Beloved is a fan of a lot of CBS shows: NCIS, Madam Secretary, and Hawaii Five-O being her big favorites. I've trended recently more toward the sci-fi/horror genre since there's been a ton of quality offerings over the past few years: The Walking Dead, The Expanse, Taboo, Into the Badlands, Game of Thrones, American Gods, etc. So we haven't been watching a lot of television together over the past few years. Recently this changed because of two shows: Star Trek: Discovery and Living Biblically. I'm not going to do a review of ST:D until the 2nd season drops, but given that Living Biblically is a recent addition, this seemed a good opportunity to critique something with which I'm familiar: a show about religion.
Living Biblically is based on/inspired by The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I have to admit this book has been on my "To Be Read" list for quite a while, so I'm not able to comment on the show's similarity/difference to its source inspiration. I do know that while Jacobs is a secular Jew, the main character of the TV show, Chip Curry, is a lapsed Roman Catholic, so right off the bat we have a major difference in what we mean when we say "Living Biblically."
I've seen four episodes thus far, and I have to admit that without the tie-in to my own calling as a pastor, I don't know if I'd be interested in watching further. The show hasn't offered any truly insightful commentary on faith or life thus far. The Hulu comedy Rev offered a much funnier take on modern faith (if also incredibly dark), and there are others from years past such as The Vicar of Dibley which appear to take faith much more seriously while also being much funnier.
Chip's determination to live "100% 'by the Bible'" is curiously scattershot. Instead of beginning with Genesis 1:1 and getting horribly lost somewhere in Leviticus like most Biblical neophytes (yours truly included, many, many years ago), we never get any idea of just how Chip is ingesting scripture. Episodes have so far focused on the Ten Commandments - "Thou Shalt Not Steal" incorporated an interesting conundrum regarding office supplies and the intersection of morality and office morale - but without reference to their scriptural locus or any sort of formative guidance from Chip's "God Squad" of Father Gene and Rabbi Gil. The advice provided by Gene & Gil is somewhat nuanced in the moment, but there is no overarching theme, pattern, or course of study provided by Chip's mentors. In the pilot episode, when Chip tells Father Gene he's going to live "100% by the Bible," Father Gene does what every minister I know would do: he bursts into laughter. But so far, that's it. Chip appears to be on his own in this spiritual quest, which is absolutely not how most of us in the clergy ranks would leave things. Sure, we'd laugh - but then we'd get to work with Chip to incorporate the larger themes of faithful living in a cohesive, coherent program of learning and prayer. We sure as heck wouldn't just send him out into the world to grasp at daily life with a book he doesn't know as his only guide.
There are aspects of the show we really enjoy, however. The portrayal of Father Gene & Rabbi Gil as real people, neither smarmy and sanctimonious nor spiritually jaded and empty is refreshing, to say nothing of promoting interfaith friendships as natural and acceptable. The pattern of Chip's religious explorations might be lacking, but his attempts to be a more faithful husband, father-to-be, and friend come off as sincere and empathetic.
The tension of living faithfully while not alienating friends and coworkers is something we haven't seen much on television anywhere, and I'm interested to see just how deep the show's creators will be willing to go. So far, living "biblically" hasn't cost Chip anything beyond some minor inconveniences; real faith requires much more than giving up Starbucks so your spouse can watch premium cable shows. Will Chip discover that faith is much more nuanced than woodenly following these "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth"? What about LGBTQIA issues and the thorny passages which some interpret as a condemnation? Abortion? Thou Shalt Not Kill/Murder? Coveting? There's a lot of possibilities out there for this show, but the showrunners will need to be bolder to explore them. Making that sort of show would be risky - it would take an act of faith to make it work.
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