The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama

The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama
Author: Caroline Blyth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2019-01-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567686469

The Bible has always enjoyed notoriety within the genres of crime fiction and drama; numerous authors have explicitly drawn on biblical traditions as thematic foci to explore social anxieties about violence, religion, and the search for justice and truth. The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama brings together a multi-disciplinary scholarship from the fields of biblical interpretation, literary criticism, criminology, and studies in film and television to discuss international texts and media spanning the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The volume concludes with an afterword by crime writer and academic, Liam McIvanney. These essays explore both explicit and implicit engagements between biblical texts and crime narratives, analysing the multiple layers of meaning that such engagements can produce – cross-referencing Sherlock Holmes with the murder mystery in the Book of Tobit, observing biblical violence through the eyes of Christian fundamentalists in Henning Mankell's Before the Frost, catching the thread of homily in the serial murders of Se7en, or analysing biblical sexual violence in light of television crime procedurals. The contributors also raise intriguing questions about the significance of the Bible as a religious and cultural text – its association with the culturally pervasive themes of violence, (im)morality, and redemption, and its relevance as a symbol of the (often fraught) location that religion occupies within contemporary secular culture.

The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama

The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama
Author: Caroline Blyth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2019-01-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567677990

The Bible has always enjoyed notoriety within the genres of crime fiction and drama; numerous authors have explicitly drawn on biblical traditions as thematic foci to explore social anxieties about violence, religion, and the search for justice and truth. The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama brings together a multi-disciplinary scholarship from the fields of biblical interpretation, literary criticism, criminology, and studies in film and television to discuss international texts and media spanning the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The volume concludes with an afterword by crime writer and academic, Liam McIvanney. These essays explore both explicit and implicit engagements between biblical texts and crime narratives, analysing the multiple layers of meaning that such engagements can produce – cross-referencing Sherlock Holmes with the murder mystery in the Book of Tobit, observing biblical violence through the eyes of Christian fundamentalists in Henning Mankell's Before the Frost, catching the thread of homily in the serial murders of Se7en, or analysing biblical sexual violence in light of television crime procedurals. The contributors also raise intriguing questions about the significance of the Bible as a religious and cultural text – its association with the culturally pervasive themes of violence, (im)morality, and redemption, and its relevance as a symbol of the (often fraught) location that religion occupies within contemporary secular culture.

The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie

The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie
Author: Mary Anna Evans
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2022-09-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1350212490

Nominated for the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical / Biography The first specifically academic companion to contemporary scholarship on the work of Agatha Christie, this book includes chapters by an international group of scholars writing on topics and fields of study as various as ecocriticism and the anthropocene, popular modernism, middlebrow fiction, queer theory, feminism, crime and the state, and more. It addresses a broad selection of Christie's crime novels, as well as her short stories, literary novels written pseudonymously, and her own and others' dramatic adaptations for television, film, and the stage. Featuring unprecedented access to images and content held in Christie's personal archive, as well as a Foreword from renowned crime fiction writer Val McDermid, this is essential reading for anyone interested in Christie's work and legacy.

God and the Little Grey Cells

God and the Little Grey Cells
Author: Dan W. Clanton, Jr.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2024-05-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567696103

Dan W. Clanton, Jr. examines the presence and use of religion and Bible in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels and stories and their later interpretations. Clanton begins by situating Christie in her literary, historical, and religious contexts by discussing “Golden Age” crime fiction and Christianity in England in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. He then explores the ways in which Bible is used in Christie's Poirot novels as well as how Christie constructs a religious identity for her little Belgian sleuth. Clanton concludes by asking how non-majority religious cultures are treated in the Poirot canon, including a heterodox Christian movement, Spiritualism, Judaism, and Islam. Throughout, Clanton acknowledges that many people do not encounter Poirot in his original literary contexts. That is, far more people have been exposed to Poirot via “mediated” renderings and interpretations of the stories and novels in various other genres, including radio, films, and TV. As such, the book engages the reception of the stories in these various genres, since the process of adapting the original narrative plots involves, at times, meaningful changes. Capitalizing on the immense and enduring popularity of Poirot across multiple genres and the absence of research on the role of religion and Bible in those stories, this book is a necessary contribution to the field of Christie studies and will be welcomed by her fans as well as scholars of religion, popular culture, literature, and media.

