Cultural depictions of Jesus - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

has inspired artistic and cultural works for nearly two millennia. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. These entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog. Lesser known works are not included.

For purposes of classification, popular culture music is a separate section from operas and oratorios

Oratórios

Oratórios is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Zona da Mata and to the microregion of Ponte Nova.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...

. Television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

covers live action series, TV movies, miniseries

Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

, and North American

North American

North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...

animation but not Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

, which appears with manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

and graphic novels.

Art

There has been a long tradition of featuring Jesus in paintings and sculpture, ranging from the Roman catacombs and the conservative icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

tradition of the Orthodox

Orthodox Christianity

The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

world through medieval altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

s to modern acrylics. Many images depict the Life and Passion of Christ, especially the Crucifixion of Christ, whilst others show the infant Christ with his mother (Madonna and Child) or Christ in Majesty

Christ in Majesty

Christ in Majesty, or Christ in Glory, in Latin Majestas Domini, is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whose membership changes over time and according to...

. Many of the most famous paintings in Western art feature Christ. The tradition continues in professional and folk art

Folk art

Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....

in many countries, as well as popular commercial imagery. Most images, whatever their origins, (as left) keep fairly close to the conventional appearance (and clothing) of Christ established in Byzantine art

Byzantine art

Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....

by about 400AD, which is now instantly recognisable.

The Reformed churches

Reformed churches

The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...

, which grew out of the teaching of Huldrych Zwingli

Huldrych Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...

, John Calvin

John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

, and others, traditionally reject depictions of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

as a form of idolatry

Idolatry

Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...

(cf the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

Books

According to Mary Magdalene
According to Mary Magdalene
According to Mary Magdalene is a novel by the Swedish novelist Marianne Fredriksson. It attempts to portray the life of the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene as told by herself. The author claims to have based the book on Gnostic manuscripts, such as the Gospel of Mary, that were discovered in...

by Marianne Fredriksson
Marianne Fredriksson
Marianne Fredriksson, née Persson was a Swedish author who worked and lived in Roslagen and Stockholm...

(1999)
All Who Came Before by Simon Perry (2011)
Behold the Man
Behold the Man
Behold the Man is a science fiction novel by Michael Moorcock. It originally appeared as a novella in a 1966 issue of New Worlds; later, Moorcock produced an expanded version which was first published in 1969 by Allison & Busby.. The title derives from the Gospel of John, Chapter 19, Verse 5:...

by Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

(1966)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Ben-Hur (novel)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published on November 12, 1880 by Harper & Brothers. Considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century", it was the best-selling American novel from the time of its publication, superseding Harriet Beecher Stowe's...

by Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace
Lewis "Lew" Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesman, politician and author...

(1880)
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman is a 1959 American film directed by Frank Borzage about the later life of Peter, one of the closest disciples of Jesus.The film is adapted from a novel written by Lloyd C. Douglas...

by Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd Cassel Douglas born Doya C. Douglas, was an American minister and author.He was born in Columbia City, Indiana, spent part of his boyhood in Monroeville, Indiana, Wilmot, Indiana and Florence, Kentucky, where his father, Alexander Jackson Douglas, was pastor of the Hopeful Lutheran Church...

(1959)
The Bronze Bow
The Bronze Bow
The Bronze Bow is a book by Elizabeth George Speare that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1962.-Plot summary:This book is set in first century Judaea...

by Elizabeth George Speare
Elizabeth George Speare
Elizabeth George Speare was an American children's author who won many awards for her historical fiction novels, including two Newbery Medals. She has been called one of America’s 100 most popular children’s authors and much of her work has become mandatory reading in many schools throughout the...

(1961)
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...

by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....

(1880)
Casca: The Eternal Mercenary
Casca (series)
Casca is a series of paperback novels, created and written by author Barry Sadler in 1979. The stories revolve around the life of Casca Rufio Longinus, a soldier in the Roman legions who is cursed by Christ on Golgotha for driving a spear into him...

by Barry Sadler
Barry Sadler
Barry Sadler was an American soldier, author and musician. Sadler served as a Green Beret medic with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War...

