Panel: BIBLICAL INSIGHTS FROM CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES



126.5 - BIBLICAL MEMES - NOT JUST A FORM OF HUMOUR

AUTHORS:
Plichta P. (Jagiellonian University ~ Krakow ~ Poland)
Text:
Popular culture, by virtue of its blurred boundaries, contains and transforms everything, including what was once reserved exclusively for the religious sphere. This paper proposes a reflection on the use of biblical texts as material for memes. On the one hand, they represent a contemporary form of dissemination and promotion of biblical narratives. A project called 'Digital Bible' is one of many examples of a venture into social media. One editor wrote: 'The authors [of the Digital Bible] want to support the emergence of new translations and promote the reading of God's Word not only in book form, but also on social media in the form of memes. On the other hand, memes are becoming a weapon in polemics and disputes over ideology, worldview and morality. However, there is no shortage of memes created as mocking, playful commentaries on reality. Short quotations, 'golden thoughts' combined with interesting, artistic photographs, and out-of-context fragments juxtaposed with provocative or 'iconoclastic' scenes are all treated in a similar way to other elements of cultural heritage. Rhetorical and semiotic methods will be used to analyse selected examples of memes using biblical quotations and motifs in virtual space.