Reflections on Terrence Malicks 'The Tree of Life' with Peter Leithart

When I first saw Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life I knew I was watching the work of a brilliant filmmaker and storyteller. This film was a revolution in the way I thought about the cinema. But for all my admiration, there were things about it that perplexed me, and stumbled upon a book called Shining Glory: Theological Reflections on Terrence Malicks The Tree of Life. I read it in about 2 days and watched Malicks film again, and new windows were opened up into my understanding of this marvelous work of cinematic art. When I started this podcast, I knew one of my guests had to be the author of this book Dr. Peter Leithart.

Dr. Leithart is a theologian, pastor and author of over 30 books. He is the President to the Theopolis Institute, and actively blogs at First Things and Patheos. A graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary, Dr. Leithart was the Dean of Graduate Studies at New St. Andrews College where he was, and this is where it gets interesting for us, Senior Fellow of Theology and Literature. Dr. Leithart has a razor sharp interest in storytelling. While he’s authored commentaries on 1 & 2 Kings and the Epistles of John, he’s also authored books on Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Dante, Doestoyevsky, and our subject in this episode, Terrence Malick.

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