(1979)
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is a book by Anne Rice that depicts the life of Jesus Christ at the age of 7 to 8. Rice wrote the novel after returning to the Catholic Church in 1998.-Reviews:...

by Anne Rice
Anne Rice
Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history...

(2005)
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana is a novel depicting the life of Jesus, written by Anne Rice and released in 2008. It is the sequel to Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and is part of a proposed four-part series about the life of Jesus.-Reviews:...

by Anne Rice (2008)
The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop
Jim Bishop
James Alonzo "Jim" Bishop was an American journalist and author.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he dropped out of school after eighth grade. In 1923, he studied typing, shorthand and bookkeeping, and in 1929 began work as a copy boy at the New York Daily News...

(1957)
The Day Christ Was Born by Jim Bishop (1960)
The Desire of Ages
The Desire of Ages
The Desire of Ages is a book about the life of Jesus Christ authored by Seventh-day Adventist pioneer, Ellen G. White. It was first published in 1898. It is part of her five volume Conflict of the Ages series, a devotional commentary spanning Bible history from Genesis to the second coming of...

by Ellen G. White
Ellen G. White
Ellen Gould White was a prolific author and an American Christian pioneer. She, along with other Sabbatarian Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, would form what is now known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Ellen White reported to her fellow believers her...

(1898)
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a novel by Philip Pullman. Published in 2010 by Canongate Books, as part of the Canongate Myth Series, it retells the story of Jesus as if he were two people, brothers, "Jesus" and "Christ," with contrasting personalities; Jesus being a moral and godly...

by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

(2010)
Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...

(1986)
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ is a novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago. A fictional re-telling of Jesus Christ's life, it depicts him as a flawed, humanised character with passions and doubts...

by José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...

(1991)
The Gospel According to the Son
The Gospel According to the Son
The Gospel According to the Son is a 1997 novel by Norman Mailer. It purports to be the story of Jesus Christ, told autobiographically.-Plot summary:...

by Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...

(1999)
The Gospel of Aphranius by Kiril Yeskov (1996)
The Gospel of Corax
The Gospel of Corax
The Gospel of Corax is a 1996 novel by Paul Park about an escaped Roman slave who travels from Caesarea to India with a burly Essene man named Jeshua....

by Paul Park
Paul Park
Paul Park is an American science fiction author and fantasy author. He lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children. He teaches a course in reading and writing science fiction at Williams College...

(1996)
The Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

by various writers
I, Judas by Taylor Caldwell
Taylor Caldwell
Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell was an Anglo-American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction, also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback....

with Jess Stearn
Jess Stearn
Jess Stearn , born in Syracuse, New York, was a journalist and author of more than thirty books, nine of which were bestsellers. He was a prize-winning reporter for the New York Daily News for 17 years, and was later an Associate Editor at Newsweek...

(1977)
Jesus Video
Jesus Video
Jesus Video is a 1997 novel by German writer Andreas Eschbach. Its plot revolves around the search for a hidden video camera that is believed to hold digital footage of Jesus made by a time traveller....

by Andreas Eschbach
Andreas Eschbach
Andreas Eschbach is a German writer who mostly writes science fiction. Even if some of his stories do not exactly fall into the SF genre, they usually feature elements of the fantastic.- Biography :...

(1997)
Judas Iscariot by Leonid Andreev
Judas, My Brother
Judas, My Brother
Judas, My Brother: The Story of the Thirteenth Disciple is a 1968 historical novel by Frank Yerby. The novel provides a narrative attempting a demythologized account of the events surrounding the life of Jesus and the origin of Christianity....

by Frank Yerby
Frank Yerby
Frank Garvin Yerby was an African American historical novelist. He is best known as the first African American writer to become a millionaire from his pen, and to have a book purchased by a Hollywood studio for a film adaptation.-Early life:...

(1964)
King Jesus
King Jesus
King Jesus is a semi-historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1946. The novel treats Jesus not as the son of God, but rather as a philosopher with a legitimate claim to the Judaean throne through Herod the Great, as well as the Davidic monarchy; and treats numerous Biblical stories in...

by Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...

