Stories about Jesus Christ have been shared for centuries. But Joseph Josselyn, a deaf Christian and film director, is telling a story about Christ in American Sign Language — for the first time ever.

“Jesus” retells the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — all in American Sign Language. “Thelma” has good actors and some winning ideas, but it lacks a bit of grandmother’s common sense.

(RNS) — Joseph Josselyn remembers being fascinated by the 1977 drama “Jesus of Nazareth” — but as a Deaf child, he had to rely on closed captions to catch the dialogue. “I had this thought: I wonder ...