Cultural depictions of Jesus

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Jesus has inspired artistic and cultural works for nearly two millennia. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog. Lesser known works are not included.
For purposes of classification, popular culture music is a separate section from operas and oratorios. Television covers live action series, TV movies, miniseries, and North American animation but not Japanese anime, which appears with manga and graphic novels.
==Art==
There has been a long tradition of featuring Jesus in paintings and sculpture, ranging from the Roman catacombs and the conservative icon tradition of the Orthodox world through medieval altarpieces to modern acrylics. Many images depict the Life and Passion of Christ, especially the Crucifixion of Christ, whilst others show the infant Christ with his mother (Madonna and Child) or Christ in Majesty. Many of the most famous paintings in Western art feature Christ. The tradition continues in professional and folk art in many countries, as well as popular commercial imagery. Most images, whatever their origins, (as left) keep fairly close to the conventional appearance (and clothing) of Christ established in Byzantine art by about 400AD, which is now instantly recognisable.
Protestant Christians (following reformers such as John Calvin and Zwingli) frequently reject many depictions of Jesus as a form of idolatry (cf the Ten Commandments).
==Books==
*According to Mary Magdalene by Marianne Fredriksson (1999)
*Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock (1966)
*Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace (1880)
*The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas (1959)
*The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (1961)
*The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)
*Casca: The Eternal Mercenary by Barry Sadler (1979)
*Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice (2005)
*Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice (2008)
*The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop (1957)
*The Day Christ Was Born by Jim Bishop (1960)
*Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon (1986)
*The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago (1991)
*The Gospel According to the Son by Norman Mailer (1999)
*The Gospel of Aphranius by Kiril Yeskov (1996)
*The Gospel of Corax by Paul Park (1996)
*The Holy Bible by Various writers
*I, Judas by Taylor Caldwell with Jess Stearn (1977)
*Judas Iscariot by Leonid Andreev
*Judas, My Brother by Frank Yerby (1964)
*King Jesus by Robert Graves (1947)
*Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (2001)
*The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis (1951)
*The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
*Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice (1995)
*My Name Was Judas by C. K. Stead (2006)
*The Nazarene by Sholem Asch (1939)
*Only Begotten Daughter (1990) and The Godhead Trilogy (1994-1999) by James Morrow
*Quarantine by Jim Crace (1997)
*Riverworld by Philip José Farmer
*The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (1942)
*The Secret Magdalene by Ki Longfellow (2005)
*Testament by Nino Ricci (2002)
*The Urantia Book Authorship assisted by William S. Sadler (1955)
*The Wild Girl aka The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Michèle Roberts (1984)
*Yahushuwa`: A Midrash by Edmund Camacho (2007)
==Music==
Gospel music has remained a strong pop element in the music of religious America, of which Jesus is a frequent topic.
There have been significant (and successful) attempts to incorporate Jesus in current popular music trends, from rock to hip-hop. This incorporation happens on three different levels:
* Bands or artists who focus almost entirely on Jesus/Christianity. Most of these bands are in support of it, and their music will almost always deal with spiritual themes. A few detractors may critique, attack, or ridicule Christianity and Jesus.
* Songs that deal with Jesus/Christianity. Bands or artists may not be religious at all, but they will still produce a song (or songs) in reference to Jesus. The songs may deal with Jesus/Christianity in a positive light (e.g., "Have A Talk With God" by Stevie Wonder), a negative light (e.g., "Heresy" by Nine Inch Nails or the logan used by the Anarcho-punk band Crass who used the slogan "Jesus died for his own sins, not mine"), or just as a tool to help provide commentary on modern society (e.g., "Jesusland" by Ben Folds).
* A simple reference to Jesus in a song. Many artists/bands will use a line in a song to show that they are Christian, but the song will have nothing to do with religion. Hip-hop artists will often give a "shout-out" to "the LORD", "Jesus", and other aspects of Christianity as well.
During the 1970s, the "Jesus Movement" produced many songs on the theme, and there have been many bands since then, both Christian and secular, which have done likewise.
Not to mention thousands upon thousands of classical works written by composers of all time periods.
==Film==
The religious or biblical epic was a popular genre in the 1950s usually accompanied by towering budgets and names such as Charlton Heston, Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, or Yul Brynner. 
The ensuing decade brought an attempt by a major studio to produce a religious epic in which the Christ Event was its singular focus. MGM released King of Kings in 1961, inspired by Cecil B. DeMille`s 1927 film The King of Kings. Critics suggested the film should have been titled I Was a Teenage Jesus, due to Jeffrey Hunter's youthful appearance in the film. 
Four years later, The Greatest Story Ever Told, directed by George Stevens, was completed for $25 million. Though Max von Sydow's performance as Christ was praised, the film fared poorly at the box office. Franco Zeffirelli's 1979 film Jesus of Nazareth was a highly praised television miniseries, but stood as the last major Hollywood production of Christ's life for nearly a decade.
