in the open space: God & culture

via dvdreleasedates.com This month, Ridley Scott’s  Exodus: Gods & Kings   came out on DVD. Below is a (slightly edited) reflection I wrote on the film in   a MWR column earlier this year : Last year, Ridley Scott’s  Exodus: Gods & Kings  capped off a year of biblical films. Like Darren Aronofsky’s  Noah , it is a Bible epic made by a director who has identified himself both as agnostic and atheist. Yet Scott’s approach to his story is very different from Aronofsky’s — and both reflect ways we believers approach Scripture, too. I enjoyed  Noah , particularly how   Aronofsky used midrash , an ancient Jewish approach to Scripture used to fill in narrative gaps in difficult or sparse passages with the goal to better understand them. While Noah has elements outside the Bible narrative, many of Aronof­sky’s choices are rooted in Jewish and biblical texts. He shows a respect for the narrative that ultimately helps us wrestle wit...