'The Case for Christ' Shows and Tells : CT Entertainment

[Also: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story] Also: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [Donate]( [Christianity Today Entertainment Newsletter]( Friday, April 14, 2017 'The Case for Christ' Shows and Tells Each week CT's critics offer suggestions for art and entertainment they found encouraging, valuable, or reflective of the good, the true, and the beautiful in God's world. Not every suggestion is suitable for everyone, and each reader is encouraged to investigate the ratings and accompanying content warnings of each suggestion. This week is conference week, and we've got a number of recommendations below, so I'll make this short. It sounds like The Case for Christ (now in theatres) is the rare Christian movie that isn't cringeworthy. See our review, quoted below. Seems like it could be a pretty good Easter watch. I'd love to know who else saw it, and what you thought. Email me and let me know at rclark@christianitytoday.com. [Richard Clark](mailto:rclark@christianitytoday.com) [Richard Clark](mailto:rclark@christianitytoday.com) [Richard Clark](mailto:rclark@christianitytoday.com) Online Managing Editor Christianity Today, [@TheRichardClark]( The Case for Christ | Film Every writer encounters a certain maxim at some point while learning his or her craft: "Show, don't tell." The underlying principle is that a story is always stronger when it can make its audience feel something rather than simply instructing them how to feel. It's no surprise, then, that The Case for Christ is strongest when it remains content to thoughtfully explore Lee Strobel's story. When it sets exploration to the side and wields that story like a sermon anecdote, the failure of imagination infects the filmmaking. I hope that The Case for Christ's successes, rather than its flaws, will nonetheless serve as a model for future faith-based films. — [Kevin McLenithan for CT]( [Now showing in theaters] An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story | TV Documentary An American Conscience profiles the man Time magazine called America's greatest Protestant theologian since Jonathan Edwards. That Niebuhr currently lacks the name recognition of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, or Pat Robertson says as much about America's political and religious climate as it does about our notoriously short attention span. Graham is briefly contrasted to Niebuhr in the film, the former held up as an example of someone preaching to the individual in society while the film's subject is presented as someone equally interested in how society impacts and helps shape that individual. Even the title of Niebuhr's most famous work, Moral Man and Immoral Society, hints at the kinds of environmental determinism that are too often sloughed off as Marxist (or at least Leftist) by its critics without ever truly being substantively engaged. That's a shame, because the polarized politics in America demand something more than sound bites and scapegoating. We desperately need substantive, theologically informed debate about the goals of public policy and the likelihood of achieving them through various political systems. A renewed interest in Niebuhr is a small but welcome step in that direction. — [Kenneth R. Morefield]( [Airing on PBS Easter weekend] S-Town | Podcast Instead of caricaturing Woodstock as a backwards rural Southern town, Reed balances his honest portrayal of its faults with a true empathy for its struggles and history. Even when individual characters in the saga do seemingly malicious things or are painted in a negative light by other people, Reed continually flips the listener's assumptions and judgments from one episode to the next. Everyone has a history that explains at least some of their behavior, and everyone gets a chance to tell their side of the story. — [Kaitlyn Schiess for CT]( [Now available via iTunes or any other podcast app] [In 'The Case for Christ,' Experience, not Evidence, Is the Real Clincher]( Pure Flix's adaptation of the apologetics classic succeeds most where it preaches least. Kevin McLenithan [Pete Holmes: Believing in God Gave Me Hope as Comic]( In his new HBO show 'Crashing,' the former evangelical winks to Christian fans. Interview by Kate Shellnutt ['S-Town' Explores the Maze of the Divine Clockmaker's Mind]( In the new hit podcast from the producers of 'Serial,' the shattered Imago Dei takes center stage. Kaitlyn Schiess [HBO's 'Solitary' Revisits Why It's Not Good for Man to Be Alone]( Kristi Jacobson's penetrating new documentary confronts viewers with the soul-withering effects of solitary confinement. Johnathan Kana Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Google+]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( IN THE MAGAZINE [Current Issue]( [The Most Astonishing Easter Miracle]( [The Strange Encouragement of the Church's Appalling History]( [How a Hotshot New Yorker Found Jesus in Paraguay]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( More from Christianity Today [The Best Way To Avoid Pastor Burnout? Equip The Saints]( Neither information or inspiration is enough. Pastors need to help congregations turn it into perspiration. ['Bible Answer Man' Converts to Orthodoxy]( CRI's Hank Hanegraaff joined the Greek Orthodox Church on Palm Sunday. [Theology in the Book of Hebrews]( Dr. Peeler is Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. 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