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The Chosen: Fiction, Truth, or in Between?
Despite its liberties with film-making and fictional details, The Chosen is an engaging and bold reimagining of Jesus and his ministry.
by Mark M. Mattison
Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) in episode 5 of The Chosen, from The Chosen Press Photos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikipedia
I resisted watching the popular evangelical television series The Chosen for a long time. I (wrongly) assumed that I wouldn’t appreciate it but having now binge-watched the first three seasons with my wife Rebecca, I have to admit that it’s grown on me after all.
I wasn’t wrong to expect a woodenly literal reading of the Gospels, although the series supplements Gospel narratives extensively with numerous fictional embellishments. I actually laughed out loud when John, sitting subtly out of sight of Jesus and Nicodemus, made notes on his wax tablet about their conversation. Admittedly, when Matthew and John were conspicuously recording information for their Gospels, I wanted to see Mary, Thomas, Philip, and Judas portrayed as working on their respective Gospels too.
Distracting historical anachronisms persist as well, as when people routinely pull up their chairs to their desks to sort through their paperwork. (Why not add typewriters and laptops?) I’m reminded of Mel Gibson’s carpenter Jesus inventing the table and chairs in “The Passion of the Christ.” More significantly, Jesus’s sense of a mission to Gentiles is clearly overstated. And the series’ portrayal of legalistic Jews is unsurprising.
And yet.
I’ve also found the program engaging.
To an extent, watching The Chosen is a little bit like playing Bible trivia – sorting fact from fiction and the biblical record from its televised portrayal. It’s fun to try to anticipate how scenes are being set up for a biblical narrative, and to note how the writers harmonize certain texts. It’s also refreshing to see few explicit criticisms of non-conservatives.
But what’s particularly interesting is the care and attention to the role of women in Jesus’s ministry. Mary Magdalene isn’t denigrated as a prostitute. And generally, women are not only named, but they’re also prominently featured, even beyond what the Gospels portray. In 1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul mentions that Peter is accompanied by his wife, and in Matthew 4:18, we read that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Those are the only two verses in the New Testament that imply Peter even had a wife (and Matthew 4:18 doesn’t even mention her). Yet in The Chosen, Peter’s wife is not only named (Eden), but she’s also given a prominent role, and portrayed as even more faithful than Peter.
In addition to Mary Magdalene (and often Jesus’s mother) traveling with Jesus, other prominent women are added to the entourage. These include an Ethiopian woman named Tamar, and Thomas’s love interest, a vintner named Ramah, whom Mary Magdalene is teaching to read and write. Joanna is shown financially supporting Jesus’s ministry (as in the Gospels). The woman with an issue of blood is both named (Veronica) and given a back-story. Whether she will turn out to be Saint Veronica in season six remains to be seen. Mary and Martha of Bethany could easily have been given bigger roles than their brief introduction, but (so far at least) have not yet. But the degree to which women are featured and celebrated is refreshing.
The fictional context developed for the biblical narrative adds depth. At the end of the third season, the show makes the most of Matthew’s allegorical image of Peter stepping out on the water on faith. The stormy seas are a satisfying manifestation of the storm raging inside Peter, and the juxtaposition of his struggle with the journey of his faithful wife Eden, shown simultaneously, adds even more. My only wish was that the theodicy of the otherwise artful story was more thoughtfully developed; “suffering strengthens your faith” is a pretty crappy response to a miscarriage. Jesus’ words, literally, are “Why do you think I allow trials? They prove the genuineness of your faith. They strengthen you. This is strengthening you and Eden.” Although suffering can be the crucible in which strength develops, as an explanation for the existence of evil, it rings hollow at best.
But, all things considered, I’ve found The Chosen to be worth watching. At times it can be hokey, but it can also be serious and thought-provoking, and its added depth, character development, color, diversity, and lush background is engaging. It explores family relationships, interpersonal conflicts, and real-life problems. It’s a bold reimagining of Jesus and his ministry, and its central focus on his disciples, male and female, is compelling. Even where it falls short – and it does have plenty of shortcomings – it can nevertheless serve as a decent springboard for discussion and reflection.
This post is a part of our series, “The Jewishness of Jesus.” For the series index, click here.
OMG THIS SHOW IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There has not ever been a series that has affected me as The Chosen has. No, obviously it does not replace the Bible, but it brings the New Testament to life like no film before. This is the Jesus I imagined when I was young – not the stiff, halo-wearing Jesus we see in other films. In The Chosen, he is alive! This is who I would expect to meet had I been living in those Biblical days.
Wooden?
I think not. Not at all.
Even very conservative evangelical NT scholars admit there may be fictional stories in the Gospels. The question is: Which ones??
https://lutherwasnotbornagaincom.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/evangelical-scholar-craig-blomberg-admits-the-gospels-may-contain-fiction/
Another point is that many movies have been made about the Bible and different people from those early times. They are all dramatized to make them interesting. I have heard different people saying that The Chosen has people dying and doing things that are not true. Well, this is a dramatization. It is beautiful.
If you take every Portrayals of Jesus Christ, only in the Broadway Rock opera’s are less likely believable. The Chosen is our Current Visual of the Biblical Portrayals. It’s up to Us [viewers] to be Fine with this Portrayal. At Least There is AN ALTERNATIVE SERIES to Watch that Has the REAL Opportunity to Change Viewer’s Lives for better! If a viewer has doubts while watching, then Pull out a [Physical copy] of the BIBLE, and measure the Storyline and the Bible!!
IYou are the only person I have heard (read ) say they think the performance is wooden! The Chosen is brilliant portrayal of the most important time in history has brought literally millions of people closer or back to the Bible, to feeling close to Jesus, God and the scriptures. Also you probably should know that the disciples of Jesus at the time, did not actually write the books of the Bible which are named after them. THAT Matthew didn’t write the Gospel of Matthew etc.. The gospels were written a long time after those disciples would have died, but writers back then, would write their own memories or ideas or those they had heard, possibly after being taught by a particular person then they would give their own writing added credence by SAYING it was written by that teacher. No copyright laws back then and this was common practice. Despite playing around no doubt with time lines The Chosen writers have spoken with different religious people and come up with a very authentic representation of how things probably were then and this is all the better due to the great sincerity of the actors and even the producer and film crew… this portrayal is probably THE best thing EVER seen by millions and has actually helped to change the world.