Craig Detweiler (born 1964) is a recognized author, filmmaker, and cultural commentator. He is an Associate Professor of Communication at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Craig grew up on the east coast of the United States in Charlotte, North Carolina. He now lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his family. His wife, Caroline Cicero, graduated from the U.S.C School of Gerontology with a Ph.D.
Craig is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Davidson College with a B.A. in English. He went on to receive a M.F.A from University of Southern California’s School of Cinema/TV. Later he received an M. Div at Fuller Theological Seminary as well as a Ph.D in Theology and Culture.
He is currently an associate professor of communication at Pepperdine University. Classes that Craig teaches include: Social Scientific Perspective on Film, Video Games and Virtual Worlds, and The Entertainment Business. Before Pepperdine, Craig served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Mass Communication Department at Biola University in La Mirada, California. Craig currently is involved on the advisory board of Reel Spirituality, the City of the Angels Film Festival and Act One: Executive Program.
Craig screenwriter wrote The Duke (1999) for Buena Vista and the road trip comedy, Extreme Days (2001). He directed Williams Syndrome: A Highly Musical Species in 1996. This documentary won a Cine Golden Eagle, the Silver Award at WorldFest Charleston, Best Documentary at the Carolina Film and Video Fest, and the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival after it premiered at the Boston Film Festival. Craig has written over ten feature length screenplays.
Craig has authored several well-known books. He co-wrote his first book A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture with Barry Taylor. In this book Craig and Barry talk about the relationship between advertising, movies, music, TV and the divine. This has become a standard textbook in many college classes on theology and pop culture around the world. In 2008, Craig released Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century. He dives deep into some of the top films in this century including: Memento, Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Lord of The Rings and Little Miss Sunshine. Craig analyzes 45 different pop culture films from a social, cultural, and theological perspective. He also wrote A Purple State of Mind: Finding Middle Ground in a Divided Culture, a companion piece to his documentary Purple State of Mind. He edited the first collection of essays exploring theology and video games entitled, Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God. “At their best, games offer us a taste of heroism and call us toward virtues of sacrifice, honor, and integrity“, he says in an interview.
In 2008, Craig produced and directed the award winning documentary, Purple State of Mind. It explores the blue state/red state tension in the United States. The film is built on a conversation between Craig and his college roommate, novelist and 60 Minutes producer, John Marks. They discuss the things that divide and unite all of us: our memories, our identities, our beliefs and our choices. Craig and John toured the country during the 2008 Presidential primaries, screening Purple State of Mind at the River Run Film Festival, the Charlotte Film Festival, and winning Best Spiritual Film at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Audience Award at the Tallahassee Film Festival. Craig is currently in production on a new documentary investigating bridge building between Muslims and Christians via music.
Craig has been featured in articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well as providing cultural commentary on CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, NPR and ABC's Nightline.
Crystal Heart Award, "Williams Syndrome," Heartland Film Festival, 1996
Phi Beta Kappa
Senior Fellow, Council for Chrisian Colleges and Universities, 2004-2006
American Academy of Religion, "Religion, Film and Visual Group," steering committee, 2007-2009
Selected Works
Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God, editor, Westminster John Knox, 2010
Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century, Baker Academic, 2008
A Purple State of Mind: Finding Middle Ground in a Divided Culture, Conversant Life, 2008
A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture, co-written with Barry Taylor, Baker Academic, 2003
"The Wire: Playing the Game" in Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion, Diane Winston, editor, Baylor University Press, 2009
"Christianity and Film" in Routledge Companion to Religion and Film, John Lyden, editor, 2009
Performances
Producer, The City of Angels Film Festival, Directors Guild of America, West Hollywood, CA, 2009-2010
"From Adam to Sin Nombre," The Windrider Forum, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, January 23, 2009
ABC News' Nightline, "Faith Matters," December 4, 2008
"Reel Spirituality: Finding God in the Dark," Seaver College, Fall Graduate Colloquium, Pepperdine University, October 28, 2008
Film Festival Programmer, "Reel Lives: The Cancer Chronicles," World Cancer Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2008
"Seeing the Sacred in Contemporary Cinema," International Arts Movement, New York City, February 28, 2008
"When Hollywood Meets Religion: Is There Common Ground?" A Jewish-Christian dialogue with David Kauffman, Hebrew Union College, Jeff Astrof, producer of ? "The New Adventures of Old Christine", Fuller Theological Seminary, January 17, 2008
"Theology and Film Reconsidered: Re-Framing the Discipline" at the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, November 2007
Dr. James and Hazel Grant Presidential Lectureship Series, "Finding God in Pop Culture," Simpson Univeresity, Redding, CA, November 2007
"Filmmaking and Social Change," WindRider Forum, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, July 2007
"Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story," interviewing Senator Sam Brownback, producers Ken Wales, David Hunt, and Patricia Heaton, Crest Theater, Los Angeles, February 2007
"Munich," with Dr. Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism at Reel Spirituality Conference, Directors Guild of America, October 2006
"Lived Religion and the Television Drama," Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, September 2006
CNN, The Situation Room, "Da Vinci Controversy," May 17, 2006
"Significant Conversations," Plenary Address, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Dallas, TX, March 31, 2006
CNN, Paula Zahn Now, "Hollywood and Religion," March 26, 2006
"Retrenchment of Resurrection? Hollywood and the Religious Community after 'The Passion'," Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, April 2005
