Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 August 23

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 23

Stories that feature a Christian monastic or clergy?

This guy was a Japanese Buddhist monk, but there is a whole TV series about a presumably fictional version of this guy's younger self as a monk-in-training. In another story, Journey to the West, there is this itinerant Buddhist monk who travels with a team of other travellers to go westward (India). I am wondering if there are stories in European countries about Christian monastics or clergy. 65.24.105.132 (talk) 04:27, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Father Brown, Cadfael, Father Dowling spring to mind, and we have the Category:Fictional priests and priestesses. Rojomoke (talk) 04:54, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 2)My family loved Cadfael, which was about a Welsh monk in the middle ages who went about solving murder mysteries. There's also William of Baskerville, who isn't Welsh, and solves far more grisly murders, but pretty similar otherwise. Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World without End feature monks.

As for more historical works, there's Friar Tuck in the Robin Hood legends (though he was probably based off of earlier stories of monks breaking the law). The Canterbury Tales features a friar and a monk. There may also be a Chanson de geste or two out there (particularly in the Crusade cycle) about one of the Knights Templar or Knights Hospitaller while they were still monastic in nature (though probably more focused on them killing lots of people than anything else).

(edit conflict)As for clergy, Ballykissangel is a quaint series about an English Catholic priest who moves to Ireland (and is replaced at a later season, and then again a few seasons later). Father Ted generally heads in a direction that many might consider sacriligious, but some ministers I know would have to laugh at in private for getting the fact right that they're still regular people who aren't any better at dealing with the same sort of depressing crap we laypersons deal with.

7th Heaven (TV series) deals with a protestant minister and his family. My mother, a minister's daughter, watched the show for about half an episode before getting angry that it wasn't more like Father Ted. I have heard good reviews for Calvary (film), a writer at Patheos writing that it is one of the few truly Christian movies he'd seen in a while.

The Mission (1986 film) and Shūsaku Endō's Silence (novel) concern Christian priests doing missionary work in countries unfamiliar to them.

G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, like Cadfael, solves murders, though in the early to mid 20th century.

Aramis of The Three Musketeers eventually becomes a priest, if I remember correctly.

There's The Exorcist (novel) and the movie series based on it. Originally written by a devout Catholic, and then used by non-Catholics to make a lot of money from non-Catholics.

There's also a comic book series called "Preacher", where I think the eponymous preacher actually kills God at some point. It's written by Garth Ennis, who does not mind bashing Christianity if given the chance. Ian.thomson (talk) 04:59, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

No, the Saint of Killers kills God (to avenge his family). —Tamfang (talk) 06:34, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

There are no Hospitallers or Templars in the Crusade Cycle, which deals with the First Crusade, before those orders existed. But I'm sure there are other clergy in them...Adhemar of Le Puy is featured in the Chanson d'Antioche, at least. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:05, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Highway to Heaven wasn't about a member of the clergy but about someone a bit higher up the food chain. Dismas|^(talk) 05:37, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

If we're going that route, I almost consider Dogma (film) required viewing (despite a few doctrinal errors) before I'll allow someone to have a theological discussion with me. Ian.thomson (talk) 05:40, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

The Name of the Rose. --Viennese Waltz 07:14, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Black Robe was about a Priest in Canada in the 1600s. M*A*S*H in its various incarnations had a strong Priestly character. Monkey was a version of Journey to the West. Then of course, on the not so serious front, there's The Vicar of Dibley. HiLo48 (talk) 08:19, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Monkey seems interesting. The article says that each episode talks about Buddhist or Taoist philosophies. On the subject of this type of TV programming, are there similar stories but involve Christian-based ethics and philosophies? 65.24.105.132 (talk) 04:15, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

If you're into science fiction there's Canticle for Liebowitz (and a sequel), and Anathem which isn't really Christian but features secular monastic communities obviously inspired by Christian monastics. Staecker (talk) 12:18, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Catholic priests and monks feature in various important roles in James Clavell's Shōgun. -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:08, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

The Cardinal and The Red and the Black are two classic novels whose main protagonist is a priest (or a trainee in the latter case). The Brothers Karamazov has a member of the orthodox clergy as a main character. George Bernanos is another novelist who has made priests central characters in a number of his works, e.g. Diary of a Country Priest and Under the Sun of Satan. Also check out The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Émile Zola's La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret. A classic novel from Portugal is O Crime do Padre Amaro ("Father Amaro's Crime") by José Maria de Eça de Queirós. In English, Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire feature various members of the Anglican clergy as major characters. And this is just scratching the surface of the topic. --Xuxl (talk) 13:14, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Don Camillo is a name that's not come up yet. Tevildo (talk) 13:53, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fire Balloons" from The Illustrated Man is one of my favorites in the Catholic-priests-go-to-Mars genre. Evan ^{(talk|contribs)} 02:54, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

The Devil's Advocate by Morris West, a book, a play and a film, was about some goings-on in the Vatican. West wrote a lot of stuff about religion. HiLo48 (talk) 03:12, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

And let's not forget Doubt: A Parable and its excellent film adaptation. Evan ^{(talk|contribs)} 04:02, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Jesuits are prominent in A Case of Conscience by James Blish and in The Sparrow/Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. —Tamfang (talk) 07:32, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Absolution (1978 film) - Richard Burton is a priest in a story based on the belief that "the priest cannot break the seal of confession, even if it includes a serious crime or murder."

90.244.138.107 (talk) 15:13, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

No mention of stories dramatising the life and times of Thomas Becket ? How about: Becket (1964 film) or Becket or Murder in the Cathedral

( and if the OP is willing to include parodies, then "I have a cunning plan"...  :) I will cunningly point out episodes of Blackadder - the first series/season episode The Archbishop, in which Edmund is invested as Archbishop of Canterbury and the second series/season episode Money, in which Edmund falls foul of a bishop money-lender...

90.244.138.107 (talk) 14:17, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Music used in a trailer ?

Can anyone identify the music used in this ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvDmhhRzQ_Y&list=PLcPxT2_tlNZgt21UIf8_Durl4VawQVe2e&index=49

It's apparently a drama/soap-opera series made by the Greek television network Mega Channel.

The person who asked me is sure the music was "from something else"...
While the music sounds familiar, in the way that a lot of tunes sound familiar, I *think* it's likely to have been composed for that series.

Any suggestions ?
90.244.142.208 (talk) 15:17, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I tried using Shazam, but the music is too soft (and the dialog too much louder) for it to read correctly. Just an FYI in case anyone else was going to try that. I don't recognize the music either, but I'm with you - it may sound familiar simply because that style is used so often; even if it's an original comp, we've likely all heard something very similar (with similarly distraught people over-emoting on the screen). Matt Deres (talk) 14:49, 24 August 2014 (UTC)