'Modern apocryphal' novels or movies?

October 13, 2008 8:20 PM

Can you recommend any really good novels (or movies) that portray something in the Old or New Testament in a new way, or which add to the Old/New Testament, such that they could be considered 'modern Biblical apocrypha'?

It's for a class, but I'm not required to take this path, and I'd still have to find my own thesis. It's not like you're doing my work for me.

Examples of favourite books include Fifth Business, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, White Teeth, and The Name of the Rose. None of these are 'modern apocrypha'.

Examples of 'modern apocrypha,' from my course syllabus: Passion of the Christ, Intolerance (The D. W. Griffith's film, specifically the Judean era), The Life of Saint Issa, and the Aquarian Gospel.

Apocrypha basically are a) retellings of the narratives found within the Bible b) stories that add to the Bible and are believed. Midrash stories aren't quite apocrypha, but belong to another tradition. Left Behind almost certainly wouldn't count, and I wouldn't want to read it anyways.

I don't mean 'apocrypha' as in 'those books you find sometimes attached to Catholic bibles.'

If this is unclear I can clarify.

Thanks!

posted by flibbertigibbet to Media & Arts (29 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh! Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell also count.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 8:24 PM on October 13, 2008

Anne Rice's continuing Christ the Lord
posted by Jahaza at 8:31 PM on October 13, 2008

Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the Gospels which removed all indication that Jesus was anything other than a wise man. Not a god, not a son of a god, not divine. No miracles. No resurrection.
posted by Flunkie at 8:31 PM on October 13, 2008

Steinbeck's East of Eden
posted by The Straightener at 8:34 PM on October 13, 2008

Orson Scott card has written several interpretations of Old Testament stories. The two I've read are Stone Tables, which is about Moses and also was produced as a musical by Card, and one of his Women of Genesis series. While I don't consider them his best books, they are strong in what I consider one of his greatest assets: complex characterizations that make even the 2-d villains of the Bible worthy of love or pity.
posted by artifarce at 8:35 PM on October 13, 2008

Oh, and in trying to find a link other than amazon, I found this article (comments also) about this topic (it starts with Left Behind, but don't let that put you off--it uses that as just a jumping off spot).
posted by artifarce at 8:38 PM on October 13, 2008

I'm not crystal clear, but those Joseph Girzone Joshua novels might fit into what you have in mind.
posted by box at 8:44 PM on October 13, 2008

A Canticle for Leibowitz, perhaps?
posted by ubersturm at 8:47 PM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

I always thought The Last Temptation of Christ contained scenes that clarified and illuminated the reality of the culture during the time of Christ more than any sermon I ever heard, and also brought another dimension to what Christ's temptation might have been.

In particular, I felt it realistically showed how the disciples misunderstood Christ's mission. And the scenes with Satan in the form of a little girl at the crucifixion are downright amazing, to the point where you could say, "Just maybe..."
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 8:47 PM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

David Maine wrote a bunch of retellings of biblical stories. I don't think they're actually very good books, but they're short and fairly interesting.
Jeanette Winterson retold the flood story in Boating for Beginners. I enjoy her work a great deal.
The Red Tent is a retelling of the story of Dinah. Not a wonderful book either.
Margaret George wrote a fictional biography of Mary Magdalene; the sections describing Judas (the character she initially intended to write about) are by far the best parts of the book.
I think the movie Jésus de Montréal would also count.
posted by jeather at 8:48 PM on October 13, 2008

Flibbertigibbet, is there a limit on how revisionist the novel can get? Jim Crace's Quarantine and Jose Saramago's The Gospel of Jesus Christ, for example, definitely retell the Gospels, but the reworkings are...drastic. (Same deal: Nikos Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ [on preview, previously mentioned] and Sholem Asch's The Apostle.)

Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers novels?

For film, those mid-twentieth century Biblical epics might come in handy.

