Jesus' life will be the main attraction on Channel 7 this Good Friday lunchtime as the Network screens a documentary which follows on from the highly successful Christ Files, screened on Good Friday last year.
While The Christ Files answered the question of ‘how we know’ about the reliability of the accounts of Jesus, Life of Jesus deals with ‘what we know’ about his life and identity.
“Most of us have a picture of Jesus: Hollywood Jesus, left-wing Jesus, right-wing Jesus or whatever,” Dr Dickson says in the documentary, which was filmed late last year.
He referred to examples such as the Gospel of Judas, and the alleged discovery of Jesus’ tomb.
“But what is so often lacking in these portraits is actual historical evidence.”
In Life of Jesus, Dr Dickson reveals what first-century writers say about Jesus’ existence on earth, namely his radical teaching, healing, martyr’s death and resurrection.
“It’s partly because of these non-Christian references to Jesus that no professional historian doubts that a teacher and reputed healer named Jesus really did live and was crucified early in first-century Palestine,” Dr Dickson says.
Filmed on location mainly in Israel, Life of Jesus also explains the first-century world of Jesus, what he taught and what historians agree were the key events in his life in an historical context.
The hour-long documentary,Life of Jesus, set to screen this Friday at 1pm, leads the viewer around key biblical sites, including Bethlehem and Golgotha, to give an account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
As with the popular Christ Filesprogram, Dr John Dickson, a well-known author and historian, acts both as a source of biblical and historical knowledge, and as a kind of tour guide showing viewers the significance of each location and scene.
The program, which will premiere to an invitation-only audience on Wednesday night, is an edited version of the six-episode Life of Jesus DVD series, which was released on the weekend.
The two-DVD set (and Behind the Life of Jesus guidebook) also includes a series of 25 candid on-location conversations between Dr Greg Clarke and Dr John Dickson about key questions that arise from Jesus' life "” What is the idea of Hell?, Does God exist? Why is there evil in the world? What about other religions? Are miracles possible? and Is Death the End?
Dr Clarke and Dr Dickson are co-directors of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), the multi-media non-denominational think-tank praised by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "a welcome development in the spiritual and intellectual life of Australia".
Anglican Media Sydney " who brought the Christ Files to TV screens last year " produced the Life of Jesus DVD and TV program in partnership with CPX.
