For the Film Response Essay you will watch a film relevant to Religious Traditions covered in class so far. You will write at least two full pages connecting the film to course content (Textbook readings, Module lectures). In order to successfully complete this assignment you must cite course content, connect to the film and cite the film.
Film Options
1) TITLE: The Many Faces of God
DESCRIPTION: Hinduism has long accepted additions—to its pantheon, philosophies, devotional practices—but it has never discarded its ancient traditions. As a result, the religion reveals both dizzying diversity and strong strains of continuity. Joan Cummins, Curator of Asian Art at Brooklyn Museum, looks primarily at sculptures from the exhibition From India East, to seek out the commonalities between seemingly disparate images of Hindu and Buddhist deities. The sculptures reveal a network of exchange and appropriation that is far richer and more complex than the simple eastward vector of influence that we expect to find in the history of Asian art.
2)
TITLE: Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
DESCRIPTION: In 1991, Buddhist expert and art historian Benoy K. Behl photographed the Ajanta paintings in India, an experience that inspired him to explore the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia. In this film, he focuses on Tibetan Buddhist ideas and practices that were developed in the University of Nalanda. Study at medieval monastic universities in Eastern India was based not upon faith but on logic and pursuit of truth and knowledge through intellectual thought, discussion, and debate. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other experts speak about the Indian roots of Tibetan Buddhism and culture, including developing a Tibetan written language to facilitate the transfer of knowledge in the 7th century. The documentary includes a discussion of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist art. Written and directed by Benoy K. Behl.
3)
TITLE: Shinto and Daoism*
*This film deals with a lot of ‘new’ material – especially focusing on Japan!
DESCRIPTION: Religions of the Tao examines the traditions of Taoism that include Shinto, Confucianism, and Chinese folk religion, which focus on the Tao, the origin and law of all things in the universe. History and meaning is explored via the sites of Mount Tai and the Temple of Confucius, Qufu in the Shandong province of China; Ise Jingu in Mie, Japan; Yongle Palace in Shanxi, China; the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan; the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China; and the Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima, Japan, with its iconic ‘floating’ Torri gate. These religions and philosophies are less well known in the West in comparison to Buddhism and Hinduism and by exploring these places of worship, Religions of the Tao teases the similarities and differences, going so far as to explore the very boundaries of what a religion actually is.
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