Update On Paul The Apostle: The Final Verdict

Robert Orlando made an excellent movie about the apostle Paul 5 years ago, subtitled A Polite Bribe. He has been working on a sequel, which will have the subtitle The Final Verdict. Recently, Rob sent me an update and shared the following with me:

When I first started on the Apostle Paul Sequel, The Final Verdict, I met with talk show host Ron Way for an in depth conversation on the story. He is very knowledgable on the subject and together we were able to lay out the epic tale. I was also able to make the case for many of the curiosities, occurring at the very end of Paul’s life; unanswered questions that drive the next installment. How Paul’s mission turns from a penultimate dramatic journey from a collection to Jerusalem as portrayed in Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe to a series of court cases and prisons.

You can listen to that conversation here:

I’m really excited about this, since I enjoyed the first movie so much, and the creative way it explored neglected aspects of the story (such as even seemingly mundane details like, if one was bringing a large sum or money as a gift from Gentile to churches to the church in Jerusalem, how did one travel with that money – one couldn’t simply find an ATM or write a check!)

Have you seen Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe? If not, what are you waiting for? If you don’t want to run out and buy it, then ask your local library to get a copy. Indeed, in some ways that is better, since it gives not only you but others the chance to watch the movie.

And when the sequel eventually comes out, you can be sure that I’ll be interviewing Rob on my podcast, blogging about the movie, and in other ways interacting with the film. Because, if there’s one thing I can say with confidence based on watching the first movie and interacting with Rob, it is that the movie will be full of interviews and other content that reflect the perspectives of scholars working in this field. That isn’t always true of documentaries – not by a long shot. And so I’m excited to see where Rob takes this project next, since the things that emerge from the creative intersection of scholarship and filmmaking are always consistently interesting and thought-provoking.

See too the news about Rob’s most recent film, “The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War”, the screening for senior White House officials, and the subsequent remarks of Ambassador Gingrich. You can also read the book, also titled The Divine Plan.