Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Jesus Mysteries, National Geographic Channel

Mary Magdalene (Alice Marshall), The Jesus Mysteries
(Juniper TV; National Geographic)
This weekend, National Geographic Channel are showing a two hour documentary entitled The Jesus Mysteries.  It is written and directed by David Caldwell Evans for Juniper TV and it is being shown internationally, including Australia (Friday 18th), the UK (Easter Day, 20th; Radio Times), Sub-Saharan Africa (Easter Day, 20th), and the USA (Saturday, 19th).  Here's the series blurb:

Jesus Christ is one of the most famous names in the history of mankind. But Gospel writers left out crucial details about pivotal events in Christ's life - historical moments that have been adapted, embellished and rewritten over the course of hundreds of years. This special re-examines elements of Christ's life and ministry, such as the nativity, the miracles and the crucifixion - questioning basic modern assumptions to reveal some surprising and often shocking details.

There are a couple of clips available.  The first focuses on "Rabble Rousing" and discusses the temple incident and features Bart Ehrman, Helen Bond, Larry Hurtado and me:



The second discusses Mary Magdalene, "Prostitute or Disciple", and features Kate Cooper and Helen Bond, alongside Alice Marshall as Mary Magdalene:





I was interviewed for this in July in St Andrews, Scotland, just before Helen Bond was interviewed too.  Although I have not seen it yet, I like the look of the mix of drama and CGI reconstructions with scholars' interviews.  And the handsome Jesus figure is played by Nick Simmons, son of Gene Simmons from the legendary rock band Kiss.  Here he is in the boat with Joseph of Arimathea:

Nick Simmons as Jesus in The Jesus Mysteries, National Geographic

This and other photographs suggest that there will be some idiosyncratic elements covered, including legends like Jesus in England.

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5 comments:

  1. Keen Reader15 April 2014 at 19:34

    Ugh! Apart from the scholars, who no doubt will be edited to the millisecond for maximum sensationalism, the rest repulses me. Anything about Jesus with Mystery, Secret or Lost in the title is to be avoided, IMO.

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  2. Unknown16 April 2014 at 01:57

    Don’t you have a tie and a jacket in your wardrobe, Herr Pr Dr Goodacre ?… ;-)

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  3. Unknown16 April 2014 at 23:22

    Any idea what the show has to say about the nativity accounts?

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  4. Steven Bollinger19 April 2014 at 18:00

    Looks like National Geographic may accidentally be giving a book by Timothy Freke a big boost. (Same title.)

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  5. Unknown20 April 2014 at 08:34

    Can you find, Steven Bollinger, a book on Jesus without the words “secret”, “mysteries”, and so on ?…

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