Last year I ran a 5 week lent course on "Jesus in Film", and the notes from it are gradually being posted up at Movies Matter. The intention is that ultimately all four sets of notes will be posted, along with a spreadsheet containing a scene guide to 22 Jesus films (if you would like this, please contact me). The first set of notes, are basically an introduction, looking firstly at why we should study Jesus in Film, dealing with a few of the more common objections, and ending with a few tips on film studies in general. This second set of notes does a whistle stop tour of 34 Jesus Films (although some are more "Christ Films"), from The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1905) to 2004's The Passion of the Christ.
Looking back there are a few more films I would like to add / will be adding at some point to these notes, most of which have been covered here. These include The Life of Christ, and The Death of Christ (both c.1900), two early Jesus of Nazareth films (1916 & 1928 - the latter of which I am still trying to source), I Beheld his Glory (1952), and the The Living Christ Series that it came from (see index for numerous blogs on this one), and in particular Golgotha (1935). But that would be about 40-45 films, which is perhaps a little to self indulgent to foist on people relatively new to the subject.
For what it's worth, the last two sets of notes, which cover the last 3 sessions, look at how Jesus films can enhance and challenge our understanding of scripture in general, and Jesus in particular. They also look at a couple of episodes from Jesus's life through the lens of a number of different films. Hopefully these will be posted soon, but Alan Thomas is also responsible for the Arts and Faith discussion forum, so he is a very busy man.
I just found your blog and I am interested to know if you have ever seen the treatments that vintage21.com did of the Greatest Story Every Told (I believe that is the movie they are spoofing). They did it to expose popular misconceptions of Jesus.
ReplyDeletearen't there also a couple new Jesus films in the works? one where Jesus is played by a black man and one that's done by a Muslim company?
ReplyDelete--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
Hi Billy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and sorry I've been slow to reply. I'm a big fan of the vintage21.com clips. I actually blogged them a while back , although they moved the link again after I did it so you have to go in via the front page.
FWIW the footage is taken from the Living Bible Series which I happened to be working my way through when I started the blog so there are actually 6 entries on thisi blog about the series in addition to the one above. the posts are listed below if you are interested.
Blog Post 1, Blog Post 2, Blog Post 3, Blog Post 4, Blog Post 5, Blog Post 6
Thanks for dropping by.
Matt
RC,
ReplyDeleteThat's good point. There are a number of new Jesus films that have been made, or at least I've come to know about since that film including Son of Man and Color of the Cross which portray a black Jesus. I need to add them to the list next time I update (and also once I've seen them!).
As for the Arabic/Coptic Jesus Film?, it's only at the script stage, and already it's facing major obstacles so we will have to see how that one works out. Hopefully I'll be able to add that one soon as well.
Matt