From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians

One documentary from PBS's Frontline (split in two parts) and an interesting video about the triumph of Paul and his followers who wrote the Gospels but who had never actually met the historical Jesus

An extremely good and fascinating Frontline documentary from 1998. I recommend it very highly as you feel like you’re immersed in those times. The various biblical scholars that narrate his story are beautifully passionate in their telling of the early times of Jesus, his ministry, his crucifixion and, most interesting, the early “Jesus movement” amongst Jews afterwards. I think these scholars did a great job in bringing home the reality of those times.

Here’s the entire video as Part 1 (up until 1 hr 50 mins):

Part 2 is from 1: 50 to the end:

The following documentary takes a look at the competing factions of “Jesus followers” after his crucifixion. The documentary states it’s premise and starting point at the beginning of the video:

About 25 years after the death of Jesus Christ, the movement that he inspired split into two factions. These factions held very different views of their leader: his identity, his message, his vision. A power struggle ensued. And one of these factions, under the guiding genius of St. Paul emerged the winner. Eventually it wrote it’s version of Jesus’s story in the Gospels of the New Testament.

The other faction is more mysterious. It left behind no surviving record of it’s beliefs and withered away. Yet unlike the winners who wrote the Gospels, this faction was composed of the people who really knew Jesus, ie., his family and his disciples. What if THEY had won the power struggle and written their alternative biography of Jesus? What sort of person would Jesus be if his story was told by the people who knew him best??

Yes, it’s as fascinating as it sounds. Here’s the 50 minute video:

I hope you enjoy this.