There’s been a lot of slamming of “The Bible” TV series on the History Channel the past couple of weeks–some of it by me (and here)–but let’s come at this from another angle, shall we? First, Roma Downey and company give a clear disclaimer at the beginning of each episode that they have adapted the Bible, with […]
Old Testament
Dear Lord, Please Make the ChristianMingle.com Commercials Stop (or, My Thoughts on Week 2 of “The Bible” on The History Channel)
Can we declare holy war on the ChristianMingle.com commercials? ChristianMingle.com doesn’t elevate dating to holy heights by bringing God into the picture. It belittles God because it uses him to try to baptize what amounts to an online version of The Bachelor. The whole concept of God taking time out from his busy schedule to […]
“The Bible” on the History Channel: Not the Absolute Train Wreck I Thought it Would Be
I’m not a big fan of seeing the Bible depicted in film. The biblical narratives have a lot holes in the storyline. To adapt the Bible to film, you have to invent dialogue, whole scenes, and compress other scenes to keep the story going. The locus classicus for this sort of thing is the granddaddy of […]
Trying to Believe in God (or, listening to your inner atheist)
I think I know more people who are trying to believe in God than people who actually do. Maybe I need to get out more often, or maybe I need to have a less selective group of conversation partners, but this is my experience. You go through your day hoping to catch a glimpse of […]
Reading Genesis: Let’s be Adult about this, Shall We.
Over a hundred years ago, German-and-therefore-easily-dismissible-Old-Testament-scholar Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932), the dapper gentleman pictured to the left, wrote the following about Genesis: A child, indeed, unable to distinguish between reality and poetry, loses something when it is told that its dearest stories are “not true.” But the modern theologian should be further developed. The evangelical churches […]