It wasn’t until 1988 that another major studio took a gamble on a movie involving the life of Jesus, but this one involved a new wrinkle. Universal released The Last Temptation of Christ amidst protests. The pre-release publicity centered around demonstrations taking place outside of Universal after celebrated figures in the evangelical media began speaking about heretical content in the film. Theater managers across the USA were reluctant to screen the movie and no major video chain would carry it. 
Screenwriter Paul Schrader adapted The Last Temptation from the Nikos Kazantzakis novel which engages in a fictional exploration between the two natures of Christ - divine and human. The film was not intended to be a Gospel portrait. The fictional aspect, which apparently provoked opponents of its release, centered around a vision presented by the devil to the Jesus of the film while on the cross. In this vision, Jesus is shown what it would have been like to marry, have a family, live until an old age, and die a natural death. The struggle for the Jesus of the film is the torment between his human wishes for a normal Jewish life and his longing to accomplish the divine mission set before him. In the film is that Jesus conquers these temptations and carries out his sacrificial death by crucifixion. 
In 2004, Academy Award winning director Mel Gibson made the blockbuster film The Passion of the Christ which became one of the highest-grossing movies of 2004 and of all time. Jim Caviezel was cast as Jesus.
Date	Title 	Country 	Notes 	IMDB
1898	The Passion Play of Oberammergau 	USA 	early black and white silent film, directed by Henry C. Vincent, starring Frank Russell as Jesus 	
1911	Jésus de Nazareth 	France 	early black and white silent film, directed by André Calmettes and Henri Desfontaines 	
1914	The Last Supper 	USA 	black and white silent film, directed by Lorimer Johnston, and starring Sydney Ayres as Jesus 	
1915	The Birth of a Nation 	USA 	directed by D.W. Griffith, Jesus appears toward the end of the film 	
1916	Intolerance 	USA 	directed by D.W. Griffith, Jesus is portrayed by Howard Gaye 	
1927	The King of Kings 	USA 	silent film 	
1928	Jesus of Nazareth 	USA 	black and white silent film, Jesus is portrayed by Philip Van Loan 	
1942	Jesús de Nazareth 	Mexico 	black and white film, directed by José Díaz Morales, and starring José Cibrián as Jesus 	
1946	María Magdalena 	Mexico 	black and white film directed by Miguel Contreras Torres, Jesus is portrayed by Luis Alcoriza 	
1953	The Robe 	USA 	Jesus appears off-screen 	
1959	Ben-Hur 	USA 	Jesus does not speak in the movie, he is seen only from behind or in partial view 	
1959	El Redentor (The Redeemer) 	Spain 	Jesus, played by Luis Álvarez, is always shown from behind. Macdonald Carey provides the voice in the English version. 	
1961	King of Kings 	USA 	directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus 	
1964	Il vangelo secondo Matteo 	Italy / France 	directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus 	
1965	The Greatest Story Ever Told 	USA 	directed by George Stevens, David Lean, and Jean Negulesco, starring Max von Sydow as Jesus 	
1967	The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus 	USA 	Robert Elfstrom was both the director and the actor portraying Jesus, Johnny Cash provided the music for the film 	
1971	Johnny Got His Gun 	USA 	Donald Sutherland portrays Jesus in a dream sequence 	
1973	Godspell 	USA 	directed by David Greene, Jesus is portrayed by Victor Garber 	
1973	Jesus Christ Superstar 	USA 	film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's opera, with Ted Neeley as Jesus 	
1979	Monty Python's Life of Brian 	UK 	The story of Jesus is parodied by parallel in this movie. Jesus only appears briefly. 	
1979	Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith 	Canada 	directed by Eric Till, starring Jeff East as Joseph 	
1979	Jesus 	USA 	directed by John Krish and Peter Sykes, starring Brian Deacon as Jesus 	
1980	White 'Pop' Jesus 	Italy 	directed by Luigi Petrini, Jesus is portrayed by Awana Gana 	
1981	History of the World, Part I 	USA 	directed by Mel Brooks, Jesus is portrayed by John Hurt 	
1985	Hail Mary 	France / Switzerland / UK	a modern-day retelling of the Virgin Birth 	
1986	Jesus - The Film 	Germany 	Epic film in 35 episodes, shot on Super8. The individual episodes were made by a total of 22 filmmakers from East and West Germany, directed by Michael Brynntrup 	
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ 	USA 	directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Willem Dafoe as Jesus 	
1988	The Seventh Sign 	USA 	directed by Carl Schultz Jürgen Prochnow as Jesus 	
1989	Jesus of Montreal 	Canada / France 	directed by Denys Arcand 	
1992	Bad Lieutenant 	USA 	directed by Abel Ferrara, starring Paul Hipp 	
1996	Kristo 	Philippines 	directed by Ben Yalung starring Mat Ranillo III as Jesus. The costumes, music, design and overall feel are all adapted to a local setting in Malay-influenced, pre- Hispanic Philippines. 	
