Centre for Religion and Public Life research seminar

This seminar will be delivered by Dr Katie Edwards (University of Sheffield).

In the Centre for Religion and Public Life research seminar Dr Katie Edwards (University of Sheffield) will be speaking about "Bad Romance? Representations of David and Bathsheba in Popular Culture and the Erasure of Sexual Violence". 

The biblical characters David and Bathsheba make up one of the most famous biblical ‘couples’. In popular culture retellings of the story their relationship is depicted as a touching romance. The text, however, tells us something much more sinister. This paper will look at filmic versions of the David and Bathsheba story to see how - and why - and tale of rape and violence is transformed by film-makers into a narrative fit for Valentine’s Day. Whose interests are being served in attempts to erase sexual violence from the biblical story?