The holy family and its legacy : religious imagination from the Gospels to 'Star wars'

Why do biblical themes continue to have such an impact on the popular imagination?

Why did Mary-like mothers and Jesus-like sons play such a prominent role not only in the late Middle Ages and the Reformation, but also during the Enlightenment, in the 19th century with its faith in science, and even in our time, in movies such as "Terminator" and "Star Wars"?

Albrecht Koschorke suggests that the story of Jesus' birth has become a cultural code imbedded in secular society.

The anomalies of the Christian nativity - a present but non-biological father and an absent spiritual Father, for example - support the ideology of the state as a powerful and patriarchal determinant of society.

Ranging over two millennia of history and culture, Koschorke considers such thinkers as Freud, Weber, Rousseau and Kleist in an exploration that illuminates issues of historical, religious, artistic, psychological and cultural importance.