(1947)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is the sixth novel by absurdist author Christopher Moore, published in 2002. In this work the author seeks to fill in the "lost" years of Jesus through the point of view of Jesus' childhood pal, "Levi bar Alphaeus who is called Biff".The...

by Christopher Moore (2001)
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Last Temptation of Christ is a novel written by Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1953. It was first published in English in 1960. It follows the life of Jesus Christ from his perspective...

by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus...

(1951)
Live from Golgotha: The Gospel according to Gore Vidal
Live from Golgotha: the Gospel according to Gore Vidal
The novel Live from Golgotha: the Gospel according to Gore Vidal is an irreverent spoof of the New Testament written by Gore Vidal. Told from the perspective of Saint Timothy as he travels with Saint Paul, the 1992 novel shifts in time as Timothy and Paul combat a mysterious hacker from the future...

by Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...

(1992)
The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a...

by Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...

(1967)
Memnoch the Devil
Memnoch the Devil
Memnoch the Devil is the fifth novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, following The Tale of the Body Thief. Some of the themes of this novel and in large part the title are re-borrowed from the old Irish gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer.In this story, Lestat is approached by the Devil...

by Anne Rice
Anne Rice
Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history...

(1995)
My Name Was Judas by C. K. Stead
C. K. Stead
Christian Karlson Stead, ONZ, CBE is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism....

(2006)
The Nazarene by Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch, born Szalom Asz , also written Shalom Asch was a Polish-born American Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language.-Life and work:...

(1939)
Only Begotten Daughter
Only Begotten Daughter
Only Begotten Daughter is a 1990 fantasy novel written by James Morrow, setting the stage for his later Godhead Trilogy. The book shared the 1991 World Fantasy Award with Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1990, and both the Locus and...

(1990) and The Godhead Trilogy (1994–1999) by James Morrow
James Morrow
James Morrow is a fiction author. A self-described "scientific humanist", his work satirises organized religion and elements of humanism and atheism....
Quarantine
Quarantine (Jim Crace novel)
Quarantine is a novel by Jim Crace. It was the winner of the 1997 Whitbread Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction the same year.-Plot summary:Set in the Judean desert, 2000 years ago...

by Jim Crace
Jim Crace
James "Jim" Crace is a contemporary English writer. The winner of numerous awards, Crace also has a large popular following. He currently lives in the Moseley area of Birmingham with his wife...

(1997)
Riverworld
Riverworld
Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer . Riverworld is an artificial environment where all humans are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods...

by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
The Robe
The Robe
The Robe is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list in October 1942, and four weeks later rose to No. 1. It held the position for nearly a year...

by Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd Cassel Douglas born Doya C. Douglas, was an American minister and author.He was born in Columbia City, Indiana, spent part of his boyhood in Monroeville, Indiana, Wilmot, Indiana and Florence, Kentucky, where his father, Alexander Jackson Douglas, was pastor of the Hopeful Lutheran Church...

(1942)
The Secret Magdalene
The Secret Magdalene
The Secret Magdalene, American novelist and screenwriter Ki Longfellow's third book, was first published in March 2005 by a small Vermont publishing company called Eio Books...

by Ki Longfellow
Ki Longfellow
Ki Longfellow is an American novelist, playwright, theatrical producer, theater director and entrepreneur. In Britain, as the widow of Vivian Stanshall, she is well known as the guardian of his artistic heritage, but elsewhere she is best known for her own work, especially the novel The Secret...

(2005)
Testament by Nino Ricci
Nino Ricci
Nino Ricci is a Canadian novelist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Leamington, Ontario to Italian immigrants, Virginio and Amelia Ricci, from the province of Isernia, Molise....

(2002)
The Urantia Book Authorship assisted by William S. Sadler
William S. Sadler
William Samuel Sadler was a well-known American psychiatrist and professor at McCormick Theological Seminary. For over sixty years he practiced medicine in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Lena Kellogg....

