I watched the ABC program "Jesus and Paul" tonight, and apart from the incredibly weird MTV moments, it was really interesting.
I was reasonably impressed by the objectivity and the degree of genuine discussion about Jesus and Paul's lives. While they were certainly a bit more cautious around Jesus, they still brought up some good points, about the lack of historical data to support much of the Gospel account, especially as it concerns Pilate.
They also had a ton of pretty big names like Rev. John Shelby Spong (Episcopalian Bishop and strong advocate for reform of the core of Christianity. Pretty radical by any measure.), Elaine Pagels (author of The Gnostic Gospels among other works, recently on the Gospel of Thomas), and Ben Witherington III (a scripture scholar who seems to be much more of the literalist school).
I enjoyed the discussion quite a bit, even in the tame parts. This was all broken up however, by the bewildering use of loud rock and hip-hop song montages, complete with quick-cut shots between ancient sites, modern versions, and illustrations. While some were at least on-topic "DC Talk's "Jesus Freak" for instance) many were completely incongruous (most notably REM's "End of The World As We Know It" while talking about Paul's conception of the coming apocalypse). I can only think that this was an attempt by some executive producer to "spice it up for the kids". Unfortunately, it was not spicy, merely stupid.
For those with an interest in alternative views of Christianity, I'd recommend looking into Pagel's Books. The Gnostic Gospels are a pretty interesting study, even if you happen to think they're a load of crap. At the very least, the differences seen between the Canonical Gospels, the Pauline texts, and other accounts of Jesus' teachings and the history of the time show that a message is as fluid as the number of messengers.
Another interesting note: The program was co-sponsored by Beliefnet, which marks a pretty mainstream union between a television network and a prominent (web-only) website. Seems like one more example of the web's increasing power in the media universe.
Notes:
Beliefnet's Jesus and Paul page
ABC News Jesus and Paul page (Wait! There's no link!)
That's because ABC wants you to pay for a subscription to read about a program on their network. This is brilliant. In fact, ABC news is your source for NOTHING (without a credit card). And its a commercial site, built solely for the purpose of telling you about the shows it wants you to watch, and yet has constant advertisements that you have to click-thru to get to the tiny amount of content there is (like what shows are on tonight) This has officially entered my bottom 10 websites by people who should know better.
Quick Profile of Bishop John Shelby Spong
Highly Effusive Profile of Spong
Highly Invective Profile of Spong
Semi-scholarly refutation of Spong
NPR feature on Elaine Pagel's book on the Gospel of Thomas
Fresh Air interview with Pagels from the same time period
Posted by ktismael at April 5, 2004 11:22 PM