Adele Reinhartz | University of Ottawa | Université d'Ottawa (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Adele Reinhartz
My course on the Bible and film, and my own fledgling research in the area, are based on two rela... more My course on the Bible and film, and my own fledgling research in the area, are based on two related assumptions. The first is that movies both reflect and also shape our views, norms, and attitudes. The second is that the majority of the movie-going audience has little direct knowledge of, or contact with, the Bible, and thus has no prior experiences against which to test its cinematic utilization. The testing of these assumptions I leave to social scientists, who are better equipped than biblical exegetes to measure and analyse the impact of the movies on their viewers. My aim today is simply to illustrate and reflect on some of the roles that the Bible, biblical passages, and biblical paradigms play in a selection of recent Hollywood films
The Bible in the Public Square
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2021
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2016
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1992
Literary theorist HR Jauss has argued that one of the criteria for determining the aesthetic valu... more Literary theorist HR Jauss has argued that one of the criteria for determining the aesthetic value of a literary work is the way in which it 'satisfies, surpasses, disappoints, or disproves the expectations of its first readers' .1 It is not, however, the work which fulfils readers' expectations but that ...
Quebec is unique among Canada's ten provinces in that it has its own distinct language - Fren... more Quebec is unique among Canada's ten provinces in that it has its own distinct language - French - and its distinct identity. From its 17th century origins until the 1960s, this identity was heavily marked by Catholicism. Not only were most Quebecois born and raised as Catholics, but the Catholic Church controlled major public institutions, including the educational and health care systems. This situation changed abruptly in the decade between 1960-1970. This period, called the Quiet Revolution, saw the dramatic rise of the Quebec separatist movement, and secularization of all public institutions, and of the majority of the Quebec population.1The Quiet Revolution brought an end to Catholic hegemony in Quebec culture and society (Charron, 1996). No longer would the Catholic Church control public life (Froger, 2009), nor would it remain the arbiter of morality, propriety, and law in such areas as marriage, divorce, sexuality, birth control (Gauvreau, 2005; 2007) and film censorship...
Evangelische Theologie, 2020
The question of when and how the Jesus movement became a separate and distinct set of institution... more The question of when and how the Jesus movement became a separate and distinct set of institutions, communities, beliefs, and practices is perhaps the most contentious issue in the study of early Christianity. A key text in this debate is the Gospel of John. This essay argues that, contrary to the views of many scholars, the Gospel does not provide evidence that »the synagogue« expelled Jewish-Christians in the latter part of the first century CE. The Gospel does, however, construct a rhetorical »parting of the ways« through a two-part program that includes a rhetoric of affiliation – strategies that encourage the Gospel’s audience to believe in Jesus as the messiah and son of God and to join with others who so believe – and a rhetoric of disaffiliation – strategies that encourage the Gospel’s audience to separate and stay away from non-believers, whom the Gospel labels ioudaioi. Although it is not possible to conclude that this rhetorical »parting« reflected or corresponded to a hi...
Several biblical epics from the 1950s and 1960s with strong female heroes contain a narrative thr... more Several biblical epics from the 1950s and 1960s with strong female heroes contain a narrative thread involving the stoning or threat of stoning of these protagonists. Notably, this motif is entirely absent from the biblical stories on which the films are based. This essay examines this feature in three films: David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1950), Solomon and Sheba (King Vidor, 1959), and The Story of Ruth (Henry Koster, 1960). I argue that the motif of stoning is adopted from the New Testament story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), and that this use contributes both to the subtle denigration of traditional Judaism and the reinforcement of gender hierarchies that are evident in many Bible films from the post–World War II period.
<p>Although Jesus and his earliest followers had seen themselves as Jews, by the fourth cen... more <p>Although Jesus and his earliest followers had seen themselves as Jews, by the fourth century the Christian community perceived itself as separate. Scholars have offered various views of how that took place. Some think of Christianity as having evolved out of Judaism, while others see them as different components within the same tradition that eventually went separate ways. There is also disagreement as to when the separation took place – whether around the end of the first century as a result of Christians' understanding of Jesus and their outreach to gentiles or as a consequence of the fourth century Christianization of the Roman empire.</p>
Eloquently written and meticulously researched, Scripture on the Silver Screen offers all student... more Eloquently written and meticulously researched, Scripture on the Silver Screen offers all students of Scripture--whether in an academic classroom or at home--an inviting new way to further their biblical literacy. It questions the "Hollywoood Hermeneutic" that too often views the Bible as prop, but also recognizes the contributions of movies that successfully integrate the Bible as a plot-making device. Each chapter begins with a discussion on the focal Bible passage, placing it in its literary and historical context, followed by a summary of the film and its main themes.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Dissertations and Theses at Di... more This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Dissertations and Theses at DigitalCommons@McMaster. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@McMaster. For more ...
