{"title":"It is Re-Written: Lessons from Chester Brown's Mary Wept on Biblical Traditions and Biblical Scholarship in the Wild","authors":"A. Ricker","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2019-0004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Chester Brown's critically acclaimed 2016 graphic novel, Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus: Prostitution and Religious Obedience in the Bible, raises important questions about the right—and the right way—to interpret religious traditions outside sanctuary doors, and Religious Studies outside the Ivory Tower. With the help of generous notes and appendices, which take up a full third of the book, Mary Wept reworks Bible stories and biblical studies for a general audience to create a conspiracy-theory-based Christian apology for sex work. This article provides an introduction to Brown's book and its relevant book-and-Biblerelated contexts, and argues that Mary Wept represents neither Bible adaptation nor popularized biblical scholarship per se. Brown's book is instead, I argue, best understood as a new species of \"rewritten Bible\" claiming the authority of scholarship as surrogate religious authority. It is therefore a pop culture weather vane of great interest to Religious Studies scholars, not least as a reminder of our public image and our professional responsibilities.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2019-0004","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:Chester Brown's critically acclaimed 2016 graphic novel, Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus: Prostitution and Religious Obedience in the Bible, raises important questions about the right—and the right way—to interpret religious traditions outside sanctuary doors, and Religious Studies outside the Ivory Tower. With the help of generous notes and appendices, which take up a full third of the book, Mary Wept reworks Bible stories and biblical studies for a general audience to create a conspiracy-theory-based Christian apology for sex work. This article provides an introduction to Brown's book and its relevant book-and-Biblerelated contexts, and argues that Mary Wept represents neither Bible adaptation nor popularized biblical scholarship per se. Brown's book is instead, I argue, best understood as a new species of "rewritten Bible" claiming the authority of scholarship as surrogate religious authority. It is therefore a pop culture weather vane of great interest to Religious Studies scholars, not least as a reminder of our public image and our professional responsibilities.
摘要:切斯特·布朗(Chester Brown) 2016年出版的广受好评的漫画小说《玛丽在耶稣脚前哭泣:圣经中的卖淫与宗教服从》(Mary tears in the Jesus Feet:卖淫与宗教服从)提出了一个重要问题,即在圣殿门外解释宗教传统的权利和正确的方式,以及象牙塔外的宗教研究。在占据全书三分之一篇幅的大量注释和附录的帮助下,《玛丽哭泣》为普通读者改编了圣经故事和圣经研究,以阴谋论为基础为性工作辩护。这篇文章介绍了布朗的书及其相关的书和圣经相关的背景,并认为玛丽哭泣既不代表圣经改编,也不代表圣经学术本身的普及。相反,我认为,布朗的书最好被理解为一种新的“重写的圣经”,声称学术权威是宗教权威的替代品。因此,它是宗教研究学者非常感兴趣的流行文化风向标,不仅仅是提醒我们的公众形象和我们的专业责任。