In Engaging the Passion, Oliver Larry Yarbrough has gathered an impressive array of scholars to survey the wealth of ways in which the death of Jesus has been portrayed and represented in Scripture, liturgy and music, literature, art and film, theology, and ethics. In addition to addressing topics many readers will find familiar-gospel narratives, Holy Week services, Bach Passions, and well-known paintings-the essays also treat rap music, street art, a contemporary Buddhist Passion, Chagall's crucifixions, the poetry of Walt Whitman and Countee Cullen, J. R. R. Tolkien's unlikely hero Frodo Baggins, images from the battlefield, and stories from the soup kitchen. The contributors approach their topics from a variety of perspectives-Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular; their voices differ as well, from the challenging to the comforting and from the academic to the confessional. Addressing the faithful, the skeptical, and the curious, Engaging the Passion is unique in its breadth and rare in the diverse voices of its contributors. Amply illustrated and with accompanying discography and filmography, it will be a welcome resource for classes in Scripture, theology, liturgy, and the arts, as well as for personal and congregational study.
Oliver Larry Yarbrough is Pardon Tillinghast Professor of Religion at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont and a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. He is the author of Not Like the Gentiles: Marriage Rules in the Letters of Paul, coeditor of The Social World of the Earliest Christians.
Introduction; Part I: The Texts; 1. The Passion of Christ in the Letters of PauI-Jouette Bassler; 2. Synoptic Passions-Oliver Larry Yarbrough; 3. The Passion of the Fourth Gospel-David R. Rensberger; Part II: Liturgy and Music; 4. The Passion in Christian Liturgy-Robert Atwell; 5. Musical Settings of the Passion Texts-Andrew Shenton; Part III: Literature; 6. The Passion in American Literature-John McWilliams; 7. Dostoevsky's Fiery "Furnace of Doubt"-Michael R. Katz; 8. Frodo and the Passion in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings-Matt Dickerson; Part IV: Images; 9. Images of the Crucifixion in Early Rome-Oliver Larry Yarbrough; 10. Engaging the Lothar Cross-Eliza Garrison; 11. Albrecht Diirer and the Kiss of Death-Christopher Wilson; 12. Titian's Noli Me Tangere-Katy Abbott-Smith and Elizabeth Oyler; 13. Manet's Dead Christ with Angels-John Hunisak; 14. Marc Chagall's Jewish Jesus-Marga ret Steinfels; 15. Can You Feel Me?-Kymberly Pinder; 16. Blanksy's Christmas Passion-Emmie Donadio; 17. Dying for Our Sins-Adele Reinhartz; Part V: Other Traditions; 18. On Pesach and Pascha-Jeremy Cohen; 19. The Death ofJesus in IslamwSuleiman A. Mourad; Part VI: Ethics and Theology; 20. Theological Themes in the Passion-Katherine Sonderegger; 21. Self-Giving, Nonviolence, Peacemaking-William Werpehowski.
