by R Anderson

Created on: December 12, 2007

"From Jesus to Christ The First Christians" was produced as a PBS documentary and released in August of 2004. At 4 hours in length this DVD gives a general overview of the establishment of the Church and the evolution of the perception of Jesus. A warning, however, this documentary throws out many of the currently accepted sources (such as the Bible) and ideas regarding Christianity and tries to supplement with other sources to explain the birth of Christianity and its explosion onto the world scene.

This program traces Christianity from its beginnings as just another sect to an entirely new religion. It also shows how Jesus turned from a rather unknown man into the monumental figure we worship today. Ancient texts such as the Nag Hammadi Scrolls, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the journal of an early martyr, Perpetua, are explored. Other subjects are also investigated such as how different and varied the Gospels truly are, how Christianity grew and spread, and the way Jesus was viewed due to his social status. The story of how Constantine, the emperor of Rome, became convinced of Christianity and converted is also covered. This was an important event since it was the acceptance by the imperial household which allowed for such a new religion to spread so rapidly.

There are several new conclusions that this program draws. One that may not be welcomed is that the Bible was written, consolidated and translated by people lending it a measure of error. For those that believe the Bible is the infallible word of God, the idea that it could contain errors could be upsetting. Other problems occur when statements are made without any support or explanation such as, "Jesus may have been born in Nazareth and not in Bethlehem." If one is going to say something so controversial, it must be supported in some way. It is a bit insulting to state something of this nature and then not explore the evidence for such a statement. It is almost as if those who made the film hoped they could "get something by" some in the audience and plant doubt in the others.

There are a few problems regarding the basic presentation of this documentary as well. For example, the interviews with the scholars are rather short. This is not detrimental, however, the scholars seem to disagree and contradict one another at times. This can leave the viewer confused as to what the truth actually is and what exactly the interviewees are talking about. There is also little evidence shown to support some of the theories and conclusions drawn. This may be due to the large amount of material that must be discussed in such a short period of time, however it would have been interesting to have explanations that were a bit more in-depth.

Overall, this DVD gives a general and interesting coverage of the first centuries of Christianity's establishment and its solidification as one of the world's great religions. However, it is rather speculative in many areas and some might think it almost heretical in others.

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