One of the ways in which we interact with the Bible is through film and this is not a new undertaking for filmmakers. As Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), edited by Adele Reinhartz, demonstrates, filmmakers have been making biblical films almost from the beginning of the movie industry. This is one of the compelling aspects of this book: it reviews films dating back to Life of Moses (1909-1910) and up to A Serious Man (2009), with every decade in between represented. It is also a difficult book to assess as it is not always clear on what basis films have been chosen for review or how one is to understand the book as a whole.
John W. Martens
John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.
Posted inThe Good Word
How I Spent My Blogger Vacation
Some of you may remember me from The Good Word, where I wrote for over 4 years. I decided to move on a little more than a year ago to begin my own blog Biblejunkies. At Biblejunkies I wanted to focus more on the practice of biblical studies as such and the philosophical, theological and hermeneutical questions that rest behind the practice of biblical studies, making these questions available to a wider online audience. I will continue that blog, but I will also begin blogging again at The Good Word. Some of what I do at Biblejunkies might only be posted there and the same will take place with certain The Good Word blog posts, but I hope to do a lot of cross-posting as well between the two blogs. This happy reunion took place when I was appointed The Word columnist and discussions took place as to how I might connect with the magazine audience online and what shape that online presence might take.
Posted inThe Word
Repent or Perish
Entering into the Catholic Church as an adult as many are preparing to do during this Lenten season is a movement of faith that takes time Candidates often wonder if this is the ldquo right rdquo time or the ldquo best rdquo time As they celebrate the scrutiny rites on this Third Sunday of L
Posted inThe Word
Close Encounters
When God entered into a covenant with Abram ldquo a trance fell upon Abram and a deep terrifying darkness enveloped him rdquo When Jesus took Peter James and John to the mountain to pray ldquo a cloud came and cast a shadow over them and they became frightened when they entered the cloud
Posted inThe Word
Turn Back to God
Lent is a time to prepare for spiritual transformation whether this will be signified by the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil or by other rites and signs of conversion But in order to prepare for transformation one must turn back to God This is not easy and those who have turned back
Posted inFaith, The Word
The presence of God transforms us
God’s “otherness” is not intended to drive us away from him but to draw us near to him.
Posted inThe Word
Body Building
The church is a body of believers and each part is essential for the overall health of the body According to St Paul each individual person is vital for the body to thrive All three of the readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time place us in the context of the body of believers Two of th
Posted inThe Word
Love Never Fails
Love never fails because God who is love never fails Human loves can be disordered and disintegrate because they can be built upon our own misguided hopes and desires We mistake what we want or how we perceive something for how things must be or truly are When Jesus spoke in the synagogue in Na
Posted inThe Good Word
Ends and Beginnings
Since 2007 I have blogged at America Magazine rsquo s ldquo The Good Word rdquo and have enjoyed the practice and habit of blogging immensely ldquo The Good Word rdquo gave me the freedom to write on the topics and passages on which I saw fit and significantly gave me a built in audience sin