By Shane Mead | Reporter
When Dr. Zachary Sheldon was interviewed for his job at Baylor about five years ago, he was asked by faculty which class he would teach if he could choose from anything he wanted. His answer was a class on religion and film. A handful of years later, Sheldon is now teaching his first semester of the new Religion and Film class, part of the recently developed Christianity and the Arts minor.
“That’s something that I’ve always been interested in and something that I care a lot about,” said Sheldon, a lecturer in the Film and Digital Media department.
In designing the class curriculum, Sheldon considered what he would have wanted to be included in the class if he were taking it himself. He also considered the multitudes of people, traditions and scholars he’d consulted on how to structure the course.
“I’m trying to kind of merge a lot of different approaches together into something that’s kind of different,” he said.
Much of the material the class has covered in these first few weeks of school has been on film history that often isn’t taught, Sheldon said.
“Sometimes we don’t think about the fact that a lot of the earliest silent films were biblical adaptations, and that Bible story movies were huge business in early Hollywood,” Sheldon said.
“It’s fun to see how Christianity and religion impacts Hollywood and those big, mainstream movies,” said Mesquite senior Daniel Taylor, who is in the class. “It’s one that really makes you think sometimes. It’s a big opportunity to learn about just different viewpoints.”
Sheldon emphasizes the class’ ability to teach students things that may not have been considered or thought of.
“There’s a wide continuum of things that fit this category, many of which we might not expect to fit in that category,” he said, “and that’s a really cool thing.”
The diversity in subject matter can even interest students who do not have any religious affiliations, Sheldon said.
“The class kind of tries to weave together American cultural history, American religious history, film history and film studies all into one kind of package to unpack,” he said. “It definitely is something that can be of use and appealing to people, whatever their stance or faith commitment.”
As of now, the plan is for Religion and Film to be a fall-only course which is subject to change based on need, according to Sheldon. With Religion and Film being on the pathway for an official minor at Baylor, it is unlikely this course would cease to be offered any time in the near future.