(1955)
The Wild Girl
The Wild Girl
The Wild Girl is a 1984 novel by Michèle Roberts. This work tells a fictional story about the discovery of an apocryphal fifth Gospel in Provence, France. This gospel tells the tale of Jesus Christ and the period before his crucifiction, known as the Passion, from the perspective of Mary Magdalene...

aka The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Michèle Roberts
Michèle Roberts
Michèle Brigitte Roberts is a British writer, novelist and poet. Roberts was the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother and English Protestant father ; she has dual UK-France nationality.-Early life:She was raised in Edgware, Middlesex and educated at a convent, expecting to become a nun,...

(1984)
Yahushuwa`: A Midrash by Edmund Camacho (2007)
A Time for Judas
A Time for Judas
A Time for Judas is a novel by Canadian author Morley Callaghan, published by Macmillan of Canada in 1983. It tells the story of a man in modern times who discovers tablets written by a scribe named Philo of Crete or Philo the Greek. In the story, these tablets are from the time of Jesus and are...

by Morley Callaghan
Morley Callaghan
Morley Callaghan, was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, TV and radio personality.-Biography:...

(1983)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...

by Fulton Oursler
Fulton Oursler
Charles Fulton Oursler was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an notable author of mysteries and detective fiction.-Life:...

(1949)

Music

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

has remained a strong pop element in the music of religious America, of which Jesus is a frequent topic.

There have been significant (and successful) attempts to incorporate Jesus in current popular music trends, from rock to hip-hop. This incorporation happens on three different levels:

Bands or artists who focus almost entirely on Jesus/Christianity. Most of these bands are in support of it, and their music will almost always deal with spiritual themes. A few detractors may critique, attack, or ridicule Christianity and Jesus.
Songs that deal with Jesus/Christianity. Bands or artists may not be religious at all, but they will still produce a song (or songs) in reference to Jesus. The songs may deal with Jesus/Christianity in a positive light (e.g., "Have A Talk With God" by Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

), a negative light (e.g., "Heresy" by Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

or the slogan used by the Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...

band Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...

who used the slogan "Jesus died for his own sins, not mine"), or just as a tool to help provide commentary on modern society (e.g., "Jesusland" by Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...

).

Film

The biblical epic

Epic film

An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...

was a popular genre in the early-to-mid-20th century, usually accompanied by towering budgets and big-name actors. The ensuing decade brought an attempt by a major studio to produce a religious epic in which the Christ Event was its singular focus. MGM released King of Kings in 1961, inspired by Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...

`s 1927 film The King of Kings.

Four years later, The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...

, directed by George Stevens, was completed for $25 million. Though Max von Sydow

Max von Sydow

Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...

's performance as Christ was praised, the film fared poorly at the box office. Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....

's 1977 film Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth (film)

Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television mini-series dramatising the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels....

was a highly praised television miniseries, but stood as the last major Hollywood production of Christ's life for nearly a decade.

It wasn’t until 1988 that another major studio took a gamble on a movie involving the life of Jesus, but this one involved a new wrinkle. Universal released The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the controversial 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. It stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, David Bowie as...

amidst protests.

In 2004, Academy Award winning director Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

made the blockbuster film The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

which became one of the highest grossing movies of 2004, and the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. Jim Caviezel was portrayed as Jesus.

{| class={| class="wikitable sortable"
! width="8%" | Date
! width="20%" | Title
! width="10%" | Country
! width="53%" | Notes
! width="5% | IMDB
|- valign="top"
|1898
|The Passion Play of Oberammergau
|USA
|Early black-and-white silent film, directed by Henry C. Vincent, starring Frank Russell as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151913/
|- valign="top"
|1911
|Jésus de Nazareth
|France
|Early black-and-white silent film, directed by André Calmettes and Henri Desfontaines
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463545/
|- valign="top"
|1912
|From the Manger to the Cross

From the Manger to the Cross

From the Manger to the Cross or Jesus of Nazareth is a 1912 American motion picture filmed on location in Palestine which tells the story of Jesus' life. Directed by Sidney Olcott who also appeared in the film, actress and screenwriter Gene Gauntier wrote the script and portrayed the Virgin Mary...

|USA
|Black-and-white silent film, filmed in Palestine; directed by Sidney Olcott

Sidney Olcott

Sidney Olcott was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter.-Biography:Born John Sidney Alcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great directors of the motion picture business...