(Don't know if poetry falls within your purview, but Susan Donnelly's short poem "Eve Names the Animals" might be worth looking at.)
posted by thomas j wise at 9:01 PM on October 13, 2008

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, fun reading even it doesn't precisely fit the assignment.
posted by brownbat at 9:08 PM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thomas J Wise: That's a question that's difficult to answer. If it gets REALLY fringe, I'll ask the prof, but generally the contemporary-to-the-Bible apocrypha went WAAAY out, pretty much inventing people and lives (especially of the Apostles; Acts of Thecla is a good example) from nothing. The problem is "when modern and post-modern literature does it stop being based on the Bible" and I think that comes down to my prof's taste.

Thanks everyone for their answers so far!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:13 PM on October 13, 2008

How about The Red Tent by Anita Diamant?
posted by Zahara at 9:24 PM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

The tag biblical fiction on Librarything has some other books whose titles I had forgotten earlier, and might give you some more ideas.
posted by jeather at 9:27 PM on October 13, 2008

Response by poster: Oh, awesome jeather! Thank you!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:31 PM on October 13, 2008

Nikos Kazantzakis also wrote a biblical play, Sodom and Gomorrah. Paradise Lost by Milton retells the Genesis tale of the Fall of Man. James Morrow's short story collection "Bible Stories for Adults" contains among other things retellings of biblical stories; Morrow is a skeptic and humanist and is very critical of religion and the bible. I seem to recall that Morrow also did a play based on Job but I can't find any info on it (I'm not thinking of his Job-esque novel Blameless in Abaddon). Norman Mailer wrote a gospel retelling called The Gospel According to the Son. The advice to look to the biblical epics films of the 50s and 60s is a good one: some of these films are also based on novels (i.e. The Robe, based on a novel by Lloyd Douglas).
posted by nanojath at 9:38 PM on October 13, 2008

C K Stead's My Name Was Judas has received great reviews.

And there's Joseph Heller's God Knows.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:47 PM on October 13, 2008

See also this previous thread.
posted by misteraitch at 10:41 PM on October 13, 2008

James Morrow writes science fiction... except the vast majority of it is set in the present, and deals with contemporary semi-satirical literalizations of Bible stories. I particularly liked Bible Stories for Adults, Towing Jehovah, and Only Begotten Daughter.
posted by tsmo at 10:55 PM on October 13, 2008

Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.

Cheick Oumar Sissoko's La Genese.

Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montreal and the Nikos Kazantzakis novel on which it was surely based: The Greek Passion.
posted by felix betachat at 1:40 AM on October 14, 2008

Hmmm...I dunno if Live from Golgotha would count, but you might enjoy reading that one.

-winters from Mefight :)
posted by First Post at 5:14 AM on October 14, 2008

Response by poster: Answer from my prof after I asked about things like Salome and Paradise Lost: "I would say that, in a certain sense, even modern and contemporary biblical fictions are but apocryphal productions."

Awesome, I love my prof.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 6:33 AM on October 14, 2008

Madeleine L'Engle wrote a book involving the Noah and the Flood story called Many Waters, if you want something an example that's not from the new testament.
posted by mismatched at 7:28 AM on October 14, 2008

This is not exactly in keeping with your question, but its interesting reading none the less;

Thomas Morrow's Towing Jehovah
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:49 AM on October 14, 2008

There's a movie called Frailty that could be called "modern apocrypha." I'm not sure if it mirrors any one specific story from the bible, or is just a mishmash of Old Testament ideas. Might be a little lean for the actual assignment, but I'd say to at least check it out if/when things start to get a bit heavy. It's pretty violent, though.
posted by dogwalker at 9:04 AM on October 14, 2008

How 'bout the Book of Mormon?
Relatively modern. Possibly based on a pilfered novel. Possibly created by supernatural means.

And the Movie!
The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey (2003)

And the Possible Sequel!
The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume II: Zarahemla (2008)
posted by Seamus at 9:10 AM on October 14, 2008

"I would say that, in a certain sense, even modern and contemporary biblical fictions are but apocryphal productions."

On that note, I point you to the Biblical Fiction section of the Christian Book Distributors catalog.
posted by JDHarper at 9:36 AM on October 14, 2008

Testament: Akedah by Rushkoff, interplays the story of the sacrifice of Isaac against a future tale of paranoia.

As a Driven Leaf by Steinberg about a heretic Rabbi in Roman times.
posted by canine epigram at 10:44 AM on October 14, 2008