THE SILENTS OF GOD: SELECTED ISSUES AND DOCUMENTS IN SILENT AMERICAN FILM AND RELIGION 1908-1925 **

If you care about film, faith, or the possibility of entering the movie industry, this book deserves your time. Terry Lindvall gathers articles, sermons, and other documents written between 1908 and 1925, when churches and filmmakers were still trying to understand what movies could become.

The collection shows that the Church was not simply hostile to motion pictures. Many Christians hoped film could support evangelism, education, social reform, missionary work, and moral uplift. The book also records serious concerns about commercialism, worldliness, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, and crime.

The cost is effort. The book is crammed with information, and some documents contradict themselves. Read it carefully, with discernment. For serious readers, the answer is clear: take the trip, but bring a pencil and patience.

Beginning with a motion-picture showing at the historic Chautauqua Tabernacle on June 22, 1900, this study follows religious responses to silent film through four chronological sections.

It moves from prophetic vision and great debates to film as a handmaiden of church work, and finally to the separation of church and cinema. Along the way, voices from the film industry and the Church debate what movies are for and what they might do to society.

Three stars means this is a very good, worthwhile book whose value requires work from the reader. Lindvall’s compilation offers a gold mine of historical information, with nearly every other page capable of yielding a useful insight about film and society.

The organization into four chronological sections gives the material a discernible progression. The documents also connect early debates with questions still being discussed today, including film’s use in sermons, evangelism, education, and audience outreach.

The weakness is accessibility. The book is dense, and some articles are internally contradictory. The nuggets are there, but digging them out takes effort.

The book presents film as a cultural tool that can be used for evangelism, education, social reform, recreation, and uplift. It challenges the idea that the Church rejected movies from the beginning, showing instead that many Christians wanted to appropriate the medium’s potential for ministry.

At the same time, the collection preserves arguments about commercialism and worldliness. Some early writers appear to believe that movies might become the salvation of the Church, while other documents warn about the dangers of the entertainment industry. Because some articles were written in response to Bible-believing Christian groups, the review says they should be read with discernment.

The book’s central contribution is its call to think seriously about how film shapes society and how Christians should respond. It points toward creative dialogue rather than rigid censorship alone. That concern aligns with Scripture’s call to examine the world wisely: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

This is a demanding but deeply valuable collection for anyone serious about film and faith. It shows how long Christians have wrestled with the possibilities and dangers of movies. WORTH THE TRIP if you are ready to read carefully, think critically, and dig for the gold.