Saturday 13th January 2007

Over the past couple of months, major British TV companies have produced a series of documentaries on the apocryphal gospels of the early Christian period.

Of course, in our world of mass-produced media the record of history is all too often made to bow before the great god of 'good television'. TV is better, the theory goes, when there's conflict; when accepted, even proven wisdom is pitted against more politically correct tastes; when worthy beliefs are brought into disrepute.

One recent programme was presented by an Anglican priest. Along the way, he offered the viewer some good historical background, but could not resist throwing in a few loaded comments which revealed more about his personal prejudices - or those of his producer - than they did about the facts.

In an almost throw-away line, he said, 'It wouldn't surprise me at all if Jesus had a physical relationship with a woman.' This is so far removed from the strong narrative evidence of the New Testament - and of Christian tradition handed down through the generations - that it is laughable.

He offered nothing more by way of 'proof' than that one of these apocryphal books - already rejected by early Christians for its inaccuracy - had suggested it might be so (and even that suggestion was a muted one).

Dan Brown, your legacy of using bad history to sell a story is in good hands.

Almost invariably, these types of programme end on a non-committal note. Having raised all manner of inconclusive theories, they meander around the desert of 'what ifs' before riding off into the sunset, leaving us eating the dust of their confusion.

What makes these programmes bothersome and tiresome is the fact that they're presented by people we are led to believe are 'experts' of some kind.

This is suggested either by virtue of their academic background, or simply by virtue of the fact that they look and sound good on the telly (and anyone who's made it onto the box must know a thing or too).

TV is incredibly influential today. There are many TV producers and writers who are committed Christians; they're working in a difficult but fascinating industry.

Jesus remarked that though heaven and earth will pass away, the truth of his words will stand forever. At the end of history, even TV producers will bow the knee before the Lord of love and the Prince of peace and declare him Lord of all, worthy of our highest acclaim.

I for one am praying hard that many more will discover it before then.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

About Mal Fletcher

Mal Fletcher is a social commentator and social futurist, global leadership speaker, broadcaster and author. He is chairman of the 2020Plus international Think-Tank based in London, and director of Next Wave International. His expert social comment is often featured in the media (e.g. BBC TV, BBC World News, Radio 5 Live etc) and his TV series, Edges, has been seen around the world. Get Mal’s daily comment at www.twitter.com/malfletcher. Mal is also a member of the Cross Rhythms Board Of Reference.

You can now buy Mal Fletcher products from Cross Rhythms Direct.

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Reader Comments

Posted by Yahya in Korea @ 06:30 on Dec 12 2007

The gnostics where a bit like the zionists of today, only without the weapons then? Only they who have the secrets will receive the keys to heaven?

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Posted by Mark Golding in Birmingham @ 12:56 on Feb 13 2007

The selection of scriptures made by the mainly Roman Episkipoi into a canonical book called the Bible is in itself a doctrinal statement that demotes and dethrones the Lordship of Christ over all things. They erroneously retrofitted Christ's life to the lives of believers making many believe since that the lives of sinners can share an equal place of scriptural authority with the Eternal Logos Himself. The Bible, as presented by Rome, is an effrontery and insult to the blood, sweat and tears the God shed on the cross to put into place for all time the pre-eminence of the Words That Came Out of His Mouth over and above all other words.

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Posted by Ken O'Hara in Prestwick @ 11:40 on Feb 12 2007

personally, i have enjoyed the recent spate of rather informative documentaries such as 'The Lost Gospels' and Dr Beckford's 'Who Wrote The Bible?'. We are now living in the 21st Century. Christian thinking - in the main - has not moved with the times. However, some theologians and historians alike are energised enough that they have the courage to doubt. This does not mean that we are questioning our faith.
Reading, questioning, thinking and discussing one's Christian faith leads to a growing of faith.
The gospels are not the word of God. They are the word of man and as such must stand up - or not - to close scrutiny and scholarship. There are many reasons why some 'gospels' did not make it into the final canon. Some of them political, some of them sexist but all of them man-made. We must move away from the adoration and worship of the gospels as the true account of Jesus of Nazareth. These are not eye-witness accounts! How does anyone know what Jesus said to Pilate? Did Pilate take verbatim notes?
The gosels themselves are so filled with contradiction and have been misinterpreted over two thousand years that they deserve to be questioned. Ou faith must not be based on myth and personal interpretation. Such documantaries are beginning to challenge us. If anything, they show that at least some Christians are willing to stand up and be counted as part of the growing number of 'liberators' of the gospels. The Bible is inherently Jewish written in a Jewish traditional 'midrashic' style. We, as thinking Christians must free the gospels from this tradition.

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Posted by Allan Clare in Bristol, UK. @ 12:33 on Jan 19 2007

I really don't think, Amanda, that we need comments such as:

"Do you know the people at BBC's Religion and Ethics Department, Mr. Fletcher, or are you comfortable blindly throwing around accusations?"

Please make your points without such pointedness!

And, for the record, I agreed wholeheartedly with Mal's points. God has seen to it that the New Testament documents are the most well attested ancient documents in the universe - because they're the truth about His Son, Jesus Christ.

Allan.

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Posted by Amanda Graham in England @ 14:16 on Jan 17 2007

6. There is also a distinct anti-education tone to this article. Does anyone else find it disturbing that according to Mr. Fletcher, having an academic background in theology is not a good thing? And guess what, having a DPhil (as the presenter of Lost Gospels has) DOES actually make you an expert.

Actually, this last point was the only one I needed to make. Anyone suspicious of education should be viewed with, well, suspicion.

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Posted by Amanda Graham in England @ 13:51 on Jan 17 2007

3. Mr. Fletcher needs to do some research into how the four gospels were canonised. Actually, he needs to do some research on church history in general.
4. Scholars of the Gospel of Judas do NOT credit the gospel to Judas Iscariot, regardless of textual claims.
5. I doubt he conducted any background research on the researchers and writers of the show he criticised. Do you know the people at BBC's Religion and Ethics Department, Mr. Fletcher, or are you comfortable blindly throwing around accusations?

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Posted by Amanda Graham in England @ 13:38 on Jan 17 2007

1. The purpose of BBC's Lost Gospels, to paraphrase the presenter/scholar's opinion, was to help contextualise the canonical gospels. He actually said we can learn more about the canonised gospels if we read the ones which were not canonised. This is true.
2. Mr. Fletcher's faith or indeed his concept of Christ should not be so weak as to be threatened by the script of a television show or fictional novel. People are free to formulate any opinion that they like about Christ; this is called 'free will', a concept I feel certain he embraces.

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Posted by Amanda Graham in England @ 13:36 on Jan 17 2007

I worry about articles like this. They are badly researched and written from a reactionary point of view.
I have several grad degees in theology, including a DPhil from Oxford University. I have studied the Bible and theology extensively for over 30 years. I must disagree wholeheartedly with the spirit in which Mr. Fletcher's article is written. I would also like to make the following points in the next several posts:

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Posted by George @ 18:00 on Jan 14 2007

When I first saw the title of this article, I thought: "At last - a critique of those televangelists who keep telling us that Jesus died so that we could all become millionaires and drive Hummers." Instead, it was another article bashing the media for asking the awkward questions we've all been asked from time to time (and for the millionth time, Dan Brown writes fiction!). I must have seen a completely different set of documentaries to the ones Mal saw. I found them interesting, and none of them undermined my faith or made me question the authority of Scripture.

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Posted by John Platt in Burntwood, Staffs @ 15:04 on Jan 13 2007

An informative and insightful article. Mal is correct in his assertions. And such poor, and potentially misleading, TV does not deserve the coverage it is getting.

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