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The Bible in Motion

A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film
  • Edited by: Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2016
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Handbooks of the Bible and Its Reception (HBR)

About this book

This two-part volume contains a comprehensive collection of original studies by well-known scholars focusing on the Bible’s wide-ranging reception in world cinema. It is organized into sections examining the rich cinematic afterlives of selected characters from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament; considering issues of biblical reception across a wide array of film genres, ranging from noir to anime; featuring directors, from Lee Chang-dong to the Coen brothers, whose body of work reveals an enduring fascination with biblical texts and motifs; and offering topical essays on cinema’s treatment of selected biblical themes (e.g., lament, apocalyptic), particular interpretive lenses (e.g., feminist interpretation, queer theory), and windows into biblical reception in a variety of world cinemas (e.g., Indian, Israeli, and Third Cinema). This handbook is intended for scholars of the Bible, religion, and film as well as for a wider general audience.

Author / Editor information

Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch, Eastern University, St. Davids, PA, USA.

Reviews

"The volumes are an excellent point of departure and sure guide for all who want to enter and contribute to this fascinating field ofthe reception ofthe Bible."
Christoph Stenschke in: OTE 31/1 (2018), 280-287

"Resta-nos frisar a importância que esta publicação tem para o estudo da recepção da Bíblia na cultura contemporânea, mais especificamente no cinema, sendo que não temos dúvidas de que se constituirá como instrumento de trabalho essencial para quem de futuro desejar prosseguir estudos neste domínio."
Nuno Simões Rodrigues in: Cadmo. Revista de História Antiga 27 (2019), 282-283

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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    Acknowledgements

    V
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    Contents

    VII
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    List of Illustrations

    XI
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    List of Contributors

    XIII
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    Abbreviations

    XVII
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    General Introduction: The Bible

    1
    Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch
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  • I. Biblical Characters and Stories (Hebrew Bible)
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    1. In the Beginning: Adam and Eve in Film

    17
    Theresa Sanders
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    2. Noah and the Flood: A Cinematic Deluge

    35
    Anton Karl Kozlovic
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    3. It’s All in the Family: The Patriarchs of Genesis in Film

    51
    Peter T. Chattaway
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    4. The Cinematic Moses

    65
    Jennifer L. Koosed
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    5. Samson and Delilah in Film

    83
    J. Cheryl Exum
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    6. There Might Be Giants: King David on the Big (and Small) Screen

    101
    Matthew Page
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    7. Esther in Film

    119
    Carl S. Ehrlich
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  • II. Film Genres and Styles
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    8. Scripture on Silent Film

    139
    David J. Shepherd
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    9. Film Noir and the Bible

    161
    Robert Ellis
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    10. The Bible Epic

    175
    Adele Reinhartz
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    11. Western Text(s): The Bible and the Movies of the Wild, Wild West

    193
    Robert Paul Seesengood
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    12. Mysteries of the Bible (Documentary) Revealed: The Bible in Popular Non‐Fiction and Documentary Film

    209
    Robert Paul Seesengood
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    13. From Skepticism to Piety: The Bible and Horror Films

    223
    Mary Ann Beavis
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    14. “Moses’ DVD Collection”: The Bible and Science Fiction Film

    237
    Frauke Uhlenbruch
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    15. The Word Made Gag: Biblical Reception in Film Comedy

    253
    Terry Lindvall and Chris Lindvall
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    16. Drawing (on) the Text: Biblical Reception in Animated Films

    267
    R. Christopher Heard
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    17. Anime and the Bible

    285
    Fumi Ogura and N. Frances Hioki
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  • III. Biblical Themes and Genres
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    18. God at the Movies

    299
    Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch
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    19. Satan in Cinema

    327
    Peter Malone
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    20. Creation and Origins in Film

    341
    Gaye Williams Ortiz
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    21. The Book of Job in the Movies: On Cinema’s Exploration of Theodicy and the Hiddenness of God

    355
    Reinhold Zwick
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    22. Lament in Film and Film as Lament

    379
    Matthew S. Rindge
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    23. What Lies Beyond? Biblical Images of Death and Afterlife in Film

