This is a powerful, modern-day, retelling of the Gospel story, most notably, Mark’s Gospel, or at least the critical version of Mark’s Gospel.

The setting is a modern-day nation in Africa (although the place names are biblical), in which the land is covered in war, strife, tribalism, and sectarianism. Opening with Mary being chased by rapists and war criminals, the beauty of the film first erupts as she sings the Magnificant after meeting an angel. Traveling ahead to the full-grown man, this Jesus is a young African with a group of friends, living in the decay of an occupied civilization.

It is subtitled, and the conversation sparse enough to keep up, but it is enticing, pulling you in as the Gospel story is retold in a Liberationist voice. Vibrant colors are used, but matched by the darkness of Satan in a manner which you may not suspect. As the film rushes to its conclusion, the viewer picks up the finer details and remembers major points of the Gospel story. The murder of the innocents, Bethlehem’s holocaust, is something that is seen and heard of daily, in our world, and graphically portrayed by the actors in brutal fashion. The miracle scenes are sparse, but when they arrive, they are powerful.

It does change, as to be expected, some plot details. Not all the disciples are men – some are women. This Jesus is not seen as a well-groomed, masculine man with a beard, but a young, soft-spoken radical. The antagonists are the expected African warlords, but what is difficult to come to terms with is the portrayal of Satan.

As the movie progresses, towards its known conclusion, it builds momentum, especially for those who think they know what is coming next. In a movie filled with changes and takes on the familiar story, the final one does justice to Mark’s Gospel. It would be unfair to speculate on the film maker’s vision here, but if Mark’s Gospel was an oral tradition before, then this conclusion and Mark’s critical conclusion are a powerful thump on the theologian’s chest concerning Jesus Christ.

The Judas Project (1993) attempted to retell the story of Jesus in a modern era, but this story attempts to draw the viewer into the cultural and political climate of the Gospels. It is filled with Liberationist and Imperial voices, taking into account many of the current themes in post-modern hermeneutics, and while it may not be the picturesque Jesus we are accustomed too, I believe that if a comparison of the climate in the Gospels’ thought world and any climate today, it would have to be told the way that this story was. It is powerful and provoking, and the more so with the conclusion.

The scenery, the music, the people make this movie a beautiful thing, but the story which is told encompasses so much more.

Guess what?

I have two What’s In the Bible DVD’s to giveaway.

Who want’s one? Leave a comment and I will announce the winner on Friday.

Oh, and Yes, I will ship international.

Oh, and here are some color pages for the kids!

Biblical Literacy is down in the United States. All too often, people simply ‘know’ already what is in the bible based on either their own experience or what someone else has told them. Because of this, and the dangers which are produced, professional groups such as the Society of Biblical Literature have joined an initiative to get biblical literacy into the public schools. Recognizing a need for the American public to be biblical literate, other people and groups are joining the effort. This is not about teaching the Christian religion, but about exploring the bible in a manner which helps to educate all about what the bible really says.

Remember Veggietales? I bet some of you are hearing the hairbrush song right now. Well, stop singing. I finally got it out of my head. Well, the creator of that which we shall not talk about, Phil Vischer, has created a new series which explores biblical literacy. Aimed at children of all ages, Tyndale House Publishers and Phil Vischer has brought the magic of Veggietales that which we shall not talk about again to the wonderful world of the child.

First, my kids – 7 and 5.10 – loved it. Watching the small preview, my daughter didn’t like it all that much, but when able to watch a few episodes, she enjoyed it. My 5 year old loved it. It is a mixture of live action and puppets. A few little animations thrown in as well. Building on the success of what made the previous Vischer project appeal to children, What’s in the Bible speaks to children. It is thoroughly Evangelical, but can be enjoyed by Christian children of the various other denominations. While they maintain the bible has 66 books, they do venture into Church History and Canon. It has a certain catchiness which I imagine that parents will thoroughly enjoy as their children sing the tunes and it becomes trapped in the heads of unsuspecting parents everywhere.

Filled with Phil Vischer’s characters, voices, and personality, What’s in the Bible is funny, delightful, and annoyingly corny. Of course, I am speaking as a 32 year old father, and I like annoyingly corny. I admit, I had to laugh a bit at a few of the antics and you know, in the world of computer animation, the reliance upon Jim Henson style story telling. I think that this purposeful move will help to catch the attention of onlookers because it is, well, suddenly modern.

Not only do they cover biblical literacy, but they cover a bit of Church History, as I said before. While they don’t go into fine detail, they do give children enough information to engender a further discussion. From my standpoint, their bit on the Canon is, well, breathtakingly honest and without polemics. Further, while they speak to the level of children, they don’t dumb it down. They use the words common to biblical scholarship – you know, Pentateuch and Septuagint. Don’t worry, its not over their head either.

All in all, it is an excellent start of a series which I believe could be a welcomed addition to a Sunday School, homeschool, or even an after-school curriculum. Oh, and for parents too.

I figured that since today is my stop on the Blog tour, I might as well as post a few of those videos concerning it:

Read the rest of this entry »

What? Haven’t heard of it? I watched the little intro a while ago, and found that my kids really enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to watching the completely Episodes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tyndale has produced, long ago, the Life Application Study Bible. Here, you can listen to a few mp3′s based in that series. If you are on Facebook, you can become a fan here.

You can catch my other reviews and interactions with Bibleworks 8 here.

Read the rest of this entry »

I found this version the other night on Amazon. For me, the Psalms of Solomon had greatly to the life of the New Testament Community, as I have explored before, and quite frankly, it is better devotional material than anything else you’ll find today. Plus, for .99cents for 36 minutes of reading, it’s not a bad deal. Oh, and if was anywhere else, trust me, you would get that link instead.

Biblioblogosphere beware! I will be reviewing and thus introducing the newest bible study software platform shortly.

Read the rest of this entry »

The English language is nothing without the Latin backdrop. Indeed, our theological language is nothing without Latin, so in a recent conversation about the ‘Incarnation,’ in which someone tried to separate manifestation from Incarnation, claiming that it was not biblical:

The Baha’i concept of Manifestation would match this perfectly, one doesn’t need incarnation which is unbiblical.

Read the rest of this entry »