Author Archives: Tyler F. Williams

Taylor Faculty Chili Cook-Off

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The first (annual?) Taylor University College Chili Cook-Off was held today. This was an orientation event where faculty made a chili dinner for students. Each student was given one vote for whose chili was the best — and guess who won? Yup, yours truly. My bowl of red was voted number one.

I love chili (the spicier the better) and I made a huge vat for the students as well as a special “hot as hell γέεννα� version for those tough enough to try it out. I only entered the more mild version in the contest, since the other stuff is not suitable for mere mortals and I figured people wouldn’t vote for something that causes the skin to peel from the roof of their mouths!

Well, I can’t bask in my greatness too long… classes start tomorrow morning and I need to get my beauty sleep. Cheers.


The 2006 Arts and Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films

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The Arts and Faith Forum has released their annual Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films list. The list contains a whole bevy of interesting films including classics and more popular fare. The films are chosen by members of the Arts and Faith forum through a somewhat convoluted process of voting and as such some films rank higher than they should while other great films get passed over altogether (at least in my opinion).

That being said, here are the top twenty:

  1. Ordet (The Word)
  2. Le Fils (The Son)
  3. The Miracle Maker (The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus)
  4. The Gospel According to Matthew (Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo)
  5. The Diary of a Country Priest (Le Journal D’un Curé De Campagne)
  6. The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion De Jeanne D’arc)
  7. The Decalogue (Dekalog)
  8. Babette’s Feast (Babettes Gæstebud)
  9. A Man Escaped (Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut)
  10. Andrei Rublev (Andrey Rublyov)
  11. Balthazar (Au Hasard Balthazar)
  12. The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet)
  13. Ikiru (To Live)
  14. Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna)
  15. The Mission
  16. The Apostle
  17. Three Colors Trilogy
  18. Jesus of Nazareth
  19. Jesus of Montreal (Jésus De Montréal)
  20. The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio)

There are not too many surprises in the top twenty, though I can’t believe The Miracle Maker made the top twenty, let alone number three!  I was glad to see Magnolia, one of my personal favourites, make number 23.

I was also happy to see that three of the films in Taylor’s fledgling Faith & Film club made the list (Millions #42; Babette’s Feast #8; and Hotel Rwanda #65).

There is much more I would like to comment on, but I do not have time right now. So you’re just going to have to go view the entire list for yourself: Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films. For my brief comments on last year’s list, see here. In addition you may be interested in looking at my “Essential Films for Theologians: The ‘Director’s Cut’â€? or my “Essential Films of 2005 for Theologians – Extended Edition.”


Taylor Faith & Film Club

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Another thing I will be involved in this academic year is a campus film club. One of my colleagues came up with the idea was soliciting help. I volunteered immediately to help organize it and we came up with four films to watch for the fall semester. We decided to only go once a month so we only had to choose four films — talk about a difficult task! This is what we came up with for the fall semester:

faithfilm-club-f2006.jpg

We wanted to choose films from a broad cross-section of classics, foreign films, documentaries, and more popular fare. We decided to make sure the first film is critically acclaimed but accessible for students — and Millions (2004, Directed by Danny Boyle, Rated PG) fits the bill. Babette’s Feast (Babettes gæstebud; 1987, Directed by Gabriel Axel, Rated G) fills the category of a classic foreign film, while Born into Brothels (2004, Directed by Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman, Rated 14A) fills the category of a documentary. Hotel Rwanda (2004, Directed by Terry George, Rated 14A) is our pick for a social justice film (of course Born into Brothels also fits this category).

We haven’t decided on films for the winter semester, though I would like to view a film that touches on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in some way — whether Death in Gaza (2004), Wall (Mur, 2004), Paradise Now (2005), or the like. I would also like to show a Jesus film for around Easter — whether The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Il Vangelo secondo Matteo, 1964) or Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal, 1989).

All in all I think it will be a great time to get together with students and view and discuss great films.