The Bible at the Movies

RELI 30163
UCR: Critical Inquiry (CI)
Professor David Gunn
Beasley Hall 207 or 221; tel. 257-7441; d.gunn@tcu.edu

Prerequisites: Religion 1003, 1013, or by permission

Through examination of biblical texts and movies which draw upon those texts the course explores how the Bible has been interpreted, and its authority used, to promote particular religious, moral, social, and political values in popular culture. In addition, by way of comparison, some attention will given to other visual images, in painting and sculpture, linked to biblical topics.

The nature and varieties of interpretation as a cultural activity ranging beyond the province of biblical specialists will be a focal point of discussion. Students will be encouraged to relate self-critically what they learn about how texts and images function to how they themselves read and visualize the Bible today.

The texts will include some of the best-known biblical stories (including Samson, Moses, David, and Jesus). The movies will be mostly English-language films of the past half-century. The other images will represent a range of periods and styles in European art. The course follows broadly the sequence of Gerald Forshey's account of the films set against their social location, moving from early post-World War II to the present.

The class will tackle the subject inductively for the most part, although there will be some formal presentations on particular topics. Participation in this course requires a commitment to some extensive reading (of Biblical texts as well as secondary literature) and viewing of movies outside class meetings. It will include involvement in a creative project relating to a particular topic as well as willingness to contribute actively - this may take various forms - to regular class sessions.

Course objectives
Course assessment
Required reading/viewing
Schedule

Course objectives:

The course is designed to help students:

to understand why the Bible may be considered, like other texts, to be multivalent (conveying more than one meaning), and to learn to appreciate the relationship between meaning and context;
to learn how to gain critical perspective on their own beliefs about the Bible and religion in order better to reflect on and refine those beliefs;
to develop critical skills for recognizing and analyzing the rhetoric of texts and of visual communication, in particular popular movies, that invoke biblical authority as a means of persuasion;
to gain familiarity with a body of texts and visual data relating to the use of the Bible in Western society such as will broaden students' historical and cultural horizons;
to learn ways of relating materials and methods from a variety of critical disciplines in order to address an issue of religious or secular values;
to formulate an informed position in regard to an issue of religion or values arising from the interpretation of a text or film and to articulate a reasoned defense of that position.

Course assessment:

An electronic journal, posted in the TCU Discuss web site, giving (i) a report of reading and viewing (of relevant books, articles, films, etc.) in preparation for the class; (ii) preparatory analysis of the material being discussed, including the formulation of two or three questions relating to issues of methods or values raised by the reading and viewing; and (iii) reflection after the class on the cogency (or otherwise) of the discussion as a whole or of some selected item of particular import arising from the class discussion; students must be prepared to articulate briefly, and indicate how they would defend, their own position in relation to the issue under discussion. Pre-class entries must be completed before class and no later than noon on the day of the class. Post-class entries must be completed no later than noon of the following class day. A final entry will be a critical review of central issues raised in the class over the semester. [Worth 50% of final grade]
A midterm asignment (c. 2,000 words) focusing on one particular fi,m and its related biblical text(s). [Worth 20% of the final grade]
Workshop (designed in consultation with the instructor). This will involve taking shared responsibility in a small team for a class presentation of a special project relating to the subject matter and methodological issues of the course. Presentation may take various forms, including oral presentations, distribution of written reports or documentation, visual art, or film. [Worth 20% of the final grade]
A critical review (c. 1,500 words) of central issues raised in the class over the semester. [Worth 10% of the final grade]

Required reading/viewing:

Gerald E. Forshey, American Religious and Biblical Spectaculars (1992)
Biblical passages listed below under Schedule. For this purpose each student should have a Bible (preferably Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, TANAKH, or Authorised [King James] Version) and bring this Bible to each class.
All the movies listed below under Schedule. Movies will be viewed outside class meetings; a film lab will held once a week and films will also be available for individual borrowing on a limited basis.
Other readings and visual materials including excerpts from some of the following:

