perspectives for future debates.”
Sylvie Magerstaedt, Communication Research Trends
Film as Religion argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and values to confront it. Lyden contends that approaches which interpret films only ideologically or theologically miss the mark in understanding their appeal to viewers. He develops an alternative method which shows how films can be understood as representing a "religious" worldview in their own right.
Lyden surveys the state of the study of religion and film, offering an overview of previous methods before presenting his own. Rather than seeking to uncover hidden meanings in film detectable only to scholars, Lyden emphasizes how film functions for its audiencesthe beliefs and values it conveys, and its ritual power to provide emotional catharsis. He includes a number of brief cases studies in which he applies this method to the study of film genresincluding westerns and action movies, children's films, and romantic comediesand individual films from The Godfather to E.T., showing how films can function religiously.
Review
"John Lyden has entered into the arena of Religion and Film books with an extremely adept contender. His review of the literature on existing approaches to religion and film should be required reading by film enthusiasts and theologians alike. What his conclusions offer in terms of a new approach are solid, convincing and most promising for the future of the field." - Tony S. L. Michael, co-chair, Religion, Film and Visual Culture, AAR
Review
"Lyden's book is well-written, insightful, and especially engaging for anyone who loves movies." - Religious Studies Review
Review
"..offers several new perspectives on this increasingly popular and gradually more critical area. It also is wellsuited for the religious studies classroom. Lyden's writing is clear, and he nicely describes some of the more difficult theories of religion in ways that are accessible to undergraduates. In fact, the next time I teach my course "Myth and Ritual on Film" I will assign Film as Religion because of its analogizing methods of showing how film does indeed function as religion in contemporary U.S. culture." - Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Review
"Lyden offers perceptive criticisms of some of the most influential ways of talking about myth." - Crisis Magazine
Review
“A very important book. Lyden urges respect for how films actually function for people who watch them. He lays out an insightful and compelling case for considering film-watching a religious activity. In so doing, he offers a major challenge to all those who discuss culture, religion and theology today.”
“John Lyden has entered into the arena of Religion and Film books with an extremely adept contender. His review of the literature on existing approaches to religion and film should be required reading by film enthusiasts and theologians alike. What his conclusions offer in terms of a new approach are solid, convincing and most promising for the future of the field.”
“Lyden’s book is well-written, insightful, and especially engaging for anyone who loves movies."”
“. . . offers several new perspectives on this increasingly popular and gradually more critical area. It also is wellsuited for the religious studies classroom. Lyden’s writing is clear, and he nicely describes some of the more difficult theories of religion in ways that are accessible to undergraduates. In fact, the next time I teach my course "Myth and Ritual on Film" I will assign Film as Religion because of its analogizing methods of showing how film does indeed function as religion in contemporary U.S. culture.”
“Lyden offers perceptive criticisms of some of the most influential ways of talking about myth.”
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-278) and indexes.
Synopsis
Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2003
Film as Religion argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and values to confront it. Lyden contends that approaches which interpret films only ideologically or theologically miss the mark in understanding their appeal to viewers. He develops an alternative method which shows how films can be understood as representing a “religious” worldview in their own right.
Lyden surveys the state of the study of religion and film, offering an overview of previous methods before presenting his own. Rather than seeking to uncover hidden meanings in film detectable only to scholars, Lyden emphasizes how film functions for its audiencesᾹthe beliefs and values it conveys, and its ritual power to provide emotional catharsis. He includes a number of brief cases studies in which he applies this method to the study of film genres—including westerns and action movies, children's films, and romantic comedies—and individual films from The Godfather to E.T., showing how films can function religiously.
Synopsis
The History of Clinical Psychiatry explores the history of significant psychiatric disorders from both a clinical and a social-historical perspective. Divided into three sections, the volume covers neuropsychiatric disorders such as dementia, stroke and Parkinson's disease; functional psychoses such as schizophrenia and depression; and neuroses and personality disorders. Other disorders covered within the three sections include delirium, unitary psychosis, depression and mania, delusional states, neurasthenia and the fatigue syndromes, anxiety and panic, eating disorders, and suicidal behavior.
As the first synthesis of the work of clinicians and historians of psychiatry, The History of Clinical Psychiatry offers a unique perspective for scholars across disciplines. It is designed as the standard reference work on the subject for practitioners and students within medicine and psychiatry as well as for historians and those in the social sciences, and includes contributions from a diverse and distinguished group of scholars.
About the Author
German Berrios is Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge and University Lecturer in Psychiatry and Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Cambridge Clinical School. Roy Porter is Reader in the Social History of Medicine, Wellcome Institute.
Roy Porter is Professor of the Social History of Medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, and author of a number of books including London: A Social History.
Mickey Eliason is Assistant Professor of Nursing and Psychology at the University of Iowa. Both teach classes in Queer Studies.