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This book examines major British and American missionary films during the Golden Age of Hollywood to explore the significance of race, gender, and spirituality in relation to the lives of the missionaries portrayed in film during the middle third of the twentieth century. Film both influences and reflects culture, and racial, gender, and religious identities are some of the most debated issues globally today. In the movies explored in this book, missionary interactions with various people groups reflect the historical changes which took place during this time.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Racist Casting, Interracial Attraction and Primitivism.- 3. Progress in Race Since 1945.- 4. Maintaining Masculinity.- 5. Traditional and Independent Women.- 6. Earthly Kingdom and Spiritual Kingdom.- 7. Class and Hierarchy.- 8. Social Christianity and Evangelism.- 9. Suffering and Apostasy.-
About the author
Douglas Carl Abrams is Professor of History at Bob Jones University, USA.
Report
"Abrams articulates clearly is that the movies of the mid-twentieth century decades accurately reflected the real-life role of foreign missions in expanding the horizons of the average American ... . Abrams is well read in scholarship on missionaries, and successfully integrates his findings with the latest books and articles in the field. Missionaries in the golden age of Hollywood ... gives us the most comprehensive account we have of missionaries as characters in commercial films." (David A. Hollinger, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 75 (1), January, 2024)
"This year 2023, this lover of France has released another very valuable piece of research related to the same fields (mass culture and US Evangelicalism). It is Missionaries in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Race, Gender, and Spirituality on the Big Screen ... . Congrats and thank you Douglas Carl Abrams." (French Windows, frenchwindows.hautetfort.com, December 28, 2023)
