Craig Detweiler is a filmmaker, author, and cultural commentator. He has been professor of cinema and culture at both Pepperdine and Biola Universities.

 

Detweiler is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Davidson College and earned an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California’s acclaimed School of Cinema/TV. Craig completed his MDiv and PhD at Fuller Theological Seminary.

 

Feature films he has written include The Duke (1999) and Extreme Days (2001). As a director, his documentary Williams Syndrome: A Highly Musical Species (1996) won a Cine Golden Eagle and the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival. His comedic documentaryPurple State of Mind (2008) won Best Spiritual Film at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Audience Award at the Tallahassee Film Festival. He also leads a coalition of schools to the Sundance Film Festival for the annual WindRider Forum.

 

His first book (co-written with Barry Taylor), A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture (2003) was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in Theology/Doctrine. His recent books include Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films in the 21st Century (2008) and A Purple State of Mind: Finding Middle Ground in a Divided Culture (2008). Craig edited the first book on theology and video games, Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God (2010).

 

Detweiler’s cultural commentary has been featured on ABC’s Nightline, CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, NPR and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.