The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...

H. B. Warner

H. B. Warner was a British actor.-Early life:He was born Henry Byron Charles Stewart Warner-Lickford in St John's Wood, London, England in 1875...

The Robe (film)

The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...

Ben-Hur (1959 film)

Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...

Macdonald Carey

Edward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of our Lives...

Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....

; starring Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055047/
|- valign="top"
|1964
|Il vangelo secondo Matteo

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film)

The Gospel According to St. Matthew is a 1964 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection....

|Italy / France
|Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...

; starring Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058715/
|- valign="top"
|1964
|Scorpio Rising

Scorpio Rising (film)

Scorpio Rising is a 1964 experimental film by Kenneth Anger, starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Themes central to the film include the occult, biker subculture, Catholicism and Nazism; the film also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, namely James Dean and Marlon Brando...

|USA
|A short, low-budget film directed by Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...

, with archival footage from The Last Journey to Jerusalem
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058555/
|- valign="top"
|1965
|The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told

|USA
|Directed by George Stevens

George Stevens

George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...

, David Lean

David Lean

Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...

, and Jean Negulesco

Jean Negulesco

Jean Negulesco was a Romanian-born American film director and screenwriter....

, starring Max von Sydow

Max von Sydow

Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059245/
|- valign="top"
|1971
|Johnny Got His Gun

Johnny Got His Gun

Johnny Got His Gun is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumboand published by J. B. Lippincott company.-Plot:...

|USA
|Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland

Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...

portrays Jesus in a dream sequence
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/
|- valign="top"
|1973
|Godspell

Godspell (film)

Godspell, released in 1973, is the film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical Godspell created by John-Michael Tebelak.Set in modern New York City, the film stars Victor Garber as Jesus and David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas...

|USA
|Directed by David Greene

David Greene (director)

L. David Syms-Greene , born Lucius David Syms Brian Lederman, was a British television director from Manchester, England, who emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1953, where he trained in television production with the CBC, and then moved on to Hollywood, California.Greene's career began as a stage...

, Jesus is portrayed by Victor Garber

Victor Garber

Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jesus in Godspell, Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Early life:Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Garber is...

|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070121/
|- valign="top"
|1973
|The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus

The Gospel Road

The Gospel Road is a double album and the fourth gospel album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1973 . It is the soundtrack to the film of the same name released by Twentieth Century Fox. The movie and the soundtrack tell the story of the life of Jesus. It...

|USA
|Robert Elfstrom was both the director and the actor portraying Jesus; Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

provided the music for the film
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070125/
|- valign="top"
|1973
|Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar (film)

Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1973 American film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera of the same name. Directed by Norman Jewison, the film centers on the conflict between Judas and Jesus during the last weeks before the crucifixion of Jesus...

|USA
|Film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

opera, with Ted Neeley

Ted Neeley

Ted Neeley is a rock and roll drummer, singer, actor, composer, and record producer. He is probably best known for performing the title role in the film Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973....

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...

. Numerous depictions of Christ and Christian iconography.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071615/
|- valign="top"
|1979
|Monty Python's Life of Brian

Monty Python's Life of Brian

Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

Jeff East

Jeff East is an American actor. His best-known role is in the 1978 hit film Superman as the teenage Clark Kent.-Film and television credits:...

as Joseph
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079535/
|- valign="top"
|1979
|Jesus

Jesus (1979 film)

Jesus , is a 1979 motion picture which depicts the life of Jesus Christ according primarily to the Gospel of Luke in the Bible...

|UK/Australia/USA
|Directed by John Krish and Peter Sykes; starring Brian Deacon

Brian Deacon

Brian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...

