Jesus in Popular Culture (2019 Boccaccini), course

Jesus in Popular Culture is a course offered by Gabriele Boccaccini at the University of Michigan in the Winter 2019.

Course description

Have you even seen a Jesus movie? Do you know that dozens and dozens of them were made since the end of the 19th century, not only in the United States and Europe but also in countries like Iran or South Africa? Drawing on the Gospel narratives with great freedom and creativity, scriptwriters, filmmakers and actors have created the most diverse portraits of Jesus (Pious Jesus, Jewish Jesus, Muslim Jesus, Black Jesus, African Jesus, Angry Jesus, Troubled Jesus, Loving Jesus, Dysfunctional Jesus, Singing Jesus, Married Jesus, Queer Jesus...). They are the Jesuses that dominate our popular culture, much more than the Jesuses of scholars and theologians. By examining dozens of films, the seminar will unveil the mechanisms of making a Jesus movie, the literary sources, the influence of visual arts, the selective (re)use of "scripture" and the subtle insertion of additional material. The analysis will expose the complex relation between "orthodoxy" and entertainment, history and religion, theology and politics.