Greetings and welcome to the Daily Article podcast. Today is Friday, January the 12th,

2020. I'm Chris Elkins of the Denison Forum, narrating today's article written by Dr. Ryan Denison.

The Book of Clarence, a new film from writer-director James Samuel, takes place in Jerusalem across

the weeks leading up to Christ's crucifixion. However, it's not really a story about Jesus.

As Samuel described, if they tell you a Bible story, you wouldn't get the story of the guy

around the corner, or the person who sold Jesus his sandals.

And that's where the movie's main character, Clarence, played by Lakeith Stanfield, steps in.

You see, Clarence is the fictionalized twin brother of the apostle Thomas, a detail based in

scripture. Thomas was called the twin three times in John's Gospel,

but the film takes a great deal of license from there. Consequently, Clarence is well acquainted

with the work of Jesus. Yet Clarence is also, as Alyssa Wilkinson described, an atheist stoner

who sells first century weed. As such, when he looks at Christ's ministry, he sees a false Messiah getting paid by a duped populace,

and he thinks he can do the same.

After all, in his view, Jesus is a con man as well.

Clarence's ruse works for a time.

However, he eventually learns the hard way that the Romans don't take kindly to would-be messiahs and his story turns from there.

Ultimately, the Book of Clarence is a solid film that tells an interesting story while pulling from the biblical account without feeling beholden to it.

There was certainly times when those creative liberties stand out more than others.

But when it comes to his portrayal of the true Messiah,

Samuel does not cross the line into blasphemy,

staying pretty faithful to the Jesus of Scripture.

If you can get past those differences and accept the film for the story it's trying to tell,

...