History of the World, Part I

History of the World, Part I is a 1981 comedy film written, produced, and directed by Mel Brooks. Brooks also stars in the film, playing five roles: Moses, Comicus the stand-up philosopher, Tomás de Torquemada, King Louis XVI, and Jacques, le garçon de pisse...

|USA
|Comedy directed by Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

; Jesus is portrayed by John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

|USA
|Directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

, starring Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/
|- valign="top"
|1988
|The Seventh Sign

The Seventh Sign

The Seventh Sign is a 1988 apocalyptic drama film written by Clifford and Ellen Green and directed by Carl Schultz.-Plot:Signs of the apocalypse are appearing, along with a mysterious wanderer. Father Lucci is the Vatican official investigating them...

|USA
|Directed by Carl Schultz; Jürgen Prochnow

Jürgen Prochnow

Jürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096073/
|- valign="top"
|1989
|Jesus of Montreal

Jesus of Montreal

-Plot and allegory:The film centers on a group of actors in Montreal, Canada who are gathered by Daniel, an actor hired by a Roman Catholic site of pilgrimage to present a Passion play in its gardens....

|Canada / France
|Directed by Denys Arcand

Denys Arcand

Georges-Henri Denys Arcand, is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. He has won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2004 for The Barbarian Invasions...

|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097635/
|- valign="top"
|1996
|Kristo

Kristo (1996 film)

Kristo is a 1996 Filipino film based on the Gospel of John, Kristo is a Filipino cinematic interpretation of the life of Jesus Christ. Produced in 1996 by Cine Suerte Productions and Oasis of Love Movement Kristo is a 1996 Filipino film based on the Gospel of John, Kristo is a Filipino cinematic...

|Philippines
|Directed by Ben Yalung starring Mat Ranillo III as Jesus. The costumes, music, design and overall feel are all adapted to a local setting in Malay-influenced, pre-Hispanic Philippines.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450790/
|- valign="top"
|1997
|Matthew
|USA/South Africa
|Directed by Reghardt van den Bergh starring Bruce Marchiano as Jesus. All narration and dialogue is taken word-for-word from the New International Version of the New Testament Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301359/
|- valign="top"
|1997
|Orgazmo

Orgazmo

Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...

Hal Hartley

Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...

, starring Martin Donovan

Martin Donovan

Martin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167059/
|- valign="top"
|1999
|Superstar

Superstar (film)

Superstar is a 1999 comedy film and Saturday Night Live spin-off about a quirky, socially inept girl named Mary Katherine Gallagher. The character was created by SNL star Molly Shannon and appeared as a recurring character on SNL in numerous skits. The story follows Mary Katherine trying to find...

|USA
|Directed by Bruce McCulloch

Bruce McCulloch

Bruce Ian McCulloch is a Canadian actor, writer, comedian, and film director. McCulloch is best known for his work as a member of The Kids in the Hall, a popular Canadian comedy troupe, and as a writer for Saturday Night Live. McCulloch has also appeared on series such as Twitch City and Gilmore...

; Jesus is portrayed by Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell

John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...

|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167427/
|- valign="top"
|1999
|South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 animated musical comedy film based on the animated television series South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The film was directed by Parker, who also stars along with the rest of the regular voice cast from the series, including Stone, Mary...

Jesus' Son

Jesus' Son is a 1999 film that was adapted from a collection of short stories of the same name by Denis Johnson. It stars Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, Dennis Hopper, Denis Leary, Will Patton, John Ventimiglia, Michael Shannon and Jack Black...

Dogma (film)

Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

|USA
|Buddy Christ

Buddy Christ

Buddy Christ is a parody religious icon in the film Dogma. In the film, he is part of a campaign to renew the image of the Catholic Church. Viewing the crucifix image as "wholly depressing," the Church, led by Cardinal Glick decides to retire it, and creates Buddy Christ as a more uplifting...

is created as an icon to help revitalize the Catholic Church.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120655/
|- valign="top"
|1999
|Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary, Mother of Jesus (film)

Mary, Mother of Jesus is a made-for-television Biblical film that retells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother. It stars Swedish Pernilla August and Melinda Kinnaman as Mary, David Threlfall as Joseph and Christian Bale as Jesus. The film was produced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver...

|USA
|A made-for-television Biblical film that retells the story of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

through the eyes of Mary, his mother. It stars Pernilla August

Pernilla August

Pernilla August is a Swedish actress, director and script-writer. Being one of Sweden's leading actresses and a long time collaborator with director Ingmar Bergman, she won the Best Actress Award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival for her role in his The Best Intentions...

as Mary and Christian Bale

Christian Bale

Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....

as Jesus. This is produced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, DSG a member of the Kennedy family, sister to President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, was the founder in 1962 of Camp Shriver, and in 1968, the Special Olympics...

