American Standard

Robert Paul Seesengood is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Teaching Professor of Bible and Cultures at Drew Theological School, Drew University, Madison, NJ. His numerous publications include The Bible and Cultural Studies: Critical Readings and Jesse's Lineage: The Legendary Lives of David, Jesus and Jesse James.

• Acknowledgments x1 A General Introduction to Cultural Studies and Cultural Studies Approaches to the Bible 1Spreading the Word: The Bible’s Viral Encounter with US Pop Culture 1Old School: Birmingham, Marxism, and Late Capitalism 4It’s in the Mix: Cultural Studies as Intertextuality 12Assembling the Pieces: Reception, Deleuzian Machines, Affect 17The Plan of This Book 19Part I From CCCS to Late Capitalism 312 Reading Readers: Modern Evangelicalism’s Material (Biblical) Renaissance 33The Bible in Late Capitalism 34The Bible, New and Improved 39A Self- Evident Book: The Bible and Nineteenth- Century United States 41The Rise of the “Value- Added” Bible: The American Bible in the Age of Modernism 45The American Bible in Late Capitalism 48Are Bibles Read or Just Looked at? 51Our Bibles, Ourselves 533 Graphic Bibles: The Word Becomes (Affecting) Image 57Graphic Bibles 58Robert Crumb on Genesis 60“Translation” of Word into Image 64The Reticence of Biblical Image 66Conclusion 674 “Eat This Book”: The Bible and the American Diet 72The Bible and Cultural Studies 72Defining “Culture” and the “Culture of Everyday Life” 75The Biblical Scholarship on/and the American Diet 79Biblical Eating 81The Bible, Pop Culture, Food, and Consumption 86Part II The Intertextual Bible 935 The Ketuvim in the Coenim: Bible and Apocalyptic in the Films of Joel and Ethan Coen 95What’s in Your Bible? 96The Coenim 98Barton Fink (1991) 99Ladykillers (2004) 103Jews, and Jewish Bibles, in Hollywood 106(Re)reading the Coen Bible 1086 “Do Not Forsake Me”: Biblical Motifs in Zinnemann’s High Noon 112First Verse (Précis) 112Second Verse 118Bridge 121Refrain 1247 God’s Dice: The Bible in/and Sci-Fi and Fantasy Gaming 128Dungeons & Dragons and the Birth of a Genre 130The Lore of the God- Emperor: Warhammer 40k’s Narrative Frame 132The Devil in the Details: Satan and the Cosmic War Motif in W40k and D&D 134The “Satanic Panic” and the Dissonance Between D&D and Some US Religious Circles 137The “Origins of Satan” and the Bible as Fantasy Literature 139Playing (with) the Devil 145Part III Affective Machines: Deleuze, Cultural Studies, and the Next Wave 1518 Mysteries of the Bible Documentary: The Bible in Popular Nonfiction Documentary Film 153Truth and Representation 154Modes and Methods of Documentary 156A (Very Brief) Introduction and Review of Bible Documentary 158Mysteries of the Bible 159From Jesus to Christ 160Testimony of the Ark 162On the Filming of Documentaries, There Is No End 1639 “I (Want to) Believe, Lord; Help Me in My Unbelief”: Revelation, Raëleans, Mayans, and North American Pop Eschatology 167The Beginning of the End 168What the Bible Raëlly Says 169Discerning the Bak’tun 172Converging Sight Lines 175On Conspiracies of Affect(s) and Apocalyptics 178Apocalypse: John’s Vision of the (Sometimes Scary) Real World 181Horror Movies: 28 Days Later...and the Revelation of Rage 182Conspiracy 18510 Bespoke Words: The Bible, Fashion, and the Mechanism(s) of Things 190Theoretically Naked 190Boxers and Socks 192Shirt and Trousers 193Shoes 195Jacket 196Tie 197Glasses 198Conclusion: 2020 Visions: Why the Bible and Popular Culture Matter 203Index 214Index of Biblical Citations 219