What is “The Chosen”?
According to gotquestions.org, “The Chosen is a television show about the life of Christ. Season 1, released in 2019 (with a pilot episode on the birth of Christ released in 2017), garnered attention for several reasons: it is the first TV show of its kind, presenting the life of Christ over multiple seasons (it plans seven seasons total); it was crowd-funded, bringing in more donations (over $40 million as of 2023) than any other media project ever; it is the first series to be launched in every country simultaneously via its own app (with over 108 million views so far in 180 countries); and it is being praised for its engaging storytelling.” https://www.gotquestions.org/The-Chosen.html
According to imdb.com, “The Chosen is a historical drama based on the life of Jesus and those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the series shares an authentic look at Jesus' revolutionary life and teachings.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9471404/
Why and How do Many Promote “The Chosen”?
Again, from that same source: “As with all storytelling based on historical events, some artistic license is evident. In The Chosen, there is often a tremendous amount of artistic license. In retelling the gospel accounts, the writers have inserted or modified some characters, storylines, and details of the inspired original. The changes are designed to give each episode a feeling of being grounded in real life.
“One example of these artistic choices is that the disciple Matthew is depicted as a young man on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum. There is no direct biblical evidence that Matthew had this disorder, but it is a plausible detail, so the writers felt comfortable using artistic license to insert this additional trait to Matthew’s character.
“Since no one is claiming that the show is God’s Word or that it is on par with the Bible, the creators of The Chosen believe such license is acceptable, and even expected in a medium such as television. As long as viewers remember that what they are seeing is art and not real life—and they compare what they view with Scripture—there is no danger of confusion. We should all know intuitively that, for all its historical accuracy and attention to cultural context, The Chosen is simply one idea from one group of people about what they think it might have been like to be near Jesus.
“Dramatizations of biblical events such as are presented in The Chosen provide an opportunity for sharing the gospel with those who otherwise might not be exposed to the Bible. For believers, such dramatizations can promote spiritual growth, reminding us that the Bible is more than just a story—it relates actual events in the lives of real people who had emotions, relationships, and concerns similar to ours.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/The-Chosen.html
Movieguide.org reports the show’s description as given by Dallas Jenkins, the creator/producer of the series. “[The Chosen] starts working through the storyline of how Nicodemus attempts to exorcise Mary Magdalene’s demons and fails. Then he comes across her later and sees that she is a different person, and so we’re like, what are some of the things he would say and how would she describe it,” Jenkins said.
“What we try to do with The Chosen is not only give you these moments from scripture but set them up in a way that when they happen, they really make sense and they really have an emotional resonance in addition to spiritual resonance,” Jenkins added.
Jenkins believes that this emphasis is what makes The Chosen good TV rather than a Bible narrative that has little reach outside of the Christian audience.
“In TV and movies, if all you’re doing is just reenacting a historical moment that you know about from history, or from the Bible, it might be interesting to watch but it probably won’t emotionally resonate because you don’t have a connection to the characters. You don’t know the why of what they’re doing,” he explained. “If you can help [audiences] understand what the stakes are for each of the characters in the scene, it makes it even more personal.”
Why be Concerned About “The Chosen”?
According to Dallas Jenkins, the added elements in The Chosen cause the actual scriptural events to “make sense” in a way that they would not if one simply read and studied the four gospel accounts. These non-biblical inventions provide an “emotional resonance” that is lacking in inspired scripture. They make the true accounts of Jesus’ life “even more personal.”
When a biblical “dramatization” is primarily fictional in content, there are, to me at least, some serious implications. One is that the four inspired gospels themselves are lacking something. They need enhancement and improvement in order to make Jesus more real, more personal, and more authentic. God’s inspiration needs man’s imagination to be truly effective. The gospel’s uniqueness is minimized.
The supportive statements quoted above suggest that the fiction in The Chosen serves to enhance and improve the non-fiction of the gospels. Simply retelling the material in the Spirit-given gospels would have “little reach outside of the Christian audience.” Think about that! Adding man-made ideas, thoughts, background and characters makes the life of Jesus more attractive and more interesting to non-Christians.
Let's say we want to make Jesus more “relatable,” and we know that many people have family members with autism. How can we connect these people and families to Jesus? The solution in The Chosen is to pick an apostle - why not Matthew? - and then to depict him as autistic. And for added emphasis, let’s have Jesus involve Matthew in His preparation of the Sermon on the Mount. That may be interesting, but is it true? Do we need fictional material to add dimensions to Jesus' life and the lives of others in order to attract those in our world who do not know the biblical Jesus?
