Media Violence and Christian Ethics (New Studies in Christian Ethics)

New
Hardcover
2007
$97.96

How can audiences interact creatively, wisely and peaceably with the many different forms of violence found throughout today's media? Suicide attacks, graphic executions and the horrors of war appear in news reports, films, websites, and even on mobile phones. One approach towards media violence is to attempt to protect viewers; another is to criticise journalists, editors, film-makers and their stories. In this book Jolyon Mitchell highlights Christianity's ambiguous relationship with media violence. He goes beyond debates about the effects of watching mediated violence to examine how audiences, producers and critics interact with news images, films, video-games and advertising. He argues that practices such as hospitality, friendship, witness and worship can provide the context where both spectacular and hidden violence can be remembered and reframed. This can help audiences to imagine how their own identities and communities can be based not upon violence, but upon a more lasting foundation of peace.

Synopsis

How can audiences interact creatively, wisely and peaceably with the many different forms of violence found throughout today's media? Suicide attacks, graphic executions and the horrors of war appear in news reports, films, websites, and even on mobile phones. One approach towards media violence is to attempt to protect viewers; another is to criticise journalists, editors, film-makers and their stories. In this book Jolyon Mitchell highlights Christianity's ambiguous relationship with media violence. He goes beyond debates about the effects of watching mediated violence to examine how audiences, producers and critics interact with news images, films, video-games and advertising. He argues that practices such as hospitality, friendship, witness and worship can provide the context where both spectacular and hidden violence can be remembered and reframed. This can help audiences to imagine how their own identities and communities can be based not upon violence, but upon a more lasting foundation of peace.

$97.96

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20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 348
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 15 Nov 2007
ISBN 10: 0521812569
ISBN 13: 9780521812566
Book Overview: Jolyon Mitchell investigates how audiences can interact creatively, wisely and peaceably with media violence.

Media Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'Jolyon Mitchell has written a genuinely important and ground-breaking book. Using a wide variety of evidence, and ranging widely across time and space, he explores the immensely complex relationship between Christianity and media violence. The result is a book rich in original insights, and one that combines great erudition with relentlessly probing discussion. The book deserves a very wide readership embracing, among others, theologians, sociologists, historians, and anyone interested in the contemporary media.' Dr David Smith, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Review of the hardback: 'In this stimulating, vivid, and constructive book, Dr Mitchell explores dimensions of the continuing Christian engagement with violence in various forms, particularly as this engagement is affected and shaped by contemporary media. This book makes an original and timely contribution to understanding not only how journalists, producers and directors depict violence, but also how audiences can develop creative, critical and peaceable practices for interacting wisely with media violence. Dr Mitchell is an outstanding practical theologian and scholar of media, religion and culture, who draws effectively on his own professional experience of the media and scholarly expertise in communication. The result is a rigorous and fascinating study which should be widely read by academics, students and practitioners who will all find that it enlarges their vision and sparks off serious debate. Media Violence and Christian Ethics is both challenging and fascinating, full of serious theological and historical reflection on significant cases.' Professor Duncan B. Forrester, Emeritus Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, The University of Edinburgh
Review of the hardback: 'There is a well-balanced and illuminating discussion on the issue whether violence on television stimulates violence in society.... a valuable stimulus to preaching that is ready to engage with contemporary life.' The Times Literary Supplement
Review of the hardback: 'There is a well-balanced and illuminating discussion on the issue of whether violence on television stimulates violence in society. ... What he has to say could be a valuable stimulus to preaching that is ready to engage with contemporary life.' Church of England Newspaper
Review of the hardback: 'Mitchell's book is a brilliant and significant contribution to the emerging conversation taking place at the intersection of media studies, Christian ethics, and practical theology. Students, scholars, and thoughtful Christians interested in any one of these fields must read this book.' Mary E. Hess, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
Review of the hardback: 'This is a perceptive and stimulating examination of violence in the many media to which we are constantly exposed. ... A refreshing, humane and enthralling study.' The Right Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford
Review of the hardback: 'In a short review it is simply not possible to do justice to the wealth of material contained in this book. In each section we are taken through detailed research findings in a way which is knowledgeable and discriminating. Not only so but the author writes in an accessible and attractive way.' John Eldridge, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow
Review of the hardback: 'A refreshing, humane and enthralling study.' Insights
Review of the hardback: 'Mitchell's argument is informed throughout by a wealth of examples, but the book is also outstanding in its ability to combine a comprehensive coverage of literature in media ethics, film studies and cultural theory with a strongly sustained and nuanced theological reflection.' Theology

Author Bio

Jolyon Mitchell is Senior Lecturer, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh and a former World Service producer and journalist.