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

About

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.

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Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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