Abstract
In this paper, we use the narrative of an award-winning Filipino film from 1998 as a window into contemporary Filipino spirituality and religious consciousness. Giving narrative details and literary content, with a particular focus on those aspects we feel are most salient for our discussion here, we argue that the commercially and critically successful film suggests important cultural themes. Specifically, this paper draws on the medium of film as a window into the contemporary ethos of Philippine spirituality and thought, and applies that insight to an analysis of ethnographic data on Philippine Baptist Christianity. Through conversion narratives as they were shared with us, we offer analogies to the messages of popular culture and the streams of thought they represent. In the end we argue that this is fruitful in interpreting contemporary non-Western Protestantism as, at least potentially, a locally meaningful phenomenon.
Recommended Citation
Howell, Brian and dela Fuente, Anthony
(2006)
"They Call Me Joy: Philippine Protestantism as Local Culture,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 10:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol10/iss2/7