THEO2220 Bible and Popular Culture

2016

4.5

1 x 2-hour seminar weekly

THEO8004 has been successfully completed

This topic is designed to explore the ways in which the Bible and culture come into dialogue and mutually interpret each other. Drawing on theories of culture and on biblical themes and motifs, a range of topics will be considered in order to explore the Bible as a source of critique and liberation, ethical teaching and a framework within which questions of life and death, good and evil are considered. Throughout the unit students will engage with a variety of cultural forms, including art, film, theatre, popular music, literature and other print and electronic media in order to explore how the Bible is understood and portrayed, and to evaluate the dialogue between contemporary culture and the Bible.

The aims of this topic are to:

• explore a range of key biblical themes and their relevance for contemporary culture

• identify how biblical themes recur within different cultural forms

• develop skills in evaluating the intertextual dialogue between the bible and contemporary cultural expressions

• explore how the bible and contemporary culture mutually complement and critique their respective world views

On completion of this topic students will be able to:

• explain how the Bible functions as a cultural resource affecting and critiquing popular culture.

• identify some Biblical themes expressed in a variety of different media including film, music, art, theatre and literature.

• discuss how the Bible interacts with the Australian cultural context taking into account other contemporary contexts and cultures.

• Communicate academic information both in writing and orally