Jesus in Twentieth Century Literature, Art, and Movies (Studies in Religion (Continuum))

In the twentieth century a number of novelists, artists, and filmmakers, resurrected the life of Jesus genre made so popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Renan, Strauss, and others. In addition, novelists Norman Mailer, Jose Saramago, and Ricci have written their own "gospels." **Burns' collection--taken from a conference at a 2004 regional SBL meeting--explores the ways in which these portraits of Jesus continue to fulfill the familiar observation that people tend to depict Jesus in their own image. In several of the portraits of Jesus, the artists offer a creative response to the realities of the human condition of our time.**

Jesus in Twentieth Century Literature, Art, and Movies presents a context for discussing the continuing treatments of Jesus by creative writers and artists in our culture. This wide-ranging edited collection provides not only an opportunity to explore competing versions of humanity, but also to engage in a responsible discourse that crosses conventional cultural boundaries. It is evident that a wide variety of sometimes competing models of Jesus have emerged-and with many of these, perspectives of religious faith, biblical scholarship, and critical theology can be effectively engaged.

Most of the essays in the collection are grouped in pairs, with each pair focusing on a general theme. The book opens with essays on two novels, one each by Nino Ricci and Norman Mailer; in very different ways, they each deal with Modern Uses of Biblical Exegesis. The second cluster deals with Antithetical Treatments of Marxism in novels by Jose Saramago and Mikhail Bulgakov. The third group deals with Romantic and Freudian Applications of Sexual Love in a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis and a novella by D. H. Lawrence. The next section deals with Jewish Treatments of the Crucified Jesus in paintings by Marc Chagall and in a novel by Chaim Potok. The next essay is a study of a life of Christ by the Egyptian Muslim writer al-'Aqqad. The final essay turns to an investigation of the religious significance in two recent movies: The Passion of the Christ and The Da Vinci Code. These essays highlight some intriguing links between several different portraits of Jesus throughout the twentieth century, and they show how the artists in question offer a creative response to the realities of the humancondition of our time.

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