My course on the Bible and film, and my own fledgling research in the area, are based on two rela... more My course on the Bible and film, and my own fledgling research in the area, are based on two related assumptions. The first is that movies both reflect and also shape our views, norms, and attitudes. The second is that the majority of the movie-going audience has little direct knowledge of, or contact with, the Bible, and thus has no prior experiences against which to test its cinematic utilization. The testing of these assumptions I leave to social scientists, who are better equipped than biblical exegetes to measure and analyse the impact of the movies on their viewers. My aim today is simply to illustrate and reflect on some of the roles that the Bible, biblical passages, and biblical paradigms play in a selection of recent Hollywood films
The Bible in the Public Square
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2021
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2016
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1992
Literary theorist HR Jauss has argued that one of the criteria for determining the aesthetic valu... more Literary theorist HR Jauss has argued that one of the criteria for determining the aesthetic value of a literary work is the way in which it 'satisfies, surpasses, disappoints, or disproves the expectations of its first readers' .1 It is not, however, the work which fulfils readers' expectations but that ...
Quebec is unique among Canada's ten provinces in that it has its own distinct language - Fren... more Quebec is unique among Canada's ten provinces in that it has its own distinct language - French - and its distinct identity. From its 17th century origins until the 1960s, this identity was heavily marked by Catholicism. Not only were most Quebecois born and raised as Catholics, but the Catholic Church controlled major public institutions, including the educational and health care systems. This situation changed abruptly in the decade between 1960-1970. This period, called the Quiet Revolution, saw the dramatic rise of the Quebec separatist movement, and secularization of all public institutions, and of the majority of the Quebec population.1The Quiet Revolution brought an end to Catholic hegemony in Quebec culture and society (Charron, 1996). No longer would the Catholic Church control public life (Froger, 2009), nor would it remain the arbiter of morality, propriety, and law in such areas as marriage, divorce, sexuality, birth control (Gauvreau, 2005; 2007) and film censorship...
Evangelische Theologie, 2020
The question of when and how the Jesus movement became a separate and distinct set of institution... more The question of when and how the Jesus movement became a separate and distinct set of institutions, communities, beliefs, and practices is perhaps the most contentious issue in the study of early Christianity. A key text in this debate is the Gospel of John. This essay argues that, contrary to the views of many scholars, the Gospel does not provide evidence that »the synagogue« expelled Jewish-Christians in the latter part of the first century CE. The Gospel does, however, construct a rhetorical »parting of the ways« through a two-part program that includes a rhetoric of affiliation – strategies that encourage the Gospel’s audience to believe in Jesus as the messiah and son of God and to join with others who so believe – and a rhetoric of disaffiliation – strategies that encourage the Gospel’s audience to separate and stay away from non-believers, whom the Gospel labels ioudaioi. Although it is not possible to conclude that this rhetorical »parting« reflected or corresponded to a hi...
Several biblical epics from the 1950s and 1960s with strong female heroes contain a narrative thr... more Several biblical epics from the 1950s and 1960s with strong female heroes contain a narrative thread involving the stoning or threat of stoning of these protagonists. Notably, this motif is entirely absent from the biblical stories on which the films are based. This essay examines this feature in three films: David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1950), Solomon and Sheba (King Vidor, 1959), and The Story of Ruth (Henry Koster, 1960). I argue that the motif of stoning is adopted from the New Testament story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), and that this use contributes both to the subtle denigration of traditional Judaism and the reinforcement of gender hierarchies that are evident in many Bible films from the post–World War II period.
<p>Although Jesus and his earliest followers had seen themselves as Jews, by the fourth cen... more <p>Although Jesus and his earliest followers had seen themselves as Jews, by the fourth century the Christian community perceived itself as separate. Scholars have offered various views of how that took place. Some think of Christianity as having evolved out of Judaism, while others see them as different components within the same tradition that eventually went separate ways. There is also disagreement as to when the separation took place – whether around the end of the first century as a result of Christians' understanding of Jesus and their outreach to gentiles or as a consequence of the fourth century Christianization of the Roman empire.</p>
Eloquently written and meticulously researched, Scripture on the Silver Screen offers all student... more Eloquently written and meticulously researched, Scripture on the Silver Screen offers all students of Scripture--whether in an academic classroom or at home--an inviting new way to further their biblical literacy. It questions the "Hollywoood Hermeneutic" that too often views the Bible as prop, but also recognizes the contributions of movies that successfully integrate the Bible as a plot-making device. Each chapter begins with a discussion on the focal Bible passage, placing it in its literary and historical context, followed by a summary of the film and its main themes.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Dissertations and Theses at Di... more This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Dissertations and Theses at DigitalCommons@McMaster. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@McMaster. For more ...