2005 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Nikos Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ. Since Kazantzakis ranks as one of the twentieth century's most important European writers, and given that this particular work of his has garnered so much publicity, this collection of essays re-assesses the novel, though not forgetting the movie, in light of one half century's worth of criticism and reception history. Clergy and laity alike have denounced this novel. When it first appeared, the Greek Orthodox Church condemned it, the Vatican placed it on its Index of Forbidden Texts, and conservative-evangelicals around the world protested its allegedly blasphemous portrayal of a human, struggling Messiah who "succumbs" to the devil's final snare while on the Cross: the temptation to happiness. Assuredly, the sentiments surrounding this novel, at least in the first thirty years or so, were very strong. When Martin Scorcese decided in the early 1980s to adapt the novel for the silver screen, even stronger feelings were expressed. Even today his works are seldom studied in Greece, largely because the Greek government is unable or unwilling to anthologize his material for the national curriculum. After fifty years, however, the time seems right to re-examine the novel, the man, and the film, locating Kazantzakis and his work within an important debate about the relationship between religion and art (literary and cinematic). Until now a book-length assessment of Kazantzakis' novel, and the film it inspired, has not appeared. No such volume is planned to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the novel's publication. For those who work in Kazantzakis studies, a focused anthology like this one is missing from library collections. The volume contains original essays by Martin Scorcese, the film critic Peter Chattaway, and Kazantzakis' translator, Peter A. Bien.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements vii Note on Titles ix Contents x Foreword Don Cupitt xiii Introduction: Literary Lord, Screen Savior Darren J. N. Middleton 1 PART I: LITERARY LORD 1: Renan's Vie de Jésus as a Primary Source for The Last Temptation Peter A. Bien 13 2: The Novel, the Four Gospels, and the Continuing Historical Quest W. Barnes Tatum 43 3:Pontius Pilate: Modern Man in Search of a Soul Lewis Owens 70 4:Kazantzakis, Chalcedonian Orthodoxy, and Monophysitism Daniel A. Dombrowski 91 5:Reading Kazantzakis Through Gregory of Nyssa: Some Common Anthropological Themes Pamela J. Francis 115 6:The Unreality of Repressed Desires in The Last Temptation Vrasidas Karalis 133 7:The Temptation That Never Was: Kazantzakis and Borges Roderick Beaton 152 8:"This Clay Bird is the Soul of Man": A Platonic Reading of Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation C. D. Gounelas 171 9:In-the-Name-of-the-Father: The Semiotic Threat Over the Symbolic Logos Charitini Christodolou 195 10:An Unholy Trinity: Women in Pre-Easter Patriarchy Jen Harrison 216 11:Distant Flutter of a Butterfly: The Indian Response to The Last Temptation Mini Chandran 230 PART II: SCREEN SAVIOR 12:Satan and the Curious: Texas Evangelicals Read The Last Temptation of Christ Darren J. N. Middleton and Elizabeth H. Flowers 247 13:Battling the Flesh: Sexuality and Spirituality in The Last Temptation of Christ Peter T. Chattaway 262 14:Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ: A Critical Reassessment of Its Sources, Its Theological Problems, and Its Impact on the Public Lloyd C. Baugh, S. J. 287 15:Teaching the Temptation: Seminarians Viewing The Last Temptation of Christ Melody D. Knowles and Allison Whitney 324 16:The Dual Substance of Cinema: What Kazantzakis's Christ Can Teach Us About Sound/Image Relationship in Film Randolph Jordan342 17:Identity and Ethnicity in Peter Gabriel's Soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ Eftychia Papanikolaou365 18:On Reappreciating Kazantzakis Martin Scorsese386 Webliography Austin S. Lingerfelt389 Bibliography399 Contributors Index