Bible in Contemporary Fiction and Film (1992 – 2002)

Contemporary authors, such as Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Mary Higgins Clark, Pat Conroy, John Grisham, Judith Krantz, David Baldacci, Toni Morrison, Jo Ann Ross, Alan Folsom, Tom Clancy, Sidney Sheldon, Nicholas Sparks, Alice Sebold, and Patricia Cornwell have more in common than being best selling authors - they all use religious themes in their works, some making extensive use of Biblical stories, themes, images, symbols, and phrases. Contemporary films are also filled with religious and Biblical references. Although these Biblical motifs have been used in literature since the Middle Ages, and in film since the beginning of the motion picture industry, in today’s world of modernity, Biblical references often go unnoticed. This course is designed to assist the student in recognizing and understanding the use of religion and the Bible in contemporary fiction and film. This will be accomplished by doing a study of selected Biblical passages and by becoming acquainted with the prevalence of religious and Biblical motifs being used today by best selling novelist and in popular movies. The first part of the course will focus on the work of several novelists and films; the second part of the course will be to look at specific Biblical references and see how they are being used by novelists and filmmakers. For the purposes of this course, “contemporary” is considered to be any work published or produced after 1992 (1992-2002).