After months of negotiations with the Coptic Museum in Cairo, a last minute coup of historic proportions has seen Sydney Anglican film makers gain unprecedented access to some of the most controversial ancient documents about Jesus.
Presenter of upcoming documentary series The Christ Files, John Dickson, has been allowed the very rare privilege of handling the most valuable and fragile of the Gnostic Gospels.
One of these, the Gospel of Philip, is the very document that Dan Brown uses in the Da Vinci Code to assert that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
This access left the documentary’s star John Dickson hopping up and down with excitement.
He immediately began ringing friends all over the world to tell them of his success.
“It's such a privilege. I'm still pinching myself,” John told Sydneyanglicans.net from Europe.
“Lord willing, this will offer an important alternative to the typical historical documentary on Jesus. I'm sure producers often think that for a doco to be interesting it has to offer fringy new theories. I reckon the mainstream Jesus is the most radical of all.”
John explains this is one of the key reasons for the project.
“I've been frustrated for years that the only books on Jesus the general public sees are the highly sceptical ones. They read this stuff with no idea that it represents just a tiny fringe of scholarship. The Christ Files tries to present a mainstream account of how historians assess the evidence about Jesus,” he says.
The series, based on his latest book, aims to answer one key question: what can we know for sure about Jesus Christ?
The Christ Files will be shot in eight different countries, examining primary historical sources and featuring interviews from key Christian and non-Christian academics, including Geza Vermes, Martin Hengel and N T Wright.
"John's book perfectly connects with a growing interest to know more about the historical credibility of the Christian faith," says Mark Hadley, producer of the series.
"If Jesus didn't really do the things Christians say he did, then I'm with the Apostle Paul: we are to be pitied above anyone else. That's why Christians need to be prepared to mount a solid historical defence."
Mr Hadley believes that a television and DVD series is the key way to challenge contemporary audiences.
"Most people's opinions on the Holocaust have been shaped by television documentaries and Hollywood productions," he says.
"Having a series that definitively answers the historical questions about Jesus is essential for informing the way people think."
The Christ Files has been six months so far in the making, and production will take six more.
The team now moves on to England, Ireland and Scotland, and will journey to Italy, Germany and Israel early next year.
"We're pulling out all the stops on this one," says Mr Hadley.
"We're travelling across the world to include the most important historical thinkers on the reliability of the Christian faith. We're aiming to create the definitive production."
The production team has already secured a major Australian free-to-air network to broadcast the series, but negotiations are continuing.
Mr Hadley says the series will be released on DVD through Youthworks and packaged to create a "must-use' resource.
