The Prophetic Lens: A Missiological Function of Film for Black Social Movement from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Camera Phone

Phillip Allen

doi:10.1163/15733831-12341809

Abstract

Abstract Through technological advances and its democratization, the camera is found to have dual functionality. It is both a prophetic and a missiological tool used to awaken the collective conscience of a nation apathetic towards the Black experience and to offer a counter-narrative reorienting the US to becoming a more racially just society. This paper considers definitions of gospel, missions, and the prophetic, outlining a framework for how the camera functions in all three. It briefly explores the use of the camera from Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Civil Rights Movement, to the contemporary citizen with a camera phone, all capturing anti-Black violence. As we will see, like the parables of Jesus were to his kingdom message, the content of the camera has proven vital to acquiring justice by exposing the realities of racial injustice, confronting the status quo, and energising viewers to take positive action.

Highlights

After a brutal reception by police officers during a march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke the following words, to which Alexis Madrigal draws our attention: “We are here to say to the white men that we no longer will let them use clubs on us in the dark corners
This paper contends that seeing the use of the camera1 – with its corresponding visual content – as an instrument for prophetic, missiological purposes can firstly give agency to the Black community, who have traditionally been neutralized economically, physically, and psychologically; and secondly, present an alternative, liberative narrative that exposes anti-Black violence and catalyzes the masses towards the missiological work of justice, which is inherent to the gospel message
I hold in conversation liberative, justice-focused theologians with conservative, evangelical theologians to formulate definitions for “gospel” and “missions.” Walter Brueggemann’s work on the prophetic ministry in The Prophetic Imagination (2001) is employed as a framework for understanding the implications of the camera functioning as a prophetic witness, and as a missiological witness in the missio Dei

Summary

Introduction

After a brutal reception by police officers during a march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke the following words, to which Alexis Madrigal draws our attention: “We are here to say to the white men that we no longer will let them use clubs on us in the dark corners. This paper contends that seeing the use of the camera1 – with its corresponding visual content – as an instrument for prophetic, missiological purposes can firstly give agency to the Black community, who have traditionally been neutralized economically, physically, and psychologically; and secondly, present an alternative, liberative narrative that exposes anti-Black violence and catalyzes the masses towards the missiological work of justice, which is inherent to the gospel message. I hold in conversation liberative, justice-focused theologians with conservative, evangelical theologians to formulate definitions for “gospel” and “missions.” Walter Brueggemann’s work on the prophetic ministry in The Prophetic Imagination (2001) is employed as a framework for understanding the implications of the camera functioning as a prophetic witness (i.e., revealing the depth of injustice and providing the rationale and urgency for the gospel), and as a missiological witness in the missio Dei. Further, I use King’s “beloved community” idea as the telos for an intrinsically justice-oriented. Allen missio Dei, while Brueggemann’s counter-community concept – a community of solidarity – is captured by the beloved community

Problematizing the Camera

White Supremacy and the Royal Narrative

Jesus and the Parables

Findings

Conclusion