NBC's 'Revelations': High on Entertainment, Low on Theology

By Elliott Ryan
Guest Reviewer

CBN.com – On the heels of the success of The Passion of the Christ and Christian fiction novels such as the Left Behind series, Hollywood is looking to get in on the spiritual entertainment action. Plans are being made to bring “biblically-inspired” dramas to television and movie theaters over the next couple of years.

The first example of this phenomenon is set to debut on television next week in the form of a miniseries loosely based on the biblical accounts of the end times. The miniseries, entitled Revelations, will air over a six-week period starting Wednesday, April 13 on NBC. If the ratings are good, the possibility exists that the show will be picked up as a regular series.

The first episode features Bill Pullman (Independence Day, While You Were Sleeping) as a father who has hunted down the Satanist responsible for murdering his daughter. Pullman returns to his work as a scientist but gets pulled into a journey of faith by a nun who is investigating the occurrence of events that were prophesied as signs of the end of the age in the Bible. As the two become involved in this research, they witness miracles that will test the lack of faith of the scientist.

Unfortunately, the theology of the series appears flawed from the beginning. Apparently, Jesus has returned to the earth as a baby. The nun, played by Natasha McElhone (Solaris, The Truman Show) believes she needs to find Jesus to protect Him. Together, she and Pullman attempt to postpone the eventual battle between Jesus and Satan that will result in the end of the world. Of course, no matter how one interprets biblical passages regarding the end times, this plot is ridiculous on several different levels. The Bible states that Jesus will not be coming back as a child. He will certainly not need anyone’s protection upon His return. When God decides the time is right for Christ’s return, man won’t be able to do anything to postpone the inevitable.

With so many theological mistakes in the first episode alone, Christians may feel the need to immediately condemn the project as Hollywood attempting to make money off of something they do not comprehend. The unfortunate thing is that, if biblical stories were treated with a great deal of respect, there is a great deal of money to be made in providing quality Christian entertainment to the masses. Mel Gibson has proven that fact.

It is possible that some good will come out of the miniseries. Hopefully, people will see these episodes and start asking questions about what they truly believe about God and the future of mankind. Churches could discuss the issue in Bible studies to clarify the biblical record on the issue of prophecies of Christ’s return. If it becomes the kind of show that gets discussed around the water cooler at workplaces around the country, many Christians will be able to use the show as a launching pad to share their faith.

Furthermore, if the show is successful, it will be additional proof that there is an audience out there for television programs that ask deep questions about life and deal with spiritual issues. This would be a great improvement over programming that assaults the sensibilities of believers.

As a theological treatise, this show will be a failure. But the producers of the show admit up front that theological accuracy wasn’t exactly one of their goals. They were trying to put together an entertaining series inspired by biblical accounts. Unfortunately for the producers of the series, a significant portion of the audience they are attempting to reach may tune out because the series fails to produce an accurate portrayal of the belief system to which they cling.

As a drama series, the show is well-acted and well-cast. Also starring in the miniseries is John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings), Michael Massee (24), and Tobin Bell (Saw). All of the actors do a fine job with the material. The story is interesting if not theologically sound. The great production values show that the series has a much larger budget than the recent Left Behind movie series and other typical Christian movies. But will the backdrop of biblical prophecy be enough to hook Christian viewers who are turned off by a Hollywood production system that doesn’t seem to understand them?