Richard Walsh - Böcker

Novel Arguments argues that innovative fiction - by which is meant writing that has been variously labelled as postmodern, metafictional, experimental - extends our ways of thinking about the world, rejecting the critical consensus that, under the rubrics of postmodernism and metafiction, homogenises this fiction as autonomous and self-absorbed. Play, self-consciousness and immanence - supposed symptoms of innovative fiction's autonomy - are here reconsidered as integral to its means of engagement. The 1995 book advances a concept of the 'argument' of fiction as a construct wedding structure and content into a highly evolved and expressive form. The argument, not the content, is established as the site of a fiction's 'aboutness' and thus the usual emphasis upon the generalities of innovative form is replaced by a concern for the logic of specific literary effects. Walsh deftly argues for an understanding of fictional cognition at the theoretical level and in an act of unmatched critical creativity, discards altogether the flattening totalities of received postmodern formulations.

Novel Arguments argues that innovative fiction - by which is meant writing that has been variously labelled as postmodern, metafictional, experimental - extends our ways of thinking about the world, rejecting the critical consensus that, under the rubrics of postmodernism and metafiction, homogenises this fiction as autonomous and self-absorbed. Play, self-consciousness and immanence - supposed symptoms of innovative fiction's autonomy - are here reconsidered as integral to its means of engagement. The 1995 book advances a concept of the 'argument' of fiction as a construct wedding structure and content into a highly evolved and expressive form. The argument, not the content, is established as the site of a fiction's 'aboutness' and thus the usual emphasis upon the generalities of innovative form is replaced by a concern for the logic of specific literary effects. Walsh deftly argues for an understanding of fictional cognition at the theoretical level and in an act of unmatched critical creativity, discards altogether the flattening totalities of received postmodern formulations.

Institutions and ideologies lay down parameters of accepted reading for those who wish to maintain acceptable status in their guilds. This is equally true in the church and in the academy. However, interpretation can refuse and transgress such boundaries. The Greek god, Hermes was both a thief and a conveyor of messages, and "hermeneutics," the practice of interpretation, shares in this joint heritage of Hermes. Indeed, interpretative thieves constantly transgress the boundaries of both the permitted and the decorous. Readings of the canonical gospels have a particular place in this history. Indeed, the gospels are the pride and joy of the church(es), as they are of an academy that scarcely separates itself from the church. The following essays, however, all share a desire to read Herme(s)tically, in heterodox or even heretical directions. In this volume, and against the traditional readings and their keepers, the contributors practice interpretative thefts or, put differently, they pursue "lines of flight" (Deleuze and Guattari 1987), not movements of escape but rather creative ways of contesting prevailing ideologies (cf. also Cohen and Taylor).This pursuit results in marginal readings, readings excluded by dominant Christian and academic ideologies. These readings trace the contours and the effects of the canonical and creedal, as well as the academic, captivity of the gospels. Every ideology has inherent points of weakness, fractures in its assemblage where resistance and deviation become possible - not escape to some ideology-free zone, but sufficient disturbance to open up a space for thoughts and new understandings. The keepers of the various guilds/myths inevitably see this disturbance as, at best, noxious and, at worst, as demonic, but we para-critics see our lines of flight as opening space for human living (Smith 1978: 291). Parabolic interpretations create a living space by negotiating and exploiting difference, not by acquiescing to the deadly sameness of any imperial (political, ecclesiastical, or academic) system (cf. Serres 1982).Many of the contributors read "from outside" by playing the gospels off a wide variety of secular texts, including recent film and literature.Thus, in "Jesus's Two Fathers," Aichele views the Lukan Christmas story eccentrically by reading it with China Mieville's urban fantasy novel, "King Rat". The result is a rather unorthodox understanding of the incarnation. In "Tempting Jesuses," Pippin views askew the identities (God and Satan, gender), ethics, and power of the temptation narratives. She does so by joining those gospel narratives with literary works by Saramago, Kazantzakas, Morrow, McNally, Langguth, and others. In "Matthew 11:28 and Release From the Burden of Sin," Kreitzer traces a peculiar afterlife of one Christian image of salvation by moving from Matthew through Bunyan to Joffee's "The Mission". Staley's target is the liberation of the story of the woman taken in adultery. To do so, he lumps that (already suspicious) "Johannine" story with "Liar, Liar" and moves from a rhetorical to an intertextual reading. Each of these juxtapositions render their respective gospel (texts) newly seen precursors.

