By Peter T. Chattaway
From the blood of the martyrs to swimming pool baptisms, the new TV series stages the biblical drama with intelligence and creativity.
Filmmakers tackling the Gospels or the Book of Acts often look for ways to make the story of Jesus and his followers relatable to modern audiences.
Sometimes they set the plot to modern music. Sometimes, as in The Chosen, they use modern idioms in the dialogue, impose modern establishments like hair salons on the first-century setting, or focus on the emotional relationships between characters.
And sometimes they go in the opposite direction, moving the first-century story to the present day. That is more or less what Testament, a new series based on the Book of Acts, has done, and the results are fascinating, illuminating, and at times profoundly moving. (The first seven episodes are currently streaming on the Angel Studios platform; the first-season finale arrives July 21.)