1997	Matthew 	USA/South Africa 	directed by Reghardt van den Bergh starring Bruce Marchiano as Jesus. All narration and dialogue is taken word-for-word from the New International Version of the New Testament Gospel of Matthew.	
1997	Orgazmo 	USA 	Jesus is seen cheering the lead character on at the end of the film 	
1998	The Book of Life 	France / USA 	directed by Hal Hartley, starring Martin Donovan as Jesus 	
1999	Superstar 	USA 	directed by Bruce McCulloch, Jesus is portrayed by Will Ferrell 	
1999	South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut	USA 	Jesus can be seen as part of the American army marching in front of Kyle's house 	
1999	Dogma 	USA 	Buddy Christ is created as an icon to help revitalize the Catholic Church. 	
2000	The Miracle Maker 	UK 	stop-motion animated film with Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Jesus 	
2001	Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter 	Canada 	directed by Lee Demarbre, Jesus is called upon to aid humanity against a vampire scourge 	
2003	The Gospel of John 	Canada / UK 	directed by Philip Saville, starring Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus 	
2004	The Passion of the Christ 	USA 	directed by Mel Gibson, starring Jim Caviezel, portrays the final days in the life of Jesus. 	
2006	World Trade Center 	USA 	Jesus is seen in the vision of a New York City firefighter in the film 	
2006	The Nativity Story 	USA 	Retells the Biblical account of the nativity of Jesus, following the story of Mary and Joseph until the birth of Jesus occurs. 	
2006	Color of the Cross 	USA 	Jean-Claude La Marre both directs the film and stars as Jesus 	
2006	Son of Man 	South Africa 	directed by Mark Dornford-May 	
2006	The Nativity Story 	USA 	directed by Catherine Hardwicke 	
2008	The Messiah 	Iran 	Retells the Islamic view of Jesus. A film directed by Nader Talebzadeh, and starring Rennie Schembri as Ahmad Soleimani Nia 	
2008	Anno Domini XXXIII 	Malta 	Retells the Biblical account of the passion of Jesus Christ. A film directed by Melvin Schembri and starring Rennie Schembri as Jesus 	
==Television==
Date	Title 	Country	Notes 	IMDB
2006	The Book of Daniel	USA 	cancelled due to low ratings	
===Television movies===
Date	Title 	Country	Notes 	IMDB
1980	The Day Christ Died 	USA 	directed by James Cellan Jones, starring Chris Sarandon as Jesus 	
2003	Ben Hur 	USA 	animated TV movie 	
2004	Judas 	USA 	TV Movie 	
1999	Mary, Mother of Jesus 	USA 	TV movie 	
2007	The Lost Tomb of Jesus	USA 	Simcha Jacobovici stars in this documentary about the supposed findings of the Jesus family tomb. The film dramatizes certain scenes in the Bible to depict Jesus both as a husband and a father.	
===Miniseries===
Date	Title 	Country 	Notes 	IMDB
1999	Jesus 	Czech Republic / Italy / Germany / USA	TV miniseries, starring Jeremy Sisto as Jesus	
1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Italy / UK 	TV miniseries 	
==Theatre==
*Son Of Man by Dennis Potter
*Godspell
*Jesus Christ Superstar
*Cotton Patch Gospel
*!Hero the Rock Opera
==Audio dramas==
*The Man Born to be King (1941)
*Adventures in Odyssey, in episodes #66, #67, #137, #141, #176, #177, #183, #226, #227, #232, #302, #304, #305, #345, #346, #383, #389, #404, #413, #425, #439, #461, & #499
==Miscellaneous==
* The popular clothing line Urban Outfitters has launched numerous Jesus-themed apparel, their most popular being 2004's "Jesus is my Homeboy" T-shirts, which were publicized by the Hip-Hop artist Kanye West.
* The Jesus action figure has become somewhat of a meme of American culture. The action figure made an appearance in Sum 41's music video for The Hell Song. It also made an appearance in Smosh's video of the Pokemon theme song.
* John Lennon in 1966 compared his group, The Beatles to Jesus in a remark that sparked outrage and controversy particularly in the US South: "We're more popular than Jesus now." He later retracted the remark and apologized to anyone who had been offended by it.
* Many adult-oriented cartoons, such as South Park and Family Guy, use Jesus Christ as a character, in unusual situations such as a talk show host. Common associations made (e.g. The Simpsons) are of Christ as a hippie or rock n' roller, due to his popular image as a peaceful man with long hair and a beard.
*The Channel 102 series Jesus Christ Supercop featured Christ as a renegade police officer who bears a grudge against the man who killed his father, 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
*In the Spawn comic book series, The Man of Miracles appeared to humans in the form of Jesus Christ to spread a message of peace and tolerance so that armageddon could be prevented. Unfortunately, this message became corrupted by humanity, thus making armageddon inevitable.
* A Christian Mexican campaign called "Vive lo Rojo" (Live the Red) puts big signals of Jesus in a very modern and friendly way. Together with Christian messages, Jesus is portrayed with modern things such as a skater, a car or himself hearing music from an iPod.
==References==
Category:Jesus