David Shepherd

Images of the Word: Hollywood's Bible and Beyond is a collection of essays by leading international scholars in the field of Bible and film. Recognizing the increasingly global nature of both media and religion, the volume focuses on the ways in which the Bible is interpreted and visualized not only within Hollywood but also far beyond it. Cutting-edge analysis of films from France, Canada, Sweden, India, and elsewhere reveals that the Bible's visualization is culturally rooted and contributes to the shaping of a particular culture, including its perception of the Bible itself. Essays range across the canon from Exodus to Ecclesiastes to Revelation, interacting with films of various national traditions and periods from Blackton's Life of Moses (1909) to Karunamayudu (1978) to Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999). The volume engages the breadth of current scholarly interest in this interdisciplinary field, including the critical reading of “Bible films,” the exploration of biblical motifs and themes within contemporary cinema, and concluding responses to the essays from both a biblical scholar and a film scholar.The contributors are George Aichele, Richard A. Blake, S.J., Jo-Ann A. Brant, Eric S. Christianson, Dwight H. Friesen, Jan Willem van Henten, Adele Reinhartz, Rosamond C. Rodman, David Shepherd, Richard Walsh, and Reinhold Zwick.

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