This volume resents key contributions to scholarship in biblical studies that engages or is influenced by cultural studies. Robert Seesengood selects on foundational pieces that are ordinarily hard to locate and presents them in line with more recent studies, situating and tracing the revolution in biblical studies that led to the wealth of work in reception history and the study of cultural engagements with the bible. As a result, this selection provides a grounding in key theoretical perspectives, and history of scholarship as well as an orientation to the discipline as it is now. Beginning with a general introduction, as well as introductions each section of the book, this collection explores theoretical underpinnings, characters and passages in popular culture, motifs and methods, film and television. These introductions situate and frame the readings for readers and researchers, and at the end of each section is an annotated bibliography of further readings, which will prompt further research and discussion.

"Jesse's Lineage" explores the interconnections between David, Jesus, and Jesse James. All three of these figures evoked complicated and conflicted reactions from their contemporaries - considered criminals by some, saviors by others. David lives the life of a bandit while on the run from Saul; Jesus dies the death of a bandit alongside other bandits; Jesse James is the paragon of the bandit in the American West and yet his life and death is also understood in biblical terms. Iron Age Judah, Roman Galilee, and Reconstruction era Missouri alike invoke the context of colonial "territories" and areas of resistance. Such contexts give birth to bandits, the heroes of the subaltern. After their deaths, David, Jesus, and Jesse James live on thorough equally complicated and conflicted textual, ritual, and cultural memories. Their stories intertwine through reference and allusion as Jesus' mission is understood in terms of David's promise, and Jesse's death is understood in terms of Jesus' betrayal. The biography of each figure is further complicated by the processes of folk memory and oral transmission.

This guide explores and summarizes scholarship on Philemon, acquainting beginning students with what has been said about Philemon, and equipping them to understand the larger debates and conversations that surround it. It explores how different initial scholarly assumptions result in different interpretations and "meanings;" these meanings always have ethical implications. Reading Philemon challenges us to rethink the process of commentary and the communities interpretation creates. Though only one chapter long, Paul's Letter to Philemon has generated a remarkable amount of commentary and scholarship over the centuries, figuring in debates over textual reconstruction, the formation of biblical canon, the culture of ancient Rome, Greek language and its translation, and the role of the Bible in Western politics and economics. The focus of this short letter is labor, love and captivity. Tradition since Chrysostom has argued the letter is an appeal to Philemon on behalf of a fugitive slave Onesimus, now a convert to Christianity. Yet this interpretation depends upon several assumptions and reconstructions. Other equally plausible contexts could be -- and have been -- argued.

"Jesse's Lineage" explores the interconnections between David, Jesus, and Jesse James. All three of these figures evoked complicated and conflicted reactions from their contemporaries - considered criminals by some, saviors by others. David lives the life of a bandit while on the run from Saul; Jesus dies the death of a bandit alongside other bandits; Jesse James is the paragon of the bandit in the American West and yet his life and death is also understood in biblical terms. Iron Age Judah, Roman Galilee, and Reconstruction era Missouri alike invoke the context of colonial "territories" and areas of resistance. Such contexts give birth to bandits, the heroes of the subaltern. After their deaths, David, Jesus, and Jesse James live on thorough equally complicated and conflicted textual, ritual, and cultural memories. Their stories intertwine through reference and allusion as Jesus' mission is understood in terms of David's promise, and Jesse's death is understood in terms of Jesus' betrayal. The biography of each figure is further complicated by the processes of folk memory and oral transmission.