Watch: Philip is the original vanishing hitchhiker, and more, in three new clips from A.D. The Bible Continues

If it’s Wednesday, it must be time for more clips from A.D. The Bible Continues — and the latest batch includes a rare depiction of one of the more unusual bits from the book of Acts. Check it out, along with the other clips, below the jump.

First, the really unusual bit, which you can watch right here:

Some background: Acts 8 describes how Philip encountered an Ethiopian eunuch who was riding in a chariot on his way home from Jerusalem. Philip noticed that the eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah, and he hitched a ride so that he could tell the eunuch how that passage from Isaiah was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus.

Then, when they came to some water, the eunuch asked Philip to baptize him — and “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”

I know of a few other films that have depicted Philip’s meeting with the eunuch, but none that have depicted Philip’s supernatural disappearance so directly.

Rossellini’s Acts of the Apostles (1969) and the NBC miniseries A.D. Anno Domini (1985) both avoid Philip’s disappearance altogether, by fading to black (and a commercial break?) right after Philip pours water on the eunuch’s head:

Two other films have referred to Philip’s disappearance in the voice-over narration but have kept the actual disappearance of Philip offscreen.

The Living Bible (1957) has the camera follow the eunuch while Philip stands by the water, and eventually Philip is out of the frame altogether:

And The Visual Bible’s adaptation of Acts (1994) simply dissolves from a shot of the water to a shot of the eunuch looking around and noticing Philip is gone:

Those are the only other cinematic depictions of Philip and the eunuch that I can think of right now. So it seems that A.D. The Bible Continues is breaking new ground here, as elsewhere, with its straightforward depiction of this supernatural event.

Meanwhile, turning to other clips from this coming Sunday’s episode…

Peter delegates responsibility for the Jerusalem church to James the Just:

Pilate’s wife Claudia tries to set Joanna free against Pilate’s wishes:

And, finally, we have a preview of the next episode of Beyond A.D.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvM0x83icsE

June 15 update: The network has released a longer version of the sequence in which Philip meets the eunuch (it also includes a brief scene of Tabitha’s death):

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here (though be warned: it appears that the network has taken some of the trailers and clips offline already):