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

as the voice of Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208298/
|- valign="top"
|2001
|Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is a 2001 cult film from Odessa Filmworks which deals with Jesus' modern-day struggle to protect the lesbians of Ottawa, Canada, from vampires with the help of Mexican wrestler El Santo .This film earned an...

|Canada
|Directed by Lee Demarbre

Lee Demarbre

Lee Gordon Demarbre is a Canadian cult film maker. As the president and key person in the Ottawa, Ontario based Odessa Filmworks production company, he has led the creation of several internationally-shown films such as Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace and Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.Demarbre...

, Jesus is called upon to aid humanity against a vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

scourge
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/
|- valign="top"
|2003
|The Gospel of John

The Gospel of John (film)

The Gospel of John is a 2003 film that is the story of Jesus' life as recounted by the Gospel of John. It is a motion picture that has been adapted for the screen on a word-for-word basis from the American Bible Society's Good News Bible...

|Canada / UK / USA
|Directed by Philip Saville

Philip Saville

Philip Saville is a British television direction and screenwriting from the late 1950s...

; starring Henry Ian Cusick

Henry Ian Cusick

Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377992/
|- valign="top"
|2003
|The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey

The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey

The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey is a movie version of the first two books in the Book of Mormon. Gary Rogers directed the movie from a screenplay written by himself and Craig Clyde...

|USA
|Directed by Gary Rogers; shows the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

view of Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349159/
|- valign="top"
|2004
|The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ

|USA
|Directed by Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

, starring Jim Caviezel

James Caviezel

James Patrick Caviezel, Jr. is an American film actor, usually credited as Jim Caviezel. He is known for the roles of Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte...

; portrays the final 17 hours in the life of Jesus.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/
|- valign="top"
|2006
|World Trade Center

World Trade Center (film)

World Trade Center is a 2006 American disaster-drama film directed by Oliver Stone and based on the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. It stars Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. The film was shot from October 19, 2005 - February 10, 2006...

The Nativity Story

The Nativity Story is a 2006 drama film based on the nativity of Jesus starring Keisha Castle-Hughes and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Filming began on May 1, 2006 in Matera, Italy and in Morocco. New Line Cinema released it on December 1, 2006 in the United States and one week later on December 8 in the...

|USA
|Retells the Biblical account of the nativity of Jesus

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....

, following the story of Mary and Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

until the birth of Jesus occurs.
|http://imdb.com/title/tt0762121/
|- valign="top"
|2006
|Color of the Cross

Color of the Cross

Color of the Cross is a 2006 religious film written by, directed by, and starring Jean-Claude La Marre.The film is one of the few depictions of Christ as a black man, and portrays Jesus' persecution as the result of racism.-Plot:...

|USA
|Jean-Claude La Marre

Jean-Claude La Marre

Jean-Claude La Marre is a Haitian-American writer, director, and film and television actor. His film credits include Malcolm X, Dead Presidents, Gang of Roses and Go For Broke. On television, he has guest-starred on New York Undercover, Law & Order, and NYPD Blue...

both directs the film and stars as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760160/
|- valign="top"
|2006
|Son of Man

Son of Man (film)

Son of Man is a 2005 movie directed by South African director Mark Dornford-May. It was the first South African movie to make its debut at Sundance Film Festival.-Plot:...