Sleuthing the Bible

Sleuthing the Bible
Author: John Kaltner
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2019-06-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 146745673X

Why is there crime-scene tape on my Bible? Elementary, my dear reader. There is an element of detective work to biblical scholarship that entails sniffing out and interpreting clues that often escape the notice of readers. John Kaltner and Steven L. McKenzie introduce the art of sleuthing the Bible, providing the necessary training to hunt for clues and piece them together to understand the larger picture. Sleuthing the Bible helps answer questions that occur during thoughtful examination of the Bible and provides exercises enabling readers to work through biblical passages on their own. Kaltner and McKenzie analyze two kinds of clues: (1) Smoking Guns— those that are obvious upon any close reading of biblical texts, and (2) Dusting for Prints—those that are more subtle or hidden from nonspecialists because of their unfamiliarity with the languages, culture, and larger content of the Bible. Written in a jargon-free and accessible style, Sleuthing the Bible is an ideal resource for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the biblical text.

The New Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation

The New Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation
Author: Ian Boxall
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2022-12-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1108857167

This Cambridge Companion offers an up-to-date and accessible guide to the fast-changing discipline of biblical studies. Written by scholars from diverse backgrounds and religious commitments – many of whom are pioneers in their respective fields – the volume covers a range of contemporary scholarly methods and interpretive frameworks. The volume reflects the diversity and globalized character of biblical interpretation in which neat boundaries between author-focused, text-focused, and reader-focused approaches are blurred. The significant space devoted to the reception of the Bible – in art, literature, liturgy, and religious practice – also blurs the distinction between professional and popular biblical interpretation. The volume provides an ideal introduction to the various ways that scholars are currently interpreting the Bible. It offers both beginning and advanced students an understanding of the state of biblical interpretation, and how to explore each topic in greater depth.

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie
Author: J.C. Bernthal
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2022-08-11
Genre: Detective and mystery stories, English
ISBN: 1476676208

The undisputed "Queen of Crime," Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the bestselling novelist of all time. As the creator of immortal detectives Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, she continues to enthrall readers around the world and is drawing increasing attention from scholars, historians, and critics. But Christie wrote far beyond Poirot and Marple. A varied life including war work, archaeology, and two very different marriages provided the backdrop to a diverse body of work. This encyclopedic companion summarizes and explores Christie's entire literary output, including the detective fiction, plays, radio dramas, adaptations, and her little-studied non-crime writing. It details all published works and key themes and characters, as well as the people and places that inspired them, and identifies a trove of uncollected interviews, articles, and unpublished material, including details that have never appeared in print. For the casual reader looking for background information on their favorite mystery to the dedicated scholar tracking down elusive new angles, this companion will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date information.

Pushed

Pushed
Author: J. R. Elias
Publisher:
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2016-12-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781539000150

It was one push. One of the most controversial and captivating murder cases of the 21st century began the moment Amber Hilberling, a pregnant teenager, pushed her husband Josh inside their 25th-floor apartment living room. Amber watched in horror as Josh fell into a window, which collapsed on contact, then plummeted through the Tulsa sky to his death. Amber claims she pushed him in self-defense in the middle of a fight. Josh's family and friends, though, saw it differently. They immediately launched a public campaign accusing Amber of being a mentally-ill monster who had a history of abusing her husband. The local, national, and international media ran wild with that storyline, even vilifying Amber for reportedly having had "mood swings" while pregnant. The public tide against Amber was swift and vicious. Hate websites were launched, resembling modern-day lynch mobs. They called for her execution in graphic detail. Strangers harassed her and her family. The State of Oklahoma charged her with murder and prosecuted her aggressively, using troubling tactics that call into question all notions of a fair trial. The dramatic case gripped the area and dominated headlines for years. National and international media attention followed, with shows such as Dateline NBC and Dr. Phil devoting multiple episodes to the case. The pressure drove Amber, new mother to a baby boy, to the edge. In Pushed, J.R. Elias, an award-winning journalist turned attorney who worked on the case, pulls back the curtains and shares the gripping full story: the explosive behind-the-scenes dramas, heated family conflicts, the disturbing twists of the murder trial, and the toll the grueling case took on many lives. Just after he finished the book, the already-tragic story reached a shocking and heartbreaking conclusion. Neither the public nor the jury has ever heard the full story. Until now.