Bible and Popular Culture

Terminating Samson: the Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Rise of New Biblical Meaning

by Robert Myles

in 'Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception', 2011

The Terminator films (1984–2009) incorporate a number of theological and biblical themes, which are further developed... more The Terminator films (1984–2009) incorporate a number of theological and biblical themes, which are further developed in the franchise’s recent expansion into a television series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009). This article explores how the series appropriates biblical material and motifs, terminating them from their original contexts and adjusting them to create new meanings. After a brief survey of the biblical subtext of the franchise, the article focuses on one episode of the series, "Samson and Delilah," which echoes the story of Samson, to analyse its explicit and implicit retellings of the biblical narrative and to explore the wider implications of this appropriation in the context of apocalyptic science fiction.
http://relegere.org

“Midwife" (entry for the Dictionary of Bible and Western Culture)

by Sara Parks Ricker

Edited by Mary Ann Beavis and Michael J. Gilmour. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011.

The Catholic Way of Treating Animals: why God gave us animals and not machines

by Cheryl Abbate

Review of The Bible in/and Popular Culture: A Creative Encounter, edited by Philip Culbertson and Elaine M. Wainwright

by Robert Myles

Consulting the Oracle: Sortes Biblicae in Early Evangelicalism

by Laura Bartlett

Published in the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology in November 2011

"The Word Made Flax: Cheap Bibles, Textual Corruption, and the Poetics of Paper," PMLA, March 2011

by Joshua Calhoun

Made of recycled clothes, slaughtered animals, and felled trees, Bibles in Renaissance England were filled with... more Made of recycled clothes, slaughtered animals, and felled trees, Bibles in Renaissance England were filled with visible traces of ecological matter, remainders that remind one that words on a page are thought fused with—and inflected by—matter. This essay places Henry Vaughan’s poem “The Book” in a broader conversation about the poetics of paper: the rhetorical effects of the varied colors and qualities of paper used in the production of the vernacular Bibles that transformed reading practices in Renaissance England. Historical writers and readers, who were directly involved in a flax-to-rags-to-paper economy, recognized and commented on the natural resources from which cheap, widely distributed Bibles and other texts were made. Further, this essay models a reading strategy that attends to the natural history of books, to both the function and the form of the organic matter used to mediate human ideas.

Drawing Our Fish in the Sand: Secret Biblical Allusions in the Music of U2

by Deane Galbraith

Confronted with a popular music subculture which is predominantly antipathetic to Christianity, the... more Confronted with a popular music subculture which is predominantly antipathetic to Christianity, the charismatic-evangelical members of rock band U2 double code their lyrics in such a manner that Christian references are hidden from mainstream listeners and media while being readily recognizable to their Christian fans. The device of allusion is especially amenable to this end, as the meaning of an allusion can only be considered by a reader or listener who possesses the requisite competency in respect of the evoked text(s). Through their utilization of biblical allusions, U2 therefore construct two different, perhaps even irreconcilable, groups of listeners—a knowledgeable Christian in-group and an unknowledgeable non-Christian out-group. With detailed reference to U2's songs, this paper examines the covert tendencies of allusion and the manner by which it is able to engage the listener's intertextual imagination. The paper also distinguishes a secret or hidden allusion from a generic allusion on pragmatic and socio-cultural grounds, and demonstrates the potential of secret allusions to increase semantic indeterminacy. Lastly, the paper examines some examples of the reception of the U2 song 'Magnificent' which demonstrate the effectiveness of U2's secret biblical allusions in creating two largely discrete groups of listeners.

Australasia

by Ibrahim Abraham

CO-AUTHORED WITH ROLAND BOER. (2006) In John F. Sawyer (ed.) The Blackwell companion to the Bible and culture. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 232-249.

http://books.google.com/books?id=vT18_pa6blsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

A Contemporary Version of the Grail Quest: Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and its failed appropriation of the mythic legend.

by Geoff Berry

Originally published in Eras, Monash University's postgraduate history journal, in 2006.

Myth can often be seen to supply a response to the yearning of the world, and the legend of the Holy Grail is no... more Myth can often be seen to supply a response to the yearning of the world, and the legend of the Holy Grail is no exception. The latest version of the quest, Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, reveals the two sides of the coin that make a mythic symbol mysterious, unattainable, and yet so tantalisingly real. On the one hand, the goal must inspire us to reach beyond the everyday world toward a greater reality, where mystical qualities and moral certitude rest alongside abundance and healing. On the other, this very ‘sacred space’ cannot actually be realised in material terms, as the very nature of the mythic realm impels the goal to be continuously shifted beyond the grasp of we ordinary mortals. Sadly for readers whose interest may have been piqued by the plot of Brown’s telling of the age-old romance, this quest stumbles over itself in an attempt to over-subscribe to its facet as material fact, and is thereby dissolved of any real power in its other aspect, that of inspiration. For Brown’s premise, tying as it does the idea of the Grail to the specific historic moment of Mary Magdalene’s relationship with Jesus Christ, ultimately empties the quest of any real hope at all. Unless, that is, we are actually willing to believe not only that they shared wedlock and a child, but that their descendents may offer some kind of political challenge to an oppressively patriarchal religious regime on our behalf.

The King James Bible at 400: Scripture, Statecraft, and the American Founding.

by Bernard M. Levinson

Co-authored with Joshua Berman, published as a special supplement in The History Channel Magazine, November 2010, pp. 1-11.

This short article addressed to a broader readership investigates the impact of the King James Bible upon the American... more This short article addressed to a broader readership investigates the impact of the King James Bible upon the American founding. In order to show that impact, the article's first half portrays the political context for the formation of the King James, charts the influence of the Bible upon early modern political thought, and then sketches the impact of the KJV upon the rhetoric and political thought of the Founders. The essay is accompanied by a timeline.

Key Words:
Authorized Version; King James Version; American Founding; Bible and political thought, religion and the founding, founders, Bible and intellectual history, Spinoza, Bible and constitution; Bible and democracy.

Review of James G. Crossley, Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century

by Deane Galbraith

Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the boy who points out that the emperor is wearing no clothes is frequently employed... more Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the boy who points out that the emperor is wearing no clothes is frequently employed as a metaphor for a young maverick who reveals a major failing of the established order concerning which others have been inexcusably and hitherto blind. With Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century, James G. Crossley not only exposes a few emperors of New Testament scholarship, but proceeds to deliver a series of well executed kicks up their newly uncovered nether regions.