On CAPC: Exodus: Gods, Kings, and Evangelical Headcanon
Christians wreaked a lot of destruction in their ignorant/inconsistent critiques and praises of the recent Noah film.12
That’s what I suggest in my Tuesday article at Christ and Pop Culture. Now with Exodus: Gods and Kings and many other Bible movies on the way, I also suggest: can we not do that again?
This Christmas we’re getting another Bible epic film, Exodus: Gods and Kings, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Christian Bale as Moses. The teaser is intriguing, especially thanks to the spectacular closing shot of the Red Sea being parted as described in Exodus 14.
[…] When the Exodus teaser appeared, popular creation advocate/evangelist Ken Ham started early with the requisite Concern-sharing. I have been an overall fan of Answers In Genesis since before it was un-cool, but I find Ham’s posture toward popular culture inconsistent (occasionally Ham seems to slip up and show his inner geek). In his July 12 post, Ham said Exodus will “distort the truth and not be evangelistic,” perhaps reinforcing a made-up doctrine that truth-distortion and “failure to be evangelistic” are equivalent movie sins. Several commentators’ responses and Ham’s own July 21 follow-up also showed that many Christians who claim a movie “distorts the truth” are relying not on discernment but on assumptions that “movies must be family friendly” and plain old nostalgia.
[…] Are we sure we’re not confusing Scripture for our evangelical “headcanon” of its details?
Read the rest at Exodus: Gods, Kings, and Evangelical Headcanon.
- Read Austin Gunderon’s review here at SpecFaith: Judging Noah. ↩
- Also, other deadlines keep postponing my conclusion to the Avatars of Forgiveness article miniseries, about how the wonderful animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender portrays biblical repentance and forgiveness. I also need to portray this by repenting for my seventy-times-seven delays. ↩
What I wonder is if this version contributes anything besides modern CG-and-choreography fight scenes to what looks like ground already covered by The Ten Commandments. The reason The Prince of Egypt worked so well was that it covered the story from such a different angle than Cecil B DeMille did, taking a more interpersonal, relationshippy approach. Also, there’s an awful lot of white people in that trailer. Am I the only one who thinks that Rameses’s eyeliner just emphasizes how white he is?
Careful, Stephen. If you repent more than “seventy times seven” for your delay in finishing the Avatars of Forgiveness series, we are no longer required to forgive you. Jesus says. (Just saying.)