Where Christianity meets popular culture

 February 2025

What exactly is a 'Jesus Film'?

I think it’s best to cast the net widely. So, as well as feature-length films, I'm interested in any audio-visual recording that portrays Jesus, even if he is not the central character; these are sometimes called 'Jesus adjacent' films. Monty Python's The Life of Brian is a well-regarded Jesus-adjacent example: it describes the world around Jesus and aspects of Jesus' life, albeit with Brian as the main character. Jesus films also include films that tell part of Jesus’s life and even those that 'transpose' the biblical story to a modern setting - the musicals Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar are examples.

What is the significance and power of film?

Let's consider a Jesus film in its very simplest form - an individual narrating a biblical text to the camera. Watch David Rhoads delivering the Gospel of Mark. What's significant is the use of gesture, facial expressions, and posture - a performer making interpretative decisions to guide us in visualising a text 'externally'. With bigger productions involving various actors, sets, costuming, etc., we are provided with a contrast to our own 'internal' visualisations – the films we direct in our minds every time we read the Gospels – and so we’re obliged to engage afresh with the text and challenge our preconceptions, which is part of the power of film.

Surely Jesus Films are of widely varying quality - are you only interested in the good ones, or doesn’t this matter?

Quality ranges hugely. There are amazing films that get the facts wrong, and films true to the story that make you cringe artistically. But what interests me about Jesus Films is that their value isn't in direct relation to their quality. I’m not asking how well Jesus films teach us (in a didactic sense) but exploring how they constructively challenge us (in a disruptive sense). Which is something that all Jesus Films can do - regardless of their perceived ‘quality'.

In what way can Jesus Films enhance our spiritual practices?

Because they're dramatically powerful - and in a visual way, Jesus Films have a lot of pay-off. By challenging us to re-imagine stories and texts, they help us develop the ability to see in a different way. We realise we need to stay on our toes every time we read! We learn a valuable discipline that enriches our devotional time and Bible reading practice. 

You're publishing a book on Jesus Films - what's it called and when can we read it?

The book was co-written with my colleague, Jeannine Brown, and we’ve just submitted the manuscript to the publisher, Baker Academic. It’s called, The Greatest Story Ever Retold: Envisioning Jesus Narratives from Gospels to Film. It will be out in print in Spring 2026.

Alcohol in the Bible is the subject of your other upcoming book. How did you identify this niche?

I find I'm interested in under explored topics - and this is another one of them! There is good work already on alcohol in the Bible, but I'm interested in taking it a step further to highlight its nuance in Scripture from a biblical theology perspective. The Bible is soaked with references to alcohol: wine (most obviously), but also (I contend) beer. Our cultural taboos around alcohol mean that it tends to get overlooked as a subject of biblical study. Yet given its prominence in the Bible, to ignore would be an oversight.

From wine buffs to teetotallers - and everyone in between, who is your book aimed at?

All of the above! Just as a Catholic priest needs a robust 'Theology of Marriage', an understanding of alcohol in the Bible isn't only relevant to those who drink, but to any Bible lover. So, my book is neither aimed at wine lovers on one hand, nor abstainers on the other - I don’t trade on this dichotomy. I’m writing for a wide audience - anyone who wants to better understand a very relatable Biblical theme.

When can we expect your book, and what’s the title?

The book is called The Mountains Shall Drip Sweet Wine: A Biblical Theology of Alcohol and it is set to be out in print this October with Zondervan Academic.

To finish on a light-hearted note, does your research into wine/beer include ‘empirical’ methods?

Indeed! I brew my own beer and have been volunteering in a winery in Minnesota from which I’ve learned a great deal. I’m also quite into perfecting craft cocktails and various techniques, which is both an art and a science.