The Greatest Story Ever Retold:Envisioning Jesus Narratives From Gospels to Film

The Greatest Story Ever Retold: Envisioning Jesus Narratives From Gospels to Film
John Anthon Dunne
Jeannine K. Brown

Baker Academic (3/3/2026)
226 pages - Paperback
ISBN: 978-1540967145

I was asked to endorse this new book on Jesus films and I was very happy to do so. When I started this post I'd hoped to get it out in time to boost pre-orders (they really have a huge impact on how well a book does), but that date has sailed by. But it's still available from all the usual places (including some Christian bookshops), and well worth getting.

If you're looking for a TL:DR version then here's the blurb I wrote that appears inside the book and (in edited form) on the back cover

If you're searching for an excellent way of thinking about how the stories of Jesus have been transformed in early writings, Jesus films and our own imaginations then this might be what you're looking for. Dunne and Brown track the development of harmonisation, invention and characterization in portrayals of Jesus and his supporting cast, urging us to consider more deeply the creative task underpinning the original gospels, Jesus movies and our own mental images.

What is the book about?

As the title suggests Dunne and Brown look at Jesus narratives, not just in cinema, but starting with the

Gospels, before moving into early Christian lives of Christ (especially later non-canonical gospel) before leaping forward to examine Jesus movies from the last 125 or so years. This basic approach is the structure for the first six main chapters which look at fidelity; harmonisation; the "Need to Fill in the Gaps"; characterisation; how Jesus himself has been portrayed; and how the "Villans" of the story have been depicted.(1)  

The penultimate chapter is called "Themes Woven into the Jesus Story" and takes a number of the key , more recent films (Last Temptation of Christ; Jesus; Mesih; and The Chosen) to look at how they promote certain themes. Finally, chapter 8 discusses how Jesus films have "Two Horizons", as they both look backwards towards the historical Jesus and to the horizon in/of our own lives.

What's good about this book?

I really like the way Brown and Dunne hone in on the idea of the Jesus film in our own minds, essentially how we don't just watch Jesus films but we are also "directors of our own Jesus films, having envisioned the story already in our mind’s eye from our encounters with the Gospels" (p.ix). They reference this idea throughout the book – not least in that final chapter, and certainly it's one that bears repeating. Often people fail to realise how much they bring to the text with them.

There's a great range of films that are discussed, including those originating from outside Europe or America, and there's a really good balance between extended sections on well known productions such as The Chosen (which no Jesus film book from here on in will be able to ignore for several decades), but also on the lesser known films such as Mesih (2007), which will hopefully encourage people to seek them out and explore them a little more. And underpinning all that are more fleeting references to a far greater number of films to illustrate some of the themes the authors are exploring.

I'm limited for time, so while there are other great things about this book there's just one more I'd like to discuss, it's use of material from outside of the Gospels. This is an area of biblical movies that has become increasing interesting to me (indeed I have a chapter being published later this year looking at the evolution of the Noah story) over the years, especially the idea of layers of adaptation being laid down and influencing later layers.

Digging into early Christian writings about Jesus' life is a really nice way to do this. It narrows the gap between the non-canonical gospels and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and emphasises the choices that were being made, even by the authors of the canonical Gospels. That in turn sets the stage nicely to discuss how directors 18-19 centuries later may have approached their task. 

Any other thoughts?

Having only read this at the manuscript stage it was really nice to see the final product. There's a good number of images throughout the text (black and white) which helps illustrate some of the points being made, which personally I think is import when writing about such a visual medium. On a personal note, it was also really nice to be thanked personally in the book's preface. After all these years, it's great to know people have found this blog useful.

Overall?

As I suggested in my blurb for the book, it's well worth getting. It straddles the ground well between an academic audience and a more faith-based one and manages to provide both a good introduction to the subject and food for thought for those of us who have been exploring this area for a long time.

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→ If you're interested in other books on the subject you can read my other reviews.

→ Or you can find out about the books I have written and contributed to.

1 - The use of quotes here is mine as I don't generally like to use the term when looking at Jesus films and indeed Dunne and Brown qualify the use of the term in the opening paragraph of the chapter by discussing the connection between "how Jewish characters... have been villainized" and violence against Jewish people including the Holocaust (p.115).