Jesus and Brian : Exploring the Historical Jesus and his Times via Monty Python's Life of Brian
- Submitting institution
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King's College London
- Unit of assessment
- 31 - Theology and Religious Studies
- Output identifier
- 84894658
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Bloomsbury T&T Clark
- ISBN
- 9780567658319
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- September
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
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- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This is a book which publishes the papers presented at the conference I ran at King’s in 2014. I provided the research concept of ‘reception exegesis’ (a term coined by my colleague at King’s Paul Joyce) applied to the film Monty Python’s Life of Brian. I designed the entire framework for the conference, in using the film to reflect on the historical Jesus, and drove the methods and subjects of the conference and volume. All contributors were invited by myself. I also contributed my own single-authored paper in the volume and an introduction. I successfully brought in the Monty Python team who engaged in the conference and the volume (Terry Jones wrote the Preface). This volume has been widely reviewed and hailed as innovative and successful.
Monty Python's Life of Brian film is known for its brilliant satirical humour. Less well known is that the film contains references to what was, at the time of its release, cutting edge biblical scholarship and life of Jesus research. This research, founded on the acceptance of the Historical Jesus as a Jew who needs to be understood within the context of his time, is implicitly referenced through the setting of the Brian character within a tumultuous social and political background. This collection is a compilation of essays from foremost scholars of the historical Jesus and the first century Judaea, all invited by me using my strong relationship with all of these scholars internationally. The collection opens up the Life of Brian to renewed investigation and, in so doing, uses the film to reflect on the historical Jesus and his times, revitalising the discussion of history and Life of Jesus research.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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