    391
    Sandie Gravett
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    24. This Is the End: Apocalyptic Moments in Cinema

    405
    Tina Pippin
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  • IV. Biblical Characters and Stories (New Testament)
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    25. Jesus and the Gospels at the Movies

    419
    W. Barnes Tatum
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    26. Women in the Cinematic Gospels

    449
    Catherine O’Brien
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    27. Judas as Portrayed in Film

    463
    Carol A. Hebron
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    28. Jews and Judaism in New Testament Films

    483
    Clayton N. Jefford
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    29. Paul and the Early Church in Film

    497
    Richard Walsh
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    30. Mythic Relevance of Revelation in Film

    517
    Meghan Alexander Beddingfield
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  • V. Cinemas and Auteurs
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    31. David Wark Griffith: Filming the Bible as the U.S. Story

    535
    Richard Walsh
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    32 Alice Guy Blaché and Gene Gauntier: Bringing New Perspectives to Film

    543
    Carol A. Hebron
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    33. Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates: Emergent History and a Gospel of Middle‐Class Liberation

    557
    Nathan Jumper
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    34. Cecil B. DeMille: Hollywood’s Lay Preacher

    569
    Anton Karl Kozlovic
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    35. Reframing Jesus: Dreyer’s Lifelong Passion

    587
    Caroline Vander Stichele
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    36. Luis Buñuel: Atheist by the Grace of God

    599
    J. Sage Elwell
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    37. Robert Bresson: Biblical Resonance from a Christian Atheist

    609
    Sara Anson Vaux
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    38. Roberto Rossellini: From Spiritual Searcher to History’s Documentarian

    623
    Matthew Page
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    39. Federico Fellini: From Catholicism to the Collective Unconscious

    635
    Marie-Therese Mäder
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    40. John Huston: The Atheistic Noah

    649
    Gaye Williams Ortiz
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    41. Stanley Kubrick: Midrashic Movie Maker

    663
    Nathan Abrams
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    42. In the Wake of the Bible: Krzysztof Kieślowski and the Residual Divine in Contemporary Life

    675
    Joseph G. Kickasola
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    43. Peter Weir: Man of Mystery, Mysticism, and the Mundane

    691
    Anton Karl Kozlovic
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    44. Cheick Oumar Sissoko: West African Activist and Storyteller

    701
    Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch
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    45. Lee Chang-Dong: Exploring the Hidden Christ

    713
    Fumi Ogura and N. Frances Hioki
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    46. Mark Dornford-May: Transposing the Classic

    721
    Samuel D. Giere
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    47. Serious Men: Scripture in the Coen Brothers Films

    729
    J. R. Daniel Kirk
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    48. Liberative Visions: Biblical Reception in Third Cinema

    739
    Antonio D. Sison
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    49. The Reception of Biblical Films in India: Observations and a Case Study

    751
    Dwight H. Friesen
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    50. “A Ram Butts His Broad Horns Again and Again against the Wall of the House”: The Binding Myth in Israeli Film

    763
    Anat Y. Zanger
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  • VI. Voices from the Margins
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    51. Judaism and Antisemitism in Bible Movies

    777
    Adele Reinhartz
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    52. Ethnicity and Biblical Reception in Eve and the Fire Horse

    793
    Stephenson Humphries-Brooks
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    53. A Slave Narrative for the “Post-Racial” Obama Age

    807
    Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch
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    54. The Temptation of Noah: The Debate about Patriarchal Violence in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah

    825
    Erin Runions
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    55. Gay Male Villains in Biblical Epic Films

    843
    Richard A. Lindsay
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    56. Imperialism in New Testament Films

    853
    Jeremy Punt
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    Film Index

    867
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    Scripture Index

    899
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    Subject Index

    909
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 12, 2016
eBook ISBN:
9781614513261
Hardcover published on:
September 12, 2016
Hardcover ISBN:
9781614515616
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
34
Main content:
922
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614513261
eBook ISBN: 9781614513261
Hardcover ISBN: 9781614515616
Keywords for this book
Cinema; Biblical Studies; Reception History; Religion in Culture
Audience(s) for this book
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