Nearly seven and a half years ago, I blogged the news that some South African filmmakers were preparing a modern-day version of the life of Jesus, featuring a primarily black cast. Less than a year later, the film — called Jezile or, in English, Son of Man — began touring the festival circuit, and I posted links to some of the early reviews. And then, a few months later, I was able to offer my own (very brief) two bits when I caught the film at a local festival. (I also gave a nod to the film in an article I wrote around that time on ethnicity in Jesus films.)
I haven’t seen the film since then, but friends of mine have taken a deeper look at it every now and then. Matt Page, of the Bible Films Blog, has posted several in-depth looks at the film and its themes, and now I am told that Sheffield Phoenix Press is publishing a collection of essays next year called Son of Man: An African Jesus. The book is edited by Richard Walsh, Jeffrey L. Staley and Adele Reinhartz, and it includes 17 essays by a wide range of scholars, including Jesus-movie experts whose works I have reviewed in the past, plus two scholars who edited books on Jesus movies that I have contributed to in the past. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
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