An accomplished biblical scholar here juxtaposes movies and New Testament themes to uncover the mythic dimensions of each and to explore the primary conflicts in American society.

Brandon Scott's sage and savvy analysis of more than fifty recent popular American movies, from Dirty Harry to Robocop 2, from Pretty Woman to Thelma and Louise, opens a unique slant on American mythology. He delves into the deepest dreams and perennial tensions in American culture: wealth and poverty, race relations, moral aloneness, the superhero and the solo redeemer, violence and war, the mythical West, relations of the sexes, and fears of the future. These portrayals in turn launch him into the chief themes and mythic elements in the New Testament. In the conversation and mutual criticism that his book engenders, Scott clarifies the values that contemporary culture and the Bible might bring to each other.