This book is a collaboration between a biblical scholar (Mary Ann Beavis) and a practical theologian (HyeRan Kim-Cragg) who are concerned with the way that the Bible is portrayed and interpreted in popular culture, including but not limited to the movies. This concern points to a need for a conversation, examining what the Bible actually says, in order to uncover transformations and distortions of the biblical stories in the wider culture--including Christian culture. Our conversation is counter-cultural, not in an oppositional way, but taking an alternative posture that aims to provide different insights by drawing from and closely looking at the Bible. The chapters take a Christian canonical approach, articulating "what the Bible says" (and doesn't say) with regard to culturally pervasive themes such as sin and salvation, Christ and Antichrist, heaven and hell, in contrast to popular understandings as disseminated in (primarily) film, advertising, television, etc. We hope that together we will open up fertile academic, ecclesial, and secular space for disclosing loaded cultural and ideological views towards offering positive and intriguing insights embedded in the Bible.

Mary Ann Beavis is Professor of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon, Canada. She is the author of many academic articles and several books.
 
HyeRan Kim-Cragg is Lydia Gruchy Professor of Pastoral Studies at St. Andrew's College, Saskatoon, Canada. She is the author ofStory and Song (2012) and the coauthor of several books, includingThe Encounters (2013),Hebrews (2015), andThe Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the United Church of Canada (2016).