How much extra fictional material, one may ask? Jenkins stated without apology that, as of July, 2022, “Those extra-Biblical portions comprise 95% of what's been in the show thus far.”
Again, to Dallas Jenkins, the overwhelming portion of made-up stuff – 95% – is a good thing, to the show’s credit, because the made-up stuff makes Jesus more appealing.
A second concern has to do with the resulting confusion as to what is true (biblical, the 5%) and what is untrue (fiction, the 95%). When one who is new to the Bible sees a scene in The Chosen that really “speaks to their heart,” and then asks me, “Is that true? Where is that in the Bible?” I would have to say, “No, it’s pure fiction, and it’s not in the Bible.” The newcomer may then ask, “Well, what about this … or that … or the other?” Time and again, I would have to respond, “No, it’s not in the Word of God. It’s just something that human scriptwriters thought would make Jesus more real, authentic, and personal.” From that point on, the newcomer may be more devoted to watching The Chosen than to studying the truth about Jesus in scripture.
In our age, video with sights and sounds can seem more engaging than printed materials. Many of us would rather see a movie than read the book on which that movie is based. Television is a powerful medium, and we would do well to recognize its influence.
Another implication is that viewers may decide to follow a filtered Jesus, one who is seen, edited, and interpreted by modern scriptwriters. Of course, our goal is for each person to meet the real Jesus, unedited and unfiltered, as seen and described by the original, first-century eyewitnesses. The old, reliable question, “Have you studied the Bible?” gives way to the new, exciting question, “Have you watched The Chosen?”
Let’s ask some more specific questions.
Think of the details added to the gospel accounts. Should it bother us, for example, for people to be taught that Nicodemus attempted to exorcise Mary Magdalene’s demons but failed? Or that Nicodemus’ wife was named Zohara? Has anyone ever told you that Jesus’ disciple Thaddeus was a stonemason … that “Little James” (James the son of Alphaeus) was a member of the “288 Jerusalem Temple Choir” … that Thomas (the doubter) was a caterer … or that Ramah was a former winemaker from Tel Dor, the deceased partner of Thomas, and one of the women helping Jesus's ministry?
Should others be told that Eden was the wife of Simon Peter, the daughter of Dasha … that Nathanael was a former architect … that Judas Iscariot was a former business apprentice … that the healed paralytic in Capernaum (Mark 2:1-12) was named Ethan … or that this same Ethan had an Ethiopian friend named Tamar?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Chosen_characters
Would it be okay to show Jesus needing to take time to write down and rehearse the Sermon on the Mount … or Jesus asking for Matthew’s assistance with it … or Matthew himself as a person who was actually on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum? The claim is that Matthew’s autism makes Jesus more “relatable,” but does that justify adding it?
Has This Kind of “Improvement” Been Offered Before?
Actually, using pure human fiction to “fill in the gaps” in Jesus’ life is not new. Since the gospels provided no details about Jesus’ youth before age 12 or His life between ages 12 and about 30, others stepped in to complete what was seen as lacking, using their imagination as to what they thought “might have happened.”
Way back in the second century a fictional work appeared, called The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It describes Jesus as a child having a dialogue with his teacher in front of other pupils about the nature of the Greek alphabet. In one episode Jesus makes clay birds, which he then proceeds to bring to life. There are other miracles, in which Jesus carries water on cloth, produces a feast from a single grain, and stretches a beam of wood to help his father finish constructing a bed. In this fictional writing, Jesus heals James from snake poison, resurrects a child who died of illness, and resurrects a man who died in a construction accident.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas
If one were to publish The Infancy Gospel of Thomas or another ancient apocryphal book and suggest it be added to the Bible, of course it would be flatly rejected by most Bible-believing people. Why? Because it’s uninspired fiction, of course!
If promoters argued that such a book made Jesus more real, relatable, authentic, or personal, such an argument would not change the fact that it was of human origin.
How Can “The Chosen” Advance the Gospel?
People are talking about “The Chosen!” You can easily ask your friends if they have seen it. If they have, then ask them what you like about it. Explain to them its nature (fiction) and its purpose (to arouse interest in Jesus). Perhaps offer to watch a couple of episodes with them to see what’s in it and what they like about it.
Ask them if they want to know more about Jesus.
Then ask them something like this. “Wouldn’t it be fascinating to learn about Jesus from the eyewitnesses, those people who knew Him, who watched Him, and who followed Him in person? Let’s pick either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John and begin reading and studying about Jesus from those who were there with Him!”
