T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film - (T&t Clark Handbooks) by Richard Walsh (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

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

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

About the Author

Richard Walsh is Womack Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Methodist University, USA.