Barabbas in literature and film
Barabbas, unlike Pilate or Judas or even other biblical characters who, like him, are barely mentioned in various Gospel accounts and yet who have received much attention - such as Mary Magdalene or Salome - received little attention before the twentieth century. But since then his ambiguous status...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Creighton University
2009
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| In: |
The journal of religion & society
Year: 2009, Volume: 11 |
| Further subjects: | B
Emmerich
B Films B Sara Bard B Bible in literature B 1882-1974 B Lagerkvist B Field B Bekessy B Religious B Barabbas (Biblical character) B Bible in film B 1891-1974 B Pär |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Barabbas, unlike Pilate or Judas or even other biblical characters who, like him, are barely mentioned in various Gospel accounts and yet who have received much attention - such as Mary Magdalene or Salome - received little attention before the twentieth century. But since then his ambiguous status as bandit, murderer, or freedom fighter fits in well with the ambiguous positions of art and religion in the modern world. A person who was given just a few sentences in the Bible finally has become a subject of artistic interest, reflecting the contradictory aspects of modern culture in which rebellion can run the spectrum from noble self-sacrifice for the greater good to self-serving justification of the love of violence. Though some of the works exploring the meaning of Barabbas are obviously of inferior quality, the others offer trenchant explorations of an engrossing character, reflecting to us our struggles with religious faith in the contemporary, secularized world. Barabbas represents the condition most of us have experienced: through forces outside our control we are placed in a relationship with possible truth, a relationship we can either turn away from for other, proximate human truths, or we can turn toward, even if we cannot always decipher its meaning. Barabbas is a noble revolutionary, a vicious criminal, an accident of politics and mob psychology, perhaps even a love interest, and a shadowy figure whose brief contact with Jesus is left in the dark. In his own way, differing from that of Pilate or Judas, Barabbas can speak uniquely from the distant world of the Gospels to the modern world in ways we immediately recognize. |
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| ISSN: | 1522-5658 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religion & society
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| Persistent identifiers: | HDL: 10504/64437 |