Noah Movie is an Adaptation from the Original Genesis Story And So Is the Church

The Noah movie with Russel Crowe follows the pattern of all book adaptations that I have seen. The movie departs substantially from the book. The question is, how much departure is too much?

Image source: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/02/21/do-christians-care-if-noah-movie-jibes-with-bible-survey-says-yep/

Here are three takes on the question:

(1) Fr. Barron "Noah: A Post-Modern Midrash" ("The midrashim—extremely popular in ancient Israel—were imaginative elaborations of the often spare Scriptural narratives.")

[Update 4/15/2014 YouTube: "Fr. Barron comments on 'Noah'"]

(2) The Catholic World Report "Noah: A Theological Reflection: Darren Aronofsky’s controversial film is sometimes divisive and divided, but is also deeply serious about Scripture and essential questions"

(3) Alfonzo Rachel "ZoNATION: Does the Noah Movie Float?"
"Zo knows that liberal Hollywood has long leeched off the Bible to promote their world view. Whether it's making characters that are religious fanatics to make people prejudiced against the Bible, or cherry picking scriptures and twisting what they don't even really believe in to justify their world view. The 2014 Noah movie is no exception."

The traditional Christian understanding of Noah's ark compares it to the Church. The word Church comes from the Latin word ecclēsia (ecclesiastical is the adjective in English). It literally means to "call out from".

In a similar way that Noah, his family, and animals were called out from the fallen, disordered world, Jesus and His Bride the Church are to call all of humanity from its fallen-ness, or sinfulness onto the boat of the Church. We are all called to be passengers on the boat that Jesus built, and baptism is the way onto the boat. We just have to answer the call and follow Jesus on His Way.

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arche_No%C3%A9_Vaisseau_Eglise.jpg

So, maybe the latest Noah movie departed from the original Genesis Noah story in some substantial ways. The Church also has in some aspects, but She relies on Jesus for the Way to depart from the world today.

 (The picture above shows Noah's Ark in the upper portion, while the lower portion shows Jesus in the boat with His followers, the Church. Many church building show Noah's ark which represents the Church.)