The Christ Files DVD

Archive material

THE CHRIST FILES DVD

A search for the real Jesus

Presented by John Dickson

Anglican Media Sydney. £8.00 from The Good Book Company (http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk)

This is a very professional and engaging series of DVD documentary programmes which investigate the historical evidence concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

The main footage consists of four half-hour shows examining the evidence from ancient Greco-Roman sources, Jewish sources, NT and archaeology. In pursuing his quest, the affable Aussie John Dickson travels the world to interview well-known academics who are recognised experts in the areas under consideration.

In one way I found myself very enthusiastic about the DVD. The Christianity Explored (CE) course proceeds on the assumption that Mark’s Gospel, for example, is a reliable document. However, thinking participants in CE would want to see some evidence that this is so. John Dickson’s four programmes are perfect to show to such people. He is as watchable as Rico Tice and asks all the questions (Dan Brown and the Gnostic Gospels, etc.) and faces all the difficulties which people would want to know about. Viewers can see for themselves the solid historical basis on which our faith rests.

But in another way the programmes worried me. It is all very well interviewing people like Professor James Dunn and Bishop Tom Wright (not to mention others) about the veracity of the Gospels, but, if you ask those same men what the gospel is, the answer you will get will not be the biblical gospel we understand as conservative evangelicals. This could leave our CE attenders confused. We might have to say to them ‘Don’t ask what they believe’.