The Gospel Coalition has often functioned as a secular media critic for writers who could not make it in secular media. None of their writers embody this more than Brett McCracken who has fancied himself a movie critic and doesn’t have taste. The Gospel Coalition’s endorsement of Amazon’s House of David is a glaring red flag for a ministry supposedly contending for the faith online.
Brett McCracken writes ‘House of David’ and the Rise of Quality Bible TV which is a glowing review of Amazon’s bastardization of the Biblical text.
Fans of The Chosen will find much to like in House of David, even as those inclined to dislike The Chosen will probably dislike House of David for the same reasons.
What works for both shows is the long-form, multiseason television show canvas, which gives iconic biblical characters breathing room to be rendered in textured brushstrokes rather than flannelgraph one-dimensionality. Amazon, which this month announced its exclusive streaming rights to The Chosen’s new season, clearly recognizes that this multiseason show format—more than the compressed limitations of a feature film—is a winning recipe for biblical material to go deeper and wider on screen.
But the flip side of this strength is a vulnerability that exposes these shows to frequent critique. How do you create relatable, fleshed-out characters out of people only mentioned in a few verses of biblical text? You have to speculate. And how do you fill in the narrative gaps in a way that’s plausible, compelling, and not contradictory to what is in Scripture? It’s a tough balance to strike, but Erwin’s House of David does a commendable job of being both narratively interesting and biblically faithful.
It was actually The Gospel Coalition’s comparison to The Chosen that gave the show a bad impression to me. But as far as television goes, House of David is miles better than The Chosen. That aside, However, House of David is more obvious about not being faithful, to some degree.
The narrative choice to make David a bastard is one that contradicts Scripture and makes his descendants unclean. It stems from a Jewish reading of Psalm 51:5 that rejects Original Sin. The Gospel Coalition neglects to mention this major narrative decision in their review, instead only critiquing anachronisms in language.
House of David may in fact be narratively interesting, but by no means is it biblically faithful.
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8 Responses
They are both television programs. If they weren’t entertaining, no one would watch. If no one watches, there wouldn’t be ant money to be made. Money drives everything in our secular society. TV is purely entertainment, it is NOT Bible study.
Someone brought this up in Sunday School. Said you should watch it. I said, I won’t, because I don’t trust who makes it.
If you don’t know the Bible this is a dangerous way to try and learn true Scripture. This is rewriting what we Christians believe was inspired writing by the Holy Spirit.
If you don’t know the Bible this is a dangerous way to try and learn true Scripture. This is rewriting what we Christians believe was inspired writing by the Holy Spirit.
If David turned out to have never existed, then Christian metaphors about Christ being son of David would still work, but Zionism would be proven false. Just ask Origen. He thought the whole Old Testament was an allegory! But how would you push that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews by divine right if the Old Testament was all allegory? Christianity could survive it; Zionism could not.
Brett McCracken also raved about “Sugarcane,” an anti-white pack of lies masquerading as a documentary.
“If you don’t know the Bible this is a dangerous way to try and learn true Scripture. This is rewriting what we Christians believe was inspired writing by the Holy Spirit.”
Precisely. Well said.
Non-Christians (and Christians who aren’t very familiar with the Bible) who watch trash such as “The Chosen” and “House of David” will be deceived into believing that the lies propagated by these TV shows are biblical truth.
“The Gospel Coalition” (more like the jew-worshipping coalition) is a subversive and traitorous organization that promotes wicked anti-White cultural marxism disguised by a fake “Christian” veneer.
After the America First movement wins power, “The Gospel Coalition” and similar organizations will be required to uncuck themselves and return to Traditional True Christianity.
If they aren’t willing to do that, well, there will be a lot of opportunities for all-expenses-paid luxury vacations at the Camp Bonhoeffer Penal Labor Facility For Enemies And Traitors, where the modern day Bonhoeffer wannabes will enjoy the privilege of doing heavy manual labor for 12 hours per day. 😀