in the open space: God & culture

Ken at COrthodoxy tagged me with a Bible Movie Meme started by Matt at Broadcast Depth . It asks you to name your three favorite “Bible movies” and one that you would like to see made. Heh, I’m taking some liberties on this one, and I’ll fully admit these aren’t the best ever made—just my favs (and not necessarily in order): Evan Almighty . This is not a Bible movie per se , but it is a modern spin on one: Noah and the Ark. One scene I absolutely loved in this film was when God (portrayed by Morgan Freeman) explains the story of Noah as a “love story.” And you can’t beat the scene of Evan and God dancing at the end of the film; it is a wonderful image of the desire of God to be with us in love and joy, and it still makes me smile to think about it. (See more of my thoughts on the film here .) Kings . This, too, isn’t a Bible movie per se —heh, for that matter, it’s not even a movie. But this short-lived television series (that was cancelled like a lot of other good series ) is direc...

"The premise of Kings is unlike that of anything else on TV: a reimagining of the biblical story of David, set in the modern world. Or an alternative version of it, where democracy never developed, where a King holds court in a skyscraper, where God speaks to man with signs and portents while man uses cell phones and the Internet." --James Poniewozik, Time Magazine NBC’s Kings —a series that takes place in a modern and alternate world and draws heavily on the biblical story of King David—premiered last night after weeks of speculation and discussion in both the mainstream and religious presses . Some folks like it. Some folks don’t. Either way, it is definitely bringing God-talk into open spaces. Personally, I’m finding the series interesting on several levels, from its connections to (and differences from) the biblical story to its revelations about who we are and why we do the things we do (something all good stories do). But for now, I’m leaving the exploration of the ...

Kings --NBC's alternate world drama that borrows liberally from the biblical story of King David--premieres tonight at 8:00 pm, and here's a little last minute reading if you're interested: Peter Chattaway writes up his interview with producer Michael Green at Canadian Christianity (with an interesting tidbit about a possible relationship between the world of Shiloh and this one), and follows it up with a few more tidbits on his FilmChatBlog (warning, there be spoilers there). Out of curiousity, after I read Chattaway's pieces, I googled "Kings," "NBC," and "news," , and come up with a heck of a lot more reading (much more than I can do, anyway). I don't think I've seen this many references to the Bible in the mainstream media (or this much interest in a television or film in the religious media, heh) since The DaVinci Code. Anyway, check out the above googlish link for more tidbits--like this article at Newsday , positive review...

This is a bit late, but Wednesday ComingSoon.net spilled a plethora of info about the upcoming NBC series, Kings (a series based on the story of the biblical King David set in a modern world). Of particular interest to me were these tidbits. —Creator Michael Green pitched the story to network execs and then let them know its source material once they were already sold on it. (Heh, Scripture really does have good stories to tell.) —Co-producer Francis Lawrence says “Because it's based on a biblical story, people say it's biblical and it's really not. It is actually more sci-fi . . .” And this from another ComingSoon post : Due to its biblical roots, there is a religious angle to the show that's certainly unique, but this certainly isn't God or religion being shoved down your throat, as that aspect of the show is mainly used to show parallels to our own country. In fact, some of the things that happen on the show might seem particularly eerie when you realize that...

NBC's Kings --which is based on the biblical story of King David set in a modern-day kingdom called Gilboa--is set to premiere next month. I caught a short teaser preview commercial on television tonight, so I Googled up the website and found a couple of other previews, all of which have got me very intrigued and ready to DVR this one. Check it out . Really. Also, for more info on the series, check out Matt Page's posts at BibleFilmsBlog . Update: I've tried several times to embed one of the previews here, but for some reason my browser keeps crashing, so you'll have to hoof it on over there yourself, heh. (Images: NBC) kingsctgy

The new NBC series Kings --a pseudo modern-day take on the story of the biblical King David--has been on this blogger's radar for a few months, and today I ran across an interview with exec producer Michael Green on SciFi Channel's site which expounded a bit further on the connection between the series and the biblical story of David as well as the element faith will play in the series: Green added that he enjoyed contemporizing the familiar story. "Taking these elements and thinking, 'What is Goliath in this world?'" he said. "And taking these touchstone elements that people do know from the story and bringing them to life in a new way. We are taking inspirations from the original Bible story, so it's very much a story of one king rising while another one falls. It's a way for me to tell Godfather -like stories or these operatic stories." But Green said the series is not literal in that he plays with the iconic story and that it veers into...