It Is Time for FoxFaith
Analysis by Dr. Marc T. Newman
MovieMinistry.com
October 13, 2006

(AgapePress) - Two weeks ago I issued an open letter to FoxFaith providing my unsolicited advice on what I perceived to be the challenges and opportunities before them in creating "Christian movies." Usually "open letters" are viewed as a chance for critics to carp, and serve more as a spleen vent than an actual dialogue. When you issue an "open letter" you rarely expect a response from your intended addressee.

Within days of the appearance of the article I was contacted by the executive vice-president and general manager of 20th Century Fox's Home Entertainment division, Simon Swart, who graciously set up a teleconference for me with Jeff Yordy, the vice-president of marketing for FoxFaith and the person in charge of theatrical releases, and Steve Feldstein, senior vice-president of corporate and marketing communications for 20th Century Fox. The overriding sense I received from our conversation was that if these guys are not really intending to ultimately create and distribute quality, thoughtful, spiritually provocative films, then they are on the wrong side of this business -- they should be actors instead. I was assured by everyone at this meeting that acting was out of the question -- their faces, they said, were made for radio.

In order to grasp the meaning of the emergence of a brand like FoxFaith, it is useful to invoke a couple of theological terms: chronos and kairos. Both words refer to time. Chronos is what we all experience as chronological time. Kairos has in it the sense of timeliness, the right time, or a special time. Chronologically, FoxFaith may have a bumpy start, but it is headed in the right direction. More important is the kairos of FoxFaith and others who are entering the film market, and what their arrival on the entertainment scene could mean for the Church. the rest