Unlike Jesus, Paul has not appeared often in the movies, either as a leading man or as a part of the supporting cast. "In Finding Saint Paul in the Movies", Walsh finds a Paul who is a stranger to our questions and ideologies. As Paul does not appear often in film, the films that the book brings into dialogue with Paul have only metaphorical connections with the Paul of Christian and academic discourse. The films relate to Paul only as Walsh's interpretations of the films and of Paul render Paul the films' precursor. Walsh's book works more abstractly. It has four major topics distributed in an equal number of chapters: Paul's concept of grace (the inclusion of the Gentiles); Paul's apocalyptic visions and worldview; Paul's struggles with theodicy and community formation; and Paul's "apostolic" or "canonical" status. He examines movies such as "Tender Mercies", "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", "Places in the Heart", "Donnie Darko", "Witness", "The Truman Show", "Strange Days", "Being John Malkovich", "Fargo", "Crimes and Misdemeanours", and "The Apostle".

The first decades of the twenty-first century saw a resurgence of the biblical epic film, such as Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was in turn accompanied by a growth of biblical film criticism. This companion surveys that field of study by framing it in light of significant and recent biblical films as well as the voices of key biblical film critics. Non-Hollywood and seemingly “non-biblical” films also come under investigation.The contributors concentrate on three points: “context”, focusing on the ‘Bible in’ specific film genres and cultural situations; “theory”, applying theory from both religion and film studies, with an eye to their possible intersections; and “recent and significant texts”, reflecting on which texts and themes have been most important in ‘biblical film’ and which are currently at the fore. Exploring cinema across the globe, and accompanied by extended introductory essays for each of the three sections, this companion is an important resource for scholars in both film and biblical reception.

The T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film introduces postgraduate readers to the critical field of Jesus and/on film. The bulk of biblical films feature Jesus, as protagonist, in cameo, or as a looming background presence or pattern. The handbook assesses the field in light of the work of important biblical film critics including chapters from the leading voices in the field and showcasing the diversity of work done by scholars in the field. Movies discussed include The Passion of the Christ, The King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Son of Man, and Mary Magdalene.The chapters range across two broad areas: 1) Jesus films, understood broadly as filmed passion plays, other relocations of Jesus, historical Jesus treatments, and Jesus adjacent cinema (privileging invented characters or “minor” gospel characters); and 2) other cinematic Jesuses, including followers who imitate Jesus devotionally or aesthetically, (Christian) Christ figures, antichrists, yet other messiahs, and competing Jesuses in a pluralist world. As one leaves the confines of Christian theology, the question of what a film or interpreter is doing with Jesus or Christ becomes something to be determined, not necessarily something traditional.

Jesus films arose with cinema itself. Richard Walsh and Jeffrey L. Staley introduce students to these films with a general overview of the Jesus film tradition and with specific analyses of 22 of its most influential exemplars, stretching from La vie du Christ (1906) to Mary Magdalene (2018). The introduction to each film includes discussion of plot, characters, visuals, appeal to authority, and cultural location as well as consideration of the director’s (and/or other filmmakers’) achievements and style. Several film chapters end with reflections on problematic issues bedeviling the tradition, such as cultural imperialism and patriarchy. To assist teachers and researchers, each chapter includes a listing of DVD chapters and the approximate “time” (for both DVDs and streaming platforms) at which key film moments occur. The book also includes a Gospels Harmony cataloging the time at which key gospel incidents appear in these films. Extensive endnotes point readers to other important work on the tradition and specific films. While the authors strive to set the Jesus film tradition within cinema and its interpretation, the DVD/streaming listing and the Gospels Harmony facilitate the comparison of these films to gospel interpretation and the Jesus tradition.

