Movie Ministers

Faithful Shepherds

Finally, a handful of films do represent Protestant ministers as the faithful shepherds that God has called them to be.  I begin this section with not the most recent example, but perhaps the most notable.  A Man Called Peter (1955) tells the true story of Peter Marshall (played by Richard Todd, above), a Scottish minister who immigrated to America in pursuit of a theological education.  He works his way up to a prominent position at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, also known as the Church of the Presidents.  By the time of his early death, he had become the chaplain of the Senate and a greatly respected man. 

In The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Ingrid Bergman plays the real-life Gladys Aylward, a British servant who became a missionary to China.  Gladys rescued nearly 100 children from Japanese invaders by leading them to safety over a mountain pass to another missionary center. One of the interesting aspects of this film is the casting of white actors to play the Chinese roles, not an unfamiliar practice in the early and middle ages of Hollywood. 

The Preacher's Wife (1996), a remake of the 1947 classic, The Bishop's Wife, which starred Cary Grant, focuses on an inner-city minister, Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance), who is so committed to his work improving the neighborhood that he unfortunately neglects his wife, choir-member-extraordinaire Julia Biggs (Whitney Houston).  An angel, Dudley (Denzel Washington), arrives to right the ship, but doesn't really have to do anything as his presence inspires the minister to sort things out himself. 

Despite what initially seems like a fanatical minister as its lead character, The Apostle (1997) ultimately fits the faithful type and stands out as one of the most memorable films on this list.  Robert Duvall (above) plays a troubled Pentecostal preacher, Euliss "Sonny" Dewey (a.k.a. Apostle E.F.), on the lam for assaulting his ex-wife's boyfriend.  He settles in a small Louisiana town where he starts a new church until the law finally catches up with him.  This is one of Duvall's greatest performances, and the sincerity with which he approaches the topic is evident in both the film and its DVD commentary.  Duvall even hired non-professional actors from the Pentecostal community to act as members of his new church with little direction. 

J. Ryan Parker is the creator, editor of, and main contributor to Pop Theology. A fourth-year Ph.D. student in Religion and the Arts (with a focus on film) at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, his research interests include contemporary religious cinema after The Passion of the Christ, the history of religious cinema, and the ways in which films affect, and are affected by, religious consciousness. He has also served as a media consultant on documentary film projects.  He holds a B.A. in English from Mississippi College and an M.Div. from Wake Forest University Divinity School.