<\/span><\/p>\n Last week, Christianity Today<\/em> Movies.com published a report on a \u201cBible Study Guide\u201d for the film version of The Secret Life of Bees<\/em><\/a>\u2014a report that included scathing quotes like that from Mark Nelson: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t use it. There is no biblical content. There isn\u2019t even enough spirituality in this for Oprah.\u201d<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Ouch.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n After reading the article, I thought maybe those interviewed were being a little harsh on the study guide simply because it didn\u2019t include scripture references. I thought, well, perhaps the author was trying to address the movie\u2019s spiritual themes while avoiding proof-texting (taking random verses out of their scriptural context and using them to support a particular view).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Then I looked at the study guide.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Not only does The Secret Life of Bees<\/em> \u201cBible Study Guide\u201d<\/a> (PDF) include no scripture references, but it also makes no mention of any themes that could be interpreted as distinctively Christian. In fact, it\u2019s little more than a plot summary of the movie, interspersed with pretty photos and a few generic inspirational quotes from the movie\u2019s actors and director. <\/strong>Actor Alicia Keys tells us, \u201cLeaving home, leaving your comfort zone, can be scary at times. But I believe it ultimately leads you to somewhere better.\u201d That\u2019s about as deep as it gets. Even if the movie is shallow, a study guide could take that quote about stepping outside your comfort zone and try to relate it to cultural conflict between Jews and Greeks in the New Testament. But this guide makes no attempt to connect such statements to Christianity.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n The guide\u2019s lack of spiritual content is especially puzzling, because the pamphlet is authored by Dr. Craig Detweiler of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Reel Spirituality Institute. Now, I\u2019ve never personally read any of Detweiler\u2019s books (such as A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture<\/em> and Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st<\/sup> Century<\/em>), but I think it\u2019s safe to say that he\u2019s a fairly well respected Christian cultural critic. I took a look at some of his other movie guides produced in conjunction with Grace Hill Media<\/a> (as the Bees<\/em> guide was), and all of them, with the exception of Bees<\/em>, contain scripture verses and reflection on Christian themes. I may not always agree with how the verses are used (the guide for The Great Debaters<\/em><\/a>, for example, uses Matthew 14:31<\/a> to discuss why we should have faith in our abilities\u2014a message which is not particularly biblical and is certainly not Jesus\u2019 meaning in that passage), but at least the references are there so that you and your study-mates can discuss whether or not they apply to the movie. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The Christianity Today<\/em> article reports that Detweiler would not speak to them on record, but that <\/span>he \u201cimplied that his early draft did address some of those issues [the film\u2019s shaky theology], and did include Scripture references. He wouldn\u2019t say who had the final decision over editing the study.\u201d Apparently Grace Hill Media and Fox Searchlight were among the parties responsible for the editorial decisions, but that\u2019s all we know at this point.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Given that the other study guides by Detweiler with Grace Hill do <\/em>include Christian content, the finger of blame seems to point at Fox Searchlight.<\/span><\/strong> I\u2019m purely speculating at this point, because I\u2019m no investigative reporter, but if<\/em> it is true that Fox Searchlight was responsible for removing the Christian content from The Secret Life of Bees<\/em> \u201cBible Study Guide,\u201d are the recent \u201cfriendly\u201d overtures between <\/strong><\/span>Hollywood<\/span><\/strong> marketers and Christian organizations really worth it?<\/span><\/strong> Studios are all about tapping into the Christian \u201cmarket\u201d because we\u2019re a substantial moviegoing population, but, let\u2019s face it, they\u2019re in it for the dough. They\u2019ll use us when it\u2019s convenient and drop us when it\u2019s not. Should we continue to partner with studios when they begin dictating the content of promotional materials produced by Christians (and again, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what happened here)?<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n What I don\u2019t get is that the shallow study guide for The Secret Life of Bees<\/em> hardly seems in the studio\u2019s best interest, either.<\/span><\/strong> Ted Gartner of Grace Hill Media excuses the lack of Scripture references by sayings that the study guides are intended \u201cfor use by pastors and ministry professionals to develop programs best suited to their own individual ministries\u201d and that they are \u201cnot meant for the layman.\u201d But if pastors are the intended audience, it seems like the study guide allows pastors to gather sermon illustrations from the movie without actually seeing it<\/em> (since the guide is mostly a plot summary). That\u2019s not good for the studio, not to mention pastors and congregants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Besides, given how overstretched pastors are anyway, wouldn\u2019t it make more sense to write materials suitable for use by lay leaders in the church? <\/span><\/strong>I don\u2019t know many pastors who have the time to lead movie-discussion groups. However, I can see lay leaders getting involved, using movie viewings and discussions as a way of reflecting upon the Christian truths taught in sermons, etc.\u2014with or without studio-funded study guides.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n *On a side note, I also feel that I should comment briefly upon the \u201cshaky theology\u201d the Christianity Today<\/em> article mentions in connection with The Secret Life of Bees<\/em> (but which the study guide ignores). I didn\u2019t comment much upon the \u201csacred feminine\u201d aspects of the movie in my review last week<\/a>, mainly because I had other things to say and because that emphasis is much stronger in the book than in the movie. All the \u201csacred feminine\u201d references in the movie seem randomly thrown in, and perhaps therefore less dangerous than in the book. Let me be clear: Bees<\/em> author Sue Monk Kidd has, over the past fifteen years or so, moved from Christianity to a sort of neo-pagan goddess worship, and her personal heresies do come across in her novel. But I\u2019m disturbed by Christians referring to her heretical theology under the umbrella label of the \u201cBlack Madonna.\u201d Black Madonnas<\/a> are simply images of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that depict her with dark skin. If that\u2019s heretical, then so are images of Mary that have depicted her with European features. Calling the black Madonna \u201codd spirituality\u201d is, frankly, associating dark skin with \u201coddness,\u201d and that\u2019s problematic. There is a black Madonna image in The Secret Life of Bees<\/em>, and there is a separate figure, a statue of a black woman that the characters refer to as Our Lady of Chains. This latter figure is in many ways associated with Marian characteristics, but she is not the black Madonna. The troubling \u201cchurch\u201d centered around Our Lady of Chains has very little to do with the historical phenomenon of black Madonnas. Let\u2019s just watch our language and make sure we\u2019re not conflating \u201cdifferent\u201d appearance with \u201cweird\u201d spirituality. There. Rant ended.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carissa Smith gives a suspect idea a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-headline","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"\n