The St. Stephen Theological Awards

The church pastored by one of my local revgals was recently spotlighted in the Food Section of the Houston Chronicle for their annual Oscar Party. (Read about it here.)

A group at the church meets regularly to discuss movies throughout the year. My friend told me that they found it best to have group members go on their own time to see the movie rather than trying to coordinate a time for everyone to go at once. Then they gather to discuss the movie, looking for spiritual themes. On Oscar Awards Night they dress up in their most formal attire for a dinner party featuring dishes based on (or inspired by) the movies nominated for Academy Awards which are prepared by group members.

The focus on the evening isn't on the awards of the Academy of Motion Pictures-- but on their own St. Stephen Theological Awards which are based on the movies they viewed and discussed that year. Here are the award categories:

The Best Example of Fallen Humanity
The Most Powerful Christian Message
The Best Christ Figure
The Richest Use of Christian Symbolism
The Church as a Community of Faith
Grace: God's Abiding Presence
The Majesty of God (two awards--audio and video)
My Favorite Movie
The Most Spiritually Literate Film

Since their 2005 selections included The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire some of these categories will be easy to fill. But of course that's not always true!

How would you vote for the St. Stephen 2005 Theological Awards? Let us know in the comments. Cast your vote for any movie that opened in 2005, whether or not it received an Academy Award nomination.

The envelope, please...