Jesus films arose with cinema itself. Richard Walsh and Jeffrey L. Staley introduce students to these films with a general overview of the Jesus film tradition and with specific analyses of 22 of its most influential exemplars, stretching from La vie du Christ (1906) to Mary Magdalene (2018). The introduction to each film includes discussion of plot, characters, visuals, appeal to authority, and cultural location as well as consideration of the director’s (and/or other filmmakers’) achievements and style. Several film chapters end with reflections on problematic issues bedeviling the tradition, such as cultural imperialism and patriarchy. To assist teachers and researchers, each chapter includes a listing of DVD chapters and the approximate “time” (for both DVDs and streaming platforms) at which key film moments occur. The book also includes a Gospels Harmony cataloging the time at which key gospel incidents appear in these films. Extensive endnotes point readers to other important work on the tradition and specific films. While the authors strive to set the Jesus film tradition within cinema and its interpretation, the DVD/streaming listing and the Gospels Harmony facilitate the comparison of these films to gospel interpretation and the Jesus tradition.

The T&T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film introduces postgraduate readers to the critical field of Jesus and/on film. The bulk of biblical films feature Jesus, as protagonist, in cameo, or as a looming background presence or pattern. The handbook assesses the field in light of the work of important biblical film critics including chapters from the leading voices in the field and showcasing the diversity of work done by scholars in the field. Movies discussed include The Passion of the Christ, The King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Son of Man, and Mary Magdalene.The chapters range across two broad areas: 1) Jesus films, understood broadly as filmed passion plays, other relocations of Jesus, historical Jesus treatments, and Jesus adjacent cinema (privileging invented characters or “minor” gospel characters); and 2) other cinematic Jesuses, including followers who imitate Jesus devotionally or aesthetically, (Christian) Christ figures, antichrists, yet other messiahs, and competing Jesuses in a pluralist world. As one leaves the confines of Christian theology, the question of what a film or interpreter is doing with Jesus or Christ becomes something to be determined, not necessarily something traditional.

The first decades of the twenty-first century saw a resurgence of the biblical epic film, such as Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was in turn accompanied by a growth of biblical film criticism. This companion surveys that field of study by framing it in light of significant and recent biblical films as well as the voices of key biblical film critics. Non-Hollywood and seemingly “non-biblical” films also come under investigation.The contributors concentrate on three points: “context”, focusing on the ‘Bible in’ specific film genres and cultural situations; “theory”, applying theory from both religion and film studies, with an eye to their possible intersections; and “recent and significant texts”, reflecting on which texts and themes have been most important in ‘biblical film’ and which are currently at the fore. Exploring cinema across the globe, and accompanied by extended introductory essays for each of the three sections, this companion is an important resource for scholars in both film and biblical reception.

Walsh explores the role that myth has played in the interpretation of the Bible. He sees myth as an empowering, structuring story used either for good or ill and either consciously or unconsciously controlling our world views. Walsh looks for both the empowerment and the marginalization effected by myth as he follows the word through its myriad meanings ('Grasping Proteus'), its use in various disciplines ('Procrustean Mythographers'), its distinctive uses in biblical interpretation ('Mything the Bible'), and, finally, the mythic character of interpretation itself ('The Myth of Interpretation'). The concluding chapter, 'Behind the Mythic Curve', muses on the difficulty of knowing the myths by which we live and reflects hopefully on the possibility of play among the myriad myths in a postmodern, pluralist world.

and how ideas from complexity science can inform narrative theory, and help explain, understand, and construct new, more complex models of narrative as a cognitive faculty and as a pervasive cultural form in new and old media.