    Laurie Schneider Adams, The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction (1996)
    Alice Bach, ed., Biblical Glamour and Hollywood Glitz (1996)
    Lloyd Baugh, Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-Figures in Film (1997)
    John Berger, Ways of Seeing (1972)
    David Bordwell, Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema
    Tim Bywater and Thomas Sobchack, Introduction to Film Criticism (1989) (1989)
    Peter T. Chattaway, "Jesus in the Movies," Bible Review (1998)
    Peter T. Chattaway, "Lights, Camera, Plagues! Moses in the Movies,"Bible Review (1999)
    J. Cheryl Exum, ed., Beyond the Biblical Horizon: The Bible and the Arts (1999)
    David M. Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (1993)
    Larry J. Kreitzer, The Old Testament in Fiction and Film (1994)
    Joel W. Martin and Conrad E. Ostwalt Jr., eds.,Screening the Sacred (1995)
    John R. May, New Image of Religious Film (1997)
    Jonathan Magonet, A Rabbi's Bible (1991)
    Margaret R. Miles, Image as Insight (1985)
    Margaret R. Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (1996)
    James Monaco, How to Read a Film (1981)
    Robert S. Nelson and Richard Shiff, eds., Critical Terms for Art History (1996)
    Bernard Brandon Scott, Hollywood Dreams and Biblical Stories (1994)

Schedule (provisional: reading/viewing in process of revision):

Class 1: Course introduction: Reading and viewing the Bible

Class 2: Samson and Delilah (DeMille, 1949)
    Judges 13-16
    Read: Forshey: Chapters 1, 4, and 5 (pp. 59-65); Berger: Chapter 1
    View: Doré; Corinth

Class 3: The Robe (Koster, 1953)
    Matthew 26-28; Mark 14-16; Luke 22-24; John 18-21
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 3; Eichenberger, "Approaches to Film Criticism" and Hasenberg, "The 'Religious' in Film" (in May 1997);
        Martin, "Introduction: Seeing the Sacred on the Screen" (in Martin 1995)
    View: Spanish baroque; Reni; van Dyck; Bouguereau; Sutherland; Riefenstahl

Class 4: David and Bathsheba (King, 1951)
    2 Samuel 11-12
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 5 (pp. 65-82); Berger: Chapters 2 and 3
    View: Bathsheba: medieval mss, early printed Bibles; Rembrandt; A. Gentileschi

Class 5: The Ten Commandments (DeMille, 1956)
    Exodus (selections)
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 7; Kreitzer, "The Ten Commandments: Some Modern Film Interpretations" (in Kreitzer 1994)
    View: Rembrandt; Poussin; Michelangelo; Doré; Roberts

Class 6: The Bible (selection: Sacrifice of Isaac) (Huston, 1956)
    Genesis 22
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 8; Miles (1996)
    View: Ghiberti; Caravaggio; del Sarto; Hole; Levine

Midterm asignment due

Class 7: Jesus Christ Superstar (Jewison, 1973)
    Gospels (selections)
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 6; Chattaway, "Jesus in the Movies," (1998); Baugh, "The Jesus Musicals:
        Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell (in Baugh 1997)

Class 8: Monty Python's Life of Brian (Jones, 1979)
    Gospels (selections)
    Read: Malone, "Jesus on Our Screens" (in May 1997); Baugh, "The Scandel Films:
        The Life of Brian and The Last Temptation of Christ" (in Baugh 1997)

Class 9: The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, 1988)
    Gospels (selections)
    Read: Forshey: Chapter 9 (pp. 163-182); Miles, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" (1996)
    View: Bacon; Koenig; Weight; Sutherland

Class 10: King David (Beresford, 1985)
    1 & 2 Samuel (selections)
    Read: Magonet, "My Paret in the Fall of 'King David' -- The Bible Goes to the Movies" (1991)
    View: David & Goliath: Donatello; Castagno; Michelangelo; Caravaggio; Bernini

Class 11: Workshop planning

Class 12: The Matrix (Wachowski brothers,1999)
Revelation (selections)
Read: Forshey: Chapter 10 (pp. 183-191)

Class 13: Workshops: David (Markowitz, 1997)

Class 14: Workshops: Prince of Egypt (Dreamworks, 1999)

Class 15: Concluding discussion

Critical review due

END