Finding God in the Dark: Taking the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to the Movies
By John Pungente and Monty Williams, Novalis, 2004
A Jesuit media educator and a spiritual counselor combine talents to make mainstream movie-viewing a way to promote spiritual growth.
This book follows the classic spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, using accessible, contemporary films to promote discussion and deeper insight into the films and oneself. Films featured in Finding God in the Dark have been selected based on both their availability and their ability to expose issues, dilemmas or spiritual insights for the viewer.
The films explored in Finding God in the Dark – Lost in Translation, Big Fish, Bowling for Columbine, Harry Potter, Bend it like Beckham, Mystic River, The Lord of the Rings – are not the sort of movies usually classified as 'religious' or 'spiritual.' But as readers will discover, they are films which deal with human mysteries and help us understand our deepest aspirations.
Finding God in the Dark can be ordered through Novalis Publishing.
