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Richard G. Walsh (ed.), T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film (London: T&T Clark, 2021).

Abstract

"The T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film introduces postgraduate readers to the critical field of Jesus and/on film. The bulk of biblical films feature Jesus, as protagonist, in cameo, or as a looming background presence or pattern. The handbook assesses the field in light of the work of important biblical film critics including chapters from the leading voices in the field and showcasing the diversity of work done by scholars in the field. Movies discussed include The Passion of the Christ, The King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Son of Man, and Mary Magdalene ... The chapters range across two broad areas: 1) Jesus films, understood broadly as filmed passion plays, other relocations of Jesus, historical Jesus treatments, and Jesus adjacent cinema (privileging invented characters or “minor” gospel characters); and 2) other cinematic Jesuses, including followers who imitate Jesus devotionally or aesthetically, (Christian) Christ figures, antichrists, yet other messiahs, and competing Jesuses in a pluralist world. As one leaves the confines of Christian theology, the question of what a film or interpreter is doing with Jesus or Christ becomes something to be determined, not necessarily something traditional."--Publisher description.

“This handbook, comprised of essays written by the leading scholars in the field, truly showcases the current state of Jesus film studies and, crucially, the possible futures of the field. Richard Walsh has brought together a collection that forms an indispensable source on the scholarship of the manifold cinematic imaginings of Jesus, Christ, and other messianic figures, not only for scholars of theology and religion, but also for media and cultural studies scholars.”―Laura Copier, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

“Richard Walsh's exhaustively researched and sharply observed handbook examines how and why artists from around the world have appropriated the figure of Jesus as well as the symbol of Christ, emerging with a plurality of Screen Saviors. The result -an adroit anthology that captures, with bracing clarity, the Nazarene's enduring legacy within our culture - is riveting.”―Darren J. N. Middleton, John F. Weatherly Professor of Religion, Texas Christian University, USA

Richard Walsh is Womack Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Co-Director of the Honors Program at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA, and is the author of Reading the Gospels in the Dark and editor of the T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film.

Contents

Walsh, Richard G-—Introduction: The Jesus Film Tradition. Chattaway, Peter T—Obscure Gospel Elements in Jesus Films. Malone, Peter—“Who Do You Say That I Am?": Responses to Cinema Sequences of the Woman Taken in Adultery. Staley, Jeffrey Lloyd-—One Hundred Years of Cinematic Attempts at Raising a Stiff (Jn 11:1-46). Fletcher, Michelle—Seeing Differently with Mary Magdalene. Zwick, Reinhold—Inculturation and Actualization: Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s Histoire de Judas. Greydanus, Steven D—Through Other Eyes: Point of View and Defamiliarization in Jesus Films. Staley, Jeffrey Lloyd-—The First Seventy Years of Jesus Films: A Canonical, Source-Critical History. Walsh, Richard G-—Reading the Gospel(s) in the Dark: The Gospel Effect. McGeough, Kevin M—The “False Syllogism” of Archaeological Authenticity in Jesus Movies. Page, Matthew—Jesus of Cinecittà. Baugh, Lloyd—Three Revolutionary Gospel Films: By the People, with the People, and for the People. Bakker, Freek L—Jesus in a Modern Contemporary Context. Moore, Anne-—Miéville, Godard, and Dolto: The Psychoanalysis of Mary and Joseph. Vander Stichele, Caroline—From the New Testament to The Brand New Testament: Moving beyond “Jesus” Films. Cochran, James M—"Walk[ing] upon That Gospel Highway”: Experiencing Physical Pilgrimages, Places, and People in The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus. Burnette-Bletsch, Rhonda—Scorsese’s Jesus: Christology in The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence. Johnston, Robert K-—Obviously, It’s a Christ-Figure Movie … Or Is It?. Kozlovic, Anton Karl—Sacred Subtexts and the Biblical Buttressing of Klaatu as a Christ Figure in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Rindge, Matthew S-—Guillermo del Toro’s El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth): Subverting the Cinematic Jesus/Christ Figure. Reinhartz, Adele-—Failed Christ Figures in Québec Films. Pippin, Tina—(Un)Holy Saturday. Kreitzer, Larry J (Larry Joseph)-—The Bible in the Star Trek Universe (2000–2019). Walsh, Richard G-—A Modest Proposal for Christ-Figure Interpretations: Explicated with Two Test Cases. Grafius, Brandon R—Messianism and the Horror Film: Transcendence and Salvation in The Mist and Martyrs. Seesengood, Robert Paul—“It’s Alive!”: Frankenstein and His Horrible Fellows as Messianic Figures. Blanton, Ward, Crossley, James G—Founding the New Old State: Messianic Cowboys on the Frontiers of Europe and America. Aichele, George—Lars and the Real Girl as a Son of Man Story.

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