My thoughts on The Bible Series

Watching visual representations of Bible stories is always exciting for our family. I enjoy seeing how someone else envisions the unfolding drama and revelation of Scripture. It also helps me more vividly picture the era and landscape of each story. So I was thrilled to receive a review copy of The History Channel’s The Bible series in exchange for sharing my thoughts.

To boil down sixty-six books of the Bible into ten hours of television – is a daunting task. Here’s a few of my thoughts after watching this series (which we very much enjoyed):

Respectful representation of scripture – overall, I think the producers did a good job portraying events and narratives from the Bible. They showed spiritual and miraculous events in a way that does not trivialize them, or allow for “natural” explanation. Maybe I would have done certain things differently, but I can appreciate the dignity with which the Series was developed.

Visual representation brings the Bible to mainstream viewers – the concrete details of setting, character, dress, and lifestyles may help Bible readers who struggle to imagine how people lived thousands of years ago in a land (still) so very different from America. And, I am happy this series reached audiences who may have never read a page of the Bible before!

High quality production, filming, editing, and acting in The Bible is to be appreciated. This production was rich and detailed, and a lot of money was clearly invested in making this a top notch show.

Liberties with the Scripture…well, obviously nobody alive today was there, so producers would have to fill in the blanks a lot. I think overall scenes were true to the narrative, but at times there were clear errors in this series: the wise men showing up when Jesus was still a baby, Jesus entering the tomb at Lazarus’ resurrection, and calling Saul, “Paul” before his conversation experience.

The concept of “faith” as the way of salvation is fairly clear throughout The Bible, although the connection to Christ’s death on the cross as the atonement for sin was loosely drawn.

The actual biblical text certainly has events and scenes that are not “g-rated” …The Bible miniseries depicts a few historical battles and other scenes, which are not unwarranted, however, as with ALL tv viewing and book reading, I would advise parents preview first  to determine whether their children are old enough for viewing.

The best part for me, was seeing biblical characters come to life…as watch as they experienced what, to me, were familiar narratives. I have the blessing of knowing how the stories end, so it was new and refreshing to gain an appreciation for the deep faith of men and women of the Bible maintaining their faith amidst great adversities.

The Bible production brings scriptural narratives to life in a vivid way, even though constrained by a short time frame. I’m excited to see people engaging in conversations about the history of the Bible, and I think this series has raised awareness of a need for more Bible literacy.

Of course, as a Christian (and an English teacher), I have to add, definitely read the actual Bible too! But I’m happy people who have never opened the Bible may now be intrigued to find out the “rest of the story” for themselves!

Visit The Bible Miniseries to find the DVD, guidebooks, study guides and more resources!

I received a copy of The Bible free for my review. All opinions are 100% my own!