Tim Allen Is Slowly Live Tweeting the Bible
When one thinks of Tim Allen (if one thinks of Tim Allen at all these days), it’s probably in the context of his various sitcoms, Buzz Lightyear or the Christmasy fever dream that is the Santa Clause franchise. But in addition to all of that, the author of Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man is now publicly sharing his theological takes on social media.
Over on X/Twitter, Allen has been posting about the book he’s currently reading, which just so happens to be The Bible. Back in August, Allen posted that, although he had never “really read the Bible” he was nearly finished plowing through the Old Testament, and hyped for the sequel (aka the New Testament). He also noted that the Good Book was “so far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”
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While that easily could have been the end of Allen’s spiritual book club, last week he posted that he was continuing to read “the complete Bible,” just finished a “rather intense Ezekiel” and was now “on to Daniel.” Allen went on to claim that “the challenge in reading this Book is how I translate words that the Eternal expresses to the temporary.” Pretty heady stuff for the star of Jungle 2 Jungle (although he did end with the summation “I need a Snickers”).
These posts may have come as a surprise to followers who didn’t know that Allen was religious (or capable of reading a book), but Allen has been pretty vocal about his born-again Christianity. In a 2011 interview, he referred to himself as “very religious” and an “intellectual Christian.” He also revealed that he calls God “The Builder.”
“I always do ask, ‘The Builder, what did you want me to do?’” Allen explained.
Sometimes, that answer involves making biker movies with John Travolta and Martin Lawrence, apparently.
We’re not here to make fun of anyone’s beliefs, but Allen’s faith specifically has manifested in some amusing ways. In addition to the random Bible capsule reviews, he previously bragged that his Santa Clause spin-off TV show would focus more on Jesus than the films. “It originally had a lot of otherworldly characters, and ghosts, and goblins. I said no, this is Christ-mas. It’s Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday,” Allen insisted back in 2022. “We don’t have to blow trumpets, but I do want you to acknowledge it. That’s what this is about. If you want to get into Santa Claus, you’re gonna have to go back to history, and it’s all about religion.”
While it could be argued that the story of Jesus didn’t necessarily need to be included in a franchise predicated on the idea that bumping off Santa Claus imbues his killer with magical powers and immortality, the second season of The Santa Clauses did indeed feature a fleeting reference to the birth of Christ — until the characters quickly changed the subject and started talking about witches, fairies and gnomes.
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It’s unclear whether or not Allen believed that the name-drop would convince The Builder to look the other way when he was being a dick to his co-stars.
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