New series unveiled
Ed Hindson gives theological advice for ‘A.D. the Bible Continues’
Behind the camera — Juan Pablo Di Pace plays the role of Jesus. He is replacing Diogo Morgado, who portrayed him in the original Bible miniseries. Photo provided
Action. Drama. Intrigue. Tragedy. Victory.
This is “A.D. the Bible Continues,” where a 2,000-year-old, biblical story and 21st-century prime-time TV collide.
“This is not your grandmother’s flannelgraph story of the book of Acts,” Ed Hindson, dean of Liberty University’s School of Religion, said.
Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, will not only mark the celebration of Jesus’ victory over the grave, but it will also mark a significant event in prime-time television history. For the first time ever the New Testament book of Acts will come to life in the homes of millions of viewers around the world.
Produced by Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, the series seeks to examine how an ancient faith continues to impact a postmodern world.
“To understand Christianity in general, you need to understand its roots and how it got started. And that story is told in the book of Acts,” Hindson said. “The story of the faith and courage of the early disciples, but the human side of their fears and their concerns, how the church was established, how it grew. It’s a people movement.
It is not institutional at this point at all, which I think portrays the real heart, the genuine movement of the Christian church that Jesus really intended in the first place. They have done a superb job of telling that story.”
At the recommendation of Johnnie Moore, chief of staff to Burnett and former Vice President of Executive Projects and Media Relations at Liberty University, Hindson, who is also the dean of Liberty University’s Institute of Biblical Studies and a distinguished professor of religion, served as a biblical content adviser for the A.D.
series, examining the scripts to make sure the story of the book of Acts was told accurately, bearing in mind the values and beliefs of Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Jewish viewers, as well as unbelievers.
Collaboration — Ed Hindson and Mark Burnett worked on making “AD: The Bible Continues” as biblically sound as possible while using creative techniques to adapt the story for television. Photo credit: Kevin Manguiob
“First of all, when I think of Christian scholars, and I know lots of Christian scholars, I would almost without question put Ed Hindson at the very, very top of the list,” Moore said. “Dr. Hindson has played a really, really significant role as one of the top two or three faith advisers of the entire program of ‘A.D.’ He’s provided absolutely indispensable advice. He’s had a combination of excellent academic understanding coupled with faith sensibility in a way that connects this content to the everyday person.”
Before “A.D.,” Burnett and Downey produced the wildly successful “The Bible” miniseries, which aired on the History Channel for two seasons and was the No. 1 television series of 2013, as well as an Emmy award winner.
“The (Burnetts are) very committed Christians,” Hindson said. “They’re excited about the Bible and the Bible story, and they wanted to make the book of Acts come alive.
In the series on the Bible, there wasn’t enough time to really develop the piece on the book of Acts to the extent they wanted to. So this gave them the opportunity to go back and refocus on that particular piece.”
To recreate the culture of Jerusalem at the time of the apostles, men and women of all different ages and ethnicities are present in the cast, representing several different countries, including Argentina, England, Gambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ireland.
“When you watch ‘A.D.,’ you feel like you’re there,” Hindson said. “You’re there, and you feel that tension between the Romans, the Christians and the Jewish leadership, and all the interaction that’s going on, yet (Burnett and Downey) tried to be respectful of every tradition of involvement in the story in the book of Acts, and yet clearly present the Christian cause that’s represented in the book of Acts.”
In order to make the series flow as both a historical narrative and a prime-time television drama, some creative, literary license was used to weave the characters’ individual narratives together to create one grand story.
“Allow the artists to tell the story,” Hindson said. “If you nitpick every little detail, you’ll lose the blessing of the whole thing. What I love about ‘A.D.’ is that they’ve got the biblical story right. The imagination for filling in the in-between details is creative and expansive, but they know that. Christians will need to discern between what’s biblical and what’s imaginative. But the truth is, every time you try to make any movie about the Bible, you’re using your imagination.”
Although Hindson served as a biblical content adviser throughout the making of “A.D.,” he said he never had the privilege of meeting Burnett — or seeing any “A.D.” footage — until Burnett’s second visit to the Liberty University campus, Feb. 6 of this year.
“Up until then, I (could) only imagine what the characters would look like based on what I was reading in the scripts,” Hindson said. “But the scripts themselves were so dramatic, I had the highest anticipation of what this was going to be like, and it delivered. What was nice was, when I met Mark Burnett, the best compliment ever was, when he finally met me in person, he said, ‘You’re a lot cooler than I thought you would be.’ And I said, ‘What were you expecting, some stodgy old professor?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ So he and I struck up a really good friendship, I felt like I have known him all my life. He’s very easy to talk to, and I have a high regard of respect for him and for what he’s wanting to do.”
After reading numerous scripts and watching the first two episodes of A.D. at a private screening, Hindson said what he was most impressed with was how all of the conversions found in the book of Acts were portrayed in the series.
“That’s the one thing I love about it from an evangelical standpoint,” Hindson said. “All the conversions are clearly portrayed in ‘A.D.’ And if I were a non-Christian viewer, I think that would get my attention. I grew up in a non-Christian home. No God, no Jesus, no Bible, nothing. No church. If I would’ve viewed something like that, I think it would’ve captured my attention. It would have made me think. These are not just emotional decisions and conversions. These are really heartfelt, and (in) some cases, they are going against the tradition of their background. They are going against society. They’re risking their lives to make this commitment. And all of that
is powerfully portrayed in A.D.”
Concerning how the advising process affected him personally, Hindson said the series helped him remember the big picture of God’s redemptive story.
“In my own life, it reinvigorated my excitement for the story in the book of Acts,” Hindson said. “It also taught me that artistic believers can lend a focus dramatically to the biblical story that sometimes more traditional theologians miss. We’re so focused, the scholars, we’re so focused on the facts and the details that we can miss the passion of the big story, and I think (Burnett and Downey have) captured the big story and the passion very effectively.”
Hindson, who is no stranger to the world of television — he has his own program, “The King is Coming,” which airs on World Harvest Television every Sunday — said he believes that “A.D.” is one of the best treatments of the book of Acts ever done.
“There’s drama, there’s passion, there’s action, there’s excitement,” Hindson said. “It moves rapidly from one scene to another every few seconds. It’s very fast-paced. It’s as good as any modern drama on television today. … It’s going to make the average Liberty student visualize the book of Acts in a very creative, imaginative manner which will make the story in the book of Acts come alive to them in their generation. It will also equip (them) better to tell the story in years to come to (their) generation.”
Season one of “A.D.” will premiere on NBC at 8 p.m. Easter Sunday and will run every Sunday night through Father’s Day, June 21.
“I think it will make both believers and unbelievers think and ask themselves some serious questions about the story,” Hindson said. “It’ll challenge believers to get out of their preconceived notion of some things and take a look at the broader implications of the story. It will certainly, I think, cause unbelievers to have a better understanding of the dynamic and miraculous way in which this all got started and ask themselves ‘Is the message still worth living for and dying for today?’”
GRAF is a feature reporter.