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HOW WRITERS USE JESUS
By David Bruce
The works of these celebrated writers have been used by Hollywood for numerous screenplays. The fact that they incorporate the Jesus story into their work is no secret. Here are some examples: |
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JOHN STEINBECK'S The Grapes of Wrath (1939) combines Jesus and Moses.
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| The Great Depression of the 1930s is powerfully captured by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939). It tells the exodus-like wanderings of the poverty-stricken Joad family of twelve. Note: Joad sounds like God and twelve is the number of tribes of Israel. The Joad family, with thousands of others, leave the Oklahoma dust bowl (Egypt) for California (the promised land). Set against this Old Testament pattern is a New Testament motif. The central character is a leader with the same initials as Jesus Christ—Jim Casy. The twelve fellow migrants, the Joad family, also reflect the twelve apostles of Jesus. Casey, a former preacher, goes to prison to protect Tom Joad. Casey is later killed by one of a group of hateful men who hate his intentions. His attitude toward his attackers is epitomized in the words "You don't know what you're a-doin," words which echo Jesus' appeal on the cross, "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do." |
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GRAHAM GREENE UPDATES THE JESUS STORY.
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Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory (1940) has as its hero a nameless whiskey priest. Shifty and alcoholic, he lives in the virtually Marxist state of Tabasco in Mexico. His antagonist, the police lieutenant, is a fanatical atheist; he has all the fervor about his beliefs which the priest should have but lacks. The priest is ultimately executed by the state; he gives up his life for the sake of the criminal James Calver, a bank robber and murderer whose name suggests Calvary and initials are J. C. Peter's denial of Jesus is symbolized by Padre José, who refuses to hear the whiskey priest's confession, and Judas is represented by the mestizo, who in effect causes the hero's arrest. |
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WILLIAM FAULKNER USES THE JESUS STORY MANY TIMES.
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| The Christ motif appears in a number of William Faulkner's works but nowhere more directly than in A Fable (1954). The Jesus figure here is the corporal, whose name, Stephan, is mentioned only once, after his death. Born at Christmas in a Middle Eastern stable, he associates himself with twelve men of his squadron and is executed at the age of 33. Parallels with the Gospel accounts are ubiquitous: they include a Judas figure, Polchek, who commits suicide by hanging himself, and two women who claim the corporal's body after his death, Marya and Marthe (Mary and Martha). |
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Gore Vidal's novel Messiah is to a considerable degree reflects Jesus Christ and the spread of Christianity. The central character is John Cave (note the initials). Jesus was born in a cave and was buried in a cave. Cave is a mortician who comes south to California at the age of 30 and preaches that life on this earth is not worth living and that it is good to die. Jesus began his ministry at age 30. Cave says suicide is the "better way." Jesus said die to yourself. Cave quickly develops a huge following, and millions express their belief in Cavesword or Cavesway, the new religion, created largely by publicity agents, which soon displaces Christianity. Cave himself writes nothing, but his brilliant follower, Paul Himmell, publicizes Cave's oral teachings. Jesus, too wrote nothing in the Bible and the apostle Paul write more Bible books than anyone else. Three years after Cave's arrival in California (as with Jesus) Himmell arranges to have him murdered and cremated and his ashes spread over the United States from a jet plane. Subsequently Congress hearing proclaims Cavesword as the national religion. |
GORE VIDAL WROTE MESSIAH (1954)
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Upton Sinclair's wrote the novel They Call Me Carpenter (1922)
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In this novel the narrator falls unconscious in a church and dreams that Jesus steps out from a stained-glass window and enters public life under the name of Mr. Carpenter. He supports a strike by the local tailor's union (Jesus took on unpopular stands, too. He is befriended by a film star named Mary Magna (Mary Magdalene). Later he is betrayed by one of his disciples (Judas) and is ordered to appear in the court of Judge Ponty (Pontius Pilot). Before the trial takes place, the narrator's dream comes to an end (sleep = death, waking = resurrection). |
More Artistic Insights
God the Artist
Jesus in Art
Christian Artists in Hollywood |
| INFORMATION DERIVED FROM Jeffrey, David Lyle, A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans) 1997. |
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