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Film, Video Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America

Event video

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America

Summary

  • Jenna Weissman Joselit, a Princeton University professor who spent the summer as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the John W. Kluge Center, wrapped up her research with a lecture titled "Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America." While a scholar at the Kluge Center, Joselit conducted research in the Library's collections for her forthcoming book on the Ten Commandments. She investigated the variety of forms in which the Ten Commandments appeared in American culture, including synagogue and church architecture, Sunday school pageants and Cecil B. DeMille's legendary movies. According to Joselit, the Ten Commandments cast a long shadow over the body politic these days. Angry words about the appropriate role for the commandments in 21st century America fill the air as proponents and opponents square off. Have the Ten Commandments always been the stuff of controversy, or is this a new phenomenon--the consequence of a rapidly changing world? Joselit suggests that the Ten Commandments have long exercised the popular imagination, especially at the grassroots level. Throughout much of the mid-19th and 20th centuries, Americans of all stripes identified strongly with the Decalogue and the figure of Moses, incorporating them into the domestic sphere as well as the public square, into the nation's visual culture as well as its political rhetoric.

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • John W. Kluge Center (Library of Congress), sponsoring body

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2007-10-11.

Headings

  • -  Biography, History
  • -  Culture, Performing Arts
  • -  Education
  • -  Religion
  • -  Culture, Folklife
  • -  Literature

Notes

  • -  Classification: Education.
  • -  Classification: General Works.
  • -  Classification: History (General) and History of Europe.
  • -  Classification: Social Sciences.
  • -  Jenna Joselit.
  • -  Recorded on 2007-10-11.
  • -  Researchers.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021687887

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -10-11, 2007. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687887/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress & John W. Kluge Center, S. B. (2007) Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -10-11. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687887/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. Holy Moses! A Cultural History of the Ten Commandments in Modern America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -10-11, 2007. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021687887/>.