• The first trailer (November 26, 2014)
• The ‘By Our Love’ music video (December 19, 2014)
• The ‘The Next Chapter of the Greatest Story Ever Told’ TV spot (January 12, 2015)
• The second trailer (January 17, 2015)
• The Super Bowl spot (February 1, 2015)
• The Newsboys’ ‘We Believe’ music video (February 10, 2015)
• The ‘First Look’ video (February 18, 2015)
• The ‘Special Preview’ video (February 24, 2015)
• The ‘Miracles’ clip, the ‘Igniting a Rebellion’, ‘He’s a Dangerous Man’ and ‘Power, Passion, Sacrifice and Glory’ previews, the Spanish trailer, the ‘33 Days’ video and the WNDU and KPRC interviews (March 10, 2015)
• The ‘On Location’ featurette and the WWLP and Entertainment Tonight interviews (March 16, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary’, ‘Peter’, ‘John’ and ‘Mary Magdalene’ sneak peeks, the EPK materials, the ‘The Next Chapter of the Greatest Story Ever Told’ and ‘Beyond A.D. with Jason Kennedy’ previews, and the Tony Evans, Geoff Tunnicliffe, O.S. Hawkins and Joel C. Hunter endorsements (March 20, 2015)
• The half-hour making-of special, the ‘Caiaphas’ and ‘Pilate’ sneak peeks, the Today show set visit, the Zap2it interview, the Roma Downey video on prayer for Guideposts, the Jefferson Bethke and ‘Faith Raves’ videos, and the Sam Rodriguez, Pat Robertson, Ronnie Floyd and Jim Daly endorsements (March 25, 2015)
• The extended and ‘Stay with Me’ trailers, two previews, the Tonight Show interview, the ‘Peter’, ‘John’, ‘Mary Magdalene’, ‘Mother Mary’, ‘Caiaphas’ and ‘Pilate’ character profiles, and the Bishop T.D. Jakes, Robby Dawkins, Matthew Barnett, Danilo Montero, Mark Jobe, Ron Luce, Mark Batterson, Gabriel Salguero, Rick Warren, Cardinal Wuerl and Joel Osteen endorsements (April 4, 2015)
• The Episode 1 recap, the ‘Condemned and Crucified’, ‘Escaping Jerusalem’ and ‘Jesus Reunites with His Apostles’ clips, the ‘The Resurrection of Jesus’ preview, and the ‘Jesus’ character profile (April 6, 2015)
• Two Beyond A.D. previews, the ‘Episode 2’ preview, the ‘Watch Sunday’s Number One Show!’ preview, and the Juan Pablo Di Pace, Greta Scacchi, Adam Levy, Chipo Chung, Babou Ceesay, Denver Isaac, Pedro Lloyd Gardiner, Fraser Ayres, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Richard Coyle, Vincent Regan, Mark Burnett & Roma Downey and Luciano Capozzi interviews (April 10, 2015)
• The first episode of Beyond A.D. (April 12, 2015)
• The Episode 2 recap, the ‘The Ascension of Jesus’, ‘Who Does Jerusalem Belong to’ and ‘Tensions Flare at the Temple’ clips, and the ‘The Strength of Belief’ preview (April 13, 2015)
• The ‘The Holy Spirit’ clip, three Episode 3 previews, the James Callis, Claire Cooper, Jim Sturgeon, Farzana Dua Elahe, Marama Corlett and Jodhi May interviews, and a Beyond A.D. preview (April 17, 2015)
• The second episode of Beyond A.D. (April 19, 2015)
• The Episode 3 recap, the ‘A Miracle of Healing Begets Arrest’ clip, and the ‘The Romans Crack Down’ preview (April 20, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary Comforts Peter’ and ‘Peter Motivates the New Followers’ clips, and a Beyond A.D. preview (April 24, 2015)
• The third episode of Beyond A.D. (April 26, 2015)
• The Episode 4 recap, the ‘The Consequences of Showing No Mercy’, ‘Caiaphas Seeks an Assassin’ and ‘Cornelius Metes the Assassin’s Fate’ clips, and the ‘The Great Change Is Coming’ preview (April 27, 2015)
• The angelic jailbreak clip (April 28, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary Preaches the Faith’, ‘Gamaliel Stands Up for the Apostles’ and ‘Stephen Stands Up for God’ clips, and a Beyond A.D. preview (May 1, 2015)
• The fourth episode of Beyond A.D. (May 3, 2015)
• The Episode 5 recap, the ‘The Unjust Punishment of Righteous Men’ clip, and the ‘Power vs. Faith’ preview (May 4, 2015)
• The ‘Saul Confronts Peter’, ‘Battle of the Preachers’, ‘We Must Build the Church’, ‘Holiday Tension’ and ‘Caiaphas Confronts the Rumor Mill’ clips, a Beyond A.D. preview and the ‘Happy Mother’s Day – Call Your Mom!’ video (May 8, 2015)
• The fifth episode of Beyond A.D. (May 10, 2015)
• The ‘Saul’s Plot to Undermine the Faithful’, ‘Saul’s Message for Maya’ and ‘The True Power of Tiberius, Emperor of Rome’ clips, and the ‘The Emperor Is Coming!’ preview (May 11, 2015)
• The ‘A Miraculous Healing in Samaria’, ‘Philip Heals in the Name of Christ’ and ‘A Miracle of Faith in Samaria’ clips (May 12, 2015)
• The sixth episode of Beyond A.D. and the Episode 6 recap (May 17, 2015)
• The Episode 7 recap and the ‘Judgment Day’ preview (May 18, 2015)
• The ‘Jesus Appears to Saul’, ‘Saul Gets Baptized’ and ‘Peter Performs Healing Miracles’ clips, a Beyond A.D. preview, and the ‘Roma Downey Introduces A.D. Episode 8: Jesus Returns!’ video (May 21, 2015)
• The seventh episode of Beyond A.D. (May 24, 2015)
• The Episode 8 recap, the ‘Very Bad News Indeed’ clip, and the ‘Friends or Foes?’ preview (May 25, 2015)
• The ‘Saul Asks for Forgiveness’ clip (May 28, 2015)
• The eighth episode of Beyond A.D. (May 31, 2015)
• The Episode 9 recap, the ‘Why Was Saul Chosen?’ clip, two clips of Caiaphas arguing with Leah and Saul, and the ‘The Ultimate Betrayal’ preview (June 1, 2015)
• The ‘God Is with Us’ clip, and a Beyond A.D. preview (June 3, 2015)
• The ninth episode of Beyond A.D. (June 7, 2015)
• The Episode 10 recap, the ‘Solving the Problem of Saul’ clip, and the ‘Only Two Episodes Left!’ preview (June 8, 2015)