Selected Background Reading

Baugh, Lloyd. Imaging the Divine. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1997.

This is a scholarly work examining the principal Jesus films as well as films that have characters who parallel Jesus. Baugh is sometimes severe in his judgments on the Jesus films, theologically critiquing them as if they were to be considered the equivalent of inspired Gospels rather than as films based on the Gospels.

Butler, Ivan. Religion in the Cinema. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1969.

This book is indebted to Butler’s research on the early films of the silent era. Much of Butler’s information comes from a book from the 1920s by Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1926; reprinted, Frank Cass & Co, 1964.

Ford, Charles. “The Tragedy of the Life of Christ.” International Film Review 1, no. 3 (1949): 12–14, Belgium.

This article provides an eternal subject for the cinema. It is an example of surveying the Jesus films of the previous fifty years (going back to the earliest years of cinema) with some more explicit details from these films than are found in later articles. The periodical was founded and sponsored by the Organisation Catholique Internationale du Cinema, Brussels.

Friesen, Dwight. “Karunamayudu: Seeing Christ in Indian Cinema” (unpublished dissertation).

This is a study of the 1978 film Karunamayudu and comparisons in content and style with Western Jesus films and the distinctive Indian styles of filmmaking it uses.

Hess, Brian. “A Brief History of Christian Film: 1918–2002.” http://www.avgeeks.com/bhess/christian_film_history.html.

This is a useful and interesting overview of Christian film, especially with reference to the United States and to evangelical filmmakers like James Friedrich and Cathedral Films in the 1930s–1950s.

Kinnard, Roy, and Tim Davis. Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the Screen. New York: Citadel Press, 1992.

I am indebted to the research and detail in this book. Kinnard and Davis have cataloged all the major Jesus films and noted many minor ones in chronological order, including the credits, a brief synopsis and commentary, some selected quotations from reviews, and a large number of stills.

Malone, Peter. Movie Christs and Antichrists. New York: Crossroads, 1990.

This is my Jesus-films book, an overview of films that portray Jesus as well as Christ-figure films that portray characters who resemble Jesus significantly and substantially. There is also a section on evil, Antichrist-figures.

Malone, Peter, ed. Through a Catholic Lens: Religious Perspectives of Nineteen Film Directors from around the World. Lanham: Sheed & Ward, 2007.

Directors include Luis Bunuel, Denys Arcand, Mel Gibson, Kevin Smith, and Terence Davies, whose films are discussed in this book.

Marsh, Clive, and Gaye Ortiz. Explorations in Theology and Film. London: Blackwells, 1997.

This book contains a collection of chapters on popular films and religious and theological meanings. The chapter by William Telford offers a survey of Jesus films and their significance. I wrote a chapter on Edward Scissorhands and Christology.

Martin, Malachi. Jesus Now: How Jesus Has No Past, Will Not Come Again, and in Loving Actions Is Dissolving the Molds of Our Spent Society. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1973.

The book offers the basis for the use of Jesus-figure to describe all images of Jesus himself.

May, John R., ed. New Image of Religious Film. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1997.

This book contains a collection of chapters on cinema and theology (generally from a continental European perspective) with chapters on Jesus on-screen by Peter Hasenberg and myself.

Nicolosi, Barbara. “Christ Figures in the Movies.” Ligourian, Missouri, USA, February, 2003.

Taking her lead from the focus of Vatican II, Barbara Nicolosi suggests the framework of Jesus as Priest, Prophet, and King for understanding the mission of Jesus and how Christ-figures live these models.

Plate, S. Brent. Re-Viewing “The Passion”: Mel Gibson’s Film and Its Critics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

This collection of essays was written in the immediate aftermath of the release of The Passion of the Christ and the controversies. Topics include reviews, theological assessment, and the anti-Semitism issues.

Reinhartz, Adele. Hollywood Jesus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

The author combines biblical research and the Jesus films, focusing on the members of Jesus’ family, his friends, and foes and drawing on scholarly and popular reflection. (See also her contributions to The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film, “Jesus and Christ-figures,” and to The Continuum Companion Religion and Film, “Jesus Movies.”)

Shafto, Sally. “Artist as Christ/Artist as God the Father: Religion in the Cinema of Philippe Garrel and Jean-Luc Godard.” Film History 14, no. 2 (2002): 142–57. This lengthy article is of interest in placing Philippe Garrel in his historical/cinema setting.

Stern, Richard C., Clayton N. Jefford, and Guerric Debona. Savior on the Silver Screen. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999.

The authors have run courses on the principal Jesus films from Cecil B. DeMille to Jesus of Montreal. This is the expanded course with a thorough rationale for studying these films.

Tatum, W. Barnes. Jesus at the Movies: A Guide to the First Hundred Years. Rev. ed. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 2004.

This book offers a comprehensive overview and study of the history of the Jesus films with information about the making of the films, the reaction on release, and theological reflections on the portraits of Jesus.

Note: This list is limited to books and articles in English. Extensive research into Jesus on-screen has been done by European scholars such as Reinhold Zwick, Peter Hasenberg, and Charles Martig. Their writings are in German.