The Nativity Story

Hamlet 2

Hamlet 2 is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Andrew Fleming, written by Fleming and Pam Brady, and starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, and David Arquette. It was produced by Eric Eisner, Leonid Rozhetskin, and Aaron Ryder. Hamlet 2 was filmed primarily at a high school in...

|USA
|Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan

Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...

plays a high school theatre teacher who portrays Jesus in a school play.
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104733/
|- valign="top"
|2008
|The Messiah

The Messiah (Iranian film)

Mesih, more commonly and officially referred to as The Messiah, but also referred to as 'Jesus', "Good Tidings of the Savior" in Persian, 'Jesus, the Spirit of God', 'Messia' is a 2008 film from the Islamic Republic of Iran, directed by Nader Talebzadeh, depicting the life of Jesus from an...

|Iran
|Retells the Islamic view of Jesus. A film directed by Nader Talebzadeh, and starring Rennie Schembri as Ahmad Soleimani Nia
|http://cmi.irib.ir/messiah/
|- valign="top"
|2008
|Anno Domini XXXIII
|Malta
|Retells the Biblical account of the passion of Jesus Christ. A film directed by Melvin Schembri and starring Rennie Schembri as Jesus
|
|- valign="top"
|}

Television movies

{| cellpadding="2"
|-
|}
{| class={| class="wikitable sortable"
! width="8%" | Date
! width="20%" | Title
! width="10%" | Country
! width="53%" | Notes
! width="5% | IMDB
|- valign="top"
|1980
|The Day Christ Died
|USA
|Directed by James Cellan Jones, starring Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon is an American actor who was married to actress Susan Sarandon between 1968 and 1979. He is best known for playing Prince Humperdinck in the film The Princess Bride, the vampire Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night and Detective Mike Norris in the first entry of the Child's Play series,...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080595/
|- valign="top"
|1999
|Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary, Mother of Jesus (film)

Ben Hur (2003 film)

Ben Hur is a 2003 animated film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace. It is the fourth film adaptation of the novel....

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

The Lost Tomb of Jesus is a documentary co-produced and first broadcast on the Discovery Channel and Vision TV in Canada on March 4, 2007, covering the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb. It was directed by Canadian documentary and film maker Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Felix Golubev and Ric...

|USA
|Simcha Jacobovici

Simcha Jacobovici

Simcha Jacobovici is a Canadian film director, producer, free-lance journalist, and writer. He is a three-times Emmy winner for Outstanding Investigative Journalism....

stars in this documentary about the supposed findings of the Jesus family tomb. The film dramatizes certain scenes in the Bible to depict Jesus both as a husband and a father.
|}

Miniseries

{| cellpadding="2"
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable"
! Date
! Title
! Country
! Notes
! IMDB
|- valign="top"
|1977
|Jesus of Nazareth
|Italy / UK
|TV miniseries, starring Robert Powell

Robert Powell

Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...

as Jesus
|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075520/
|- valign="top"
|1999
|Jesus

Jesus (1999 film)

Jesus is a Biblical telefilm that retells the story of Jesus. It was shot in Morocco and Malta. It stars Jeremy Sisto as Jesus, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary of Nazareth, Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate.-Overview:...

|Czech Republic / Italy / Germany / USA
|TV miniseries, starring Jeremy Sisto

Jeremy Sisto

Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...

as Jesus
|http://imdb.com/title/tt0199232/
|}

Theatre

Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
Cotton Patch Gospel
Cotton patch gospel
Cotton Patch Gospel is a musical by Tom Key and Russell Treyz with music and lyrics written by Harry Chapin just before his death in 1981...
!Hero the Rock Opera
!Hero
!HERO is a rock opera about Jesus. It is based on the question, "What if Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania?". After the original tour in 2003 ended, it was released on DVD, CD, and was written into a trilogy of novels and series of comic books....

Audio dramas

The Man Born to be King
The Man Born to be King
The Man Born to Be King is a radio drama based on the life of Jesus, produced and broadcast by the BBC during the Second World War. It is a play cycle consisting of twelve plays depicting specific periods in Jesus' life, from the events surrounding his birth to his death and resurrection...

(1941)
Adventures in Odyssey
Adventures in Odyssey
Adventures in Odyssey , or simply Odyssey, is an Evangelical Christian-themed radio drama/comedy series created by Focus on the Family in 1987. The show's daily audience averages around 1.2 million within North America. The Odyssey series also includes several spin-off items, including a home-video...

, in episodes #66, #67, #137, #141, #176, #177, #183, #226, #227, #232, #302, #304, #305, #345, #346, #383, #389, #404, #413, #425, #439, #461, & #499