{"id":1491,"date":"2013-04-01T22:54:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T22:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html"},"modified":"2013-04-01T22:54:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T22:54:00","slug":"the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html","title":{"rendered":"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

The Bible<\/em>\u00a0miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B. DeMille\u2019s\u00a0King of Kings\u00a0<\/em>(1927) toJesus\u00a0<\/em>(a Campus Crusade for Christ production from 1979) to Mel Gibson\u2019s 2004\u00a0gorefestThe Passion<\/em>, generations of Americans have seen this in film form before. And, while the twitter-storm that grew up (and quickly passed over) about how Satan looked like Obama was a tempest in a teapot, it is entirely true to the genre that Satan must appear as darker-skinned, as Scott Poole (a scholar of how Satan appears in American history) explains\u00a0here<\/a>. (To me, he most resembled Emperor Palpatine from\u00a0The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>; either that, or the Grim Reaper from\u00a0The Seventh Seal<\/em>).<\/span><\/div>\n
Following the stories from the Gospels, in a brief coda for the rest of the New Testament, the final hour races through the Pentecost traced in the Book of Acts, Paul getting struck down on the road to Damascus, and John making it to the Isle of Patmos, ready to receive Revelation. Alas, that weirdest and most apocalyptically dramatic of books is passed over entirely, despite the vaunted CGI budget the producers insisted on from THC. Doubtless that was a smart move on the part of the producers, since not even a basically literalist reading of the Bible (but one full of inaccuracies of the sort that have\u00a0driven commentators and Bible scholars nuts<\/a>) can be sustained through its most psychedelically trippy book.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
With all the attention the series has gotten and silly brouhahas it has generated, ultimately the show\u2019s concluding hours and the spinoffs planned by the producers have settled into a formula that fits the genre of films and television shows from the Bible. I\u2019ll just enumerate briefly here three of those.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bible\u00a0miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B. DeMille\u2019s\u00a0King of Kings\u00a0(1927) toJesus\u00a0(a Campus Crusade for Christ production from 1979) to Mel Gibson\u2019s 2004\u00a0gorefestThe Passion, generations of Americans have seen this in film form before. And, while the twitter-storm that grew up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html\",\"name\":\"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart","description":"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart","og_description":"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html","name":"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-01T22:54:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"The Bible miniseries concluded Easter Sunday on The History Channel, with a fairly conventional playing out of the Passion story. From Cecil B.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/04\/the-bible-brought-to-you-by-wal-mart.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Bible, Brought To You By Wal-Mart"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}