JEFFREY’s BLOG

 

 

 Below is a video extracted from youtube on John the Baptist; one of the videos we watched in class

 

 

 

 

The Christ-figure in Popular Films By Anton Karl Kozlovic JESUS COVERED IN A SECULAR WRAPPER: THE CHRIST-FIGURE IN POPULAR FILMS POPULAR feature films(1) should be put to work in the classroom, home or pulpit as a scholarly extra-ecclesiastical resource, and not relegated in a knee-jerk fashion to the status of visual aide, diversion￾ary entertainment or student pacifier. In addition, religion, literature and film studies students should be sensitised to the numerous religious figurations hidden within their everyday video fare. After all, as Linda A. Mercadante (God 3) noted: ”more than just media inundation, we have come to live in a media-mediated culture, where our understanding of life, reality and our own experience is filtered through video frames,” unsettling as that may be to older generations. Mercadante’s claim is of course understandable given that commercial feature films were the most persuasive art form of the 20th century, and they will continue to be so well into the ...

Evangelicals, Orthodox and conservative Roman Catholic Christians picketed the theater in Chicago where I saw The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988. Standing in the cold they pronounced the Martin Scorsese film, and the Kazantzakis' novel on which it was based, blasphemy and told those of us waiting for tickets that attending might imperil our souls. It is tempting to think that the controversies generated by this film were unique. In fact however, filming the life of Jesus has always been a problematic enterprise and has always met mixed reactions. Films about Jesus face the same aesthetic and commercial challenges as any other movie. A significant subject doesn't always produce a compelling film. The story must be engaging; the performances and production must be aesthetically satisfying. In addition, the attempt to portray on film the central narrative of religious communities has always been met with suspicion by believers and nonbelievers alike. In the case o...

 

  Visions of Jesus: A Critical Assessment of Gerd Lüdemann's Hallucination Hypothesis Gerd Lüdemann's provocative hypothesis that early Christian belief in Jesus' resurrection was the product of hallucinatory experiences originally induced by guilt-complexes in Peter and Paul is assessed and contrasted with the traditional resurrection hypothesis in terms of the usual standards of hypothesis testing: explanatory power, explanatory scope, plausibility, ad hoc-ness, accord with accepted beliefs, and superiority to rival hypotheses. VISIONS OF JESUS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF GERD LÜDEMANN'S HALLUCINATION HYPOTHESIS Gerd Lüdemann has become one of the most prominent and sharpest critics of the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. After igniting a firestorm of controversy in his native Germany, Lüdemann's writings have leapt the Atlantic to spark debate in this country as well. His conclusions are important not just for New Testament scholarship, but for dogmatic th...