The Secret Family of Jesus

This is a site I often frequent. Mark Goodacre has very interesting stuff. The documentary looks like being the usual stuff though that we get thrown at us - the trailers on C4 promise amazing revelations, rock foundations, secrets kept (usually by the Vatican). I very much fear more Da Vinci code type of nonsense.

I always think that if all the secrets that we are told were hidden in the Vatican archives, they'd need a a small country (or island the size of Jersey) to hold them!

I really doubt if it has anything new. I remember the guff about the Gospel of Judas, and Nat. Geographic did a documentary which took highly selective parts of the text and dramatised them (the Margaret Murray approach to history) . What I object to is not so much someone saying something controversial about Christianity, but the way in which texts are chopped to make them palatable to modern tastes, and presented as a kind of New Age theology (although that is not to say religious conservatives haven't been guilty of selective presentation too). One has only to read real historians, like Ronald Hutton ("Stations of the Sun") or Diarmaid MacCulloch ("The Reformation") to see how history should be done.

The cure (for people who thought there was something in it and had been deceived by the TV presentation) was a photocopy I had of the Gospel, with all the gnostic stuff about archons and emanations, and spheres. After reading that, they very rapidly came to the conclusion that it was not quite as it had been presented, and a lot less down to earth and realistic than the real gospels! Incidentally, Tom Wright has an excellent "Judas and the Gospel of Jesus" which looks at a lot of these matters.

I love the last sentence, in which Goodacre states his Christmas day preferences! For time travelling fiction, I think I'd prefer Tennant to Beckford too! Although I will video Beckford for later!

Tony

---

http://ntgateway.com/weblog/2006/12/secret-family-of-jesus-channel-4.html

The Secret Family of Jesus
25 December at 8pm

Did Jesus have a real human family? If so, why were they airbrushed from history and excised from the bible? Robert Beckford tells the story of the people who shared his bloodline.

Robert is a former colleague of mine at the University of Birmingham and his profile as a film-maker has risen hugely in the last few years. In fact, this is one of two documentaries he is involved with this Christmas. He discussed them both on today's Simon Mayo on FiveLive and was his usual, lively self. Listen again to the interview (streamed), or download it as a podcast -- it is today's Daily Mayo item. I'll be interested to see who is involved with The Secret Family of Jesus. Not me. I once enjoyed taking part in one of these experiences, Who Wrote the Bible?, on Christmas Day 2004, having filmed my section in Rome a couple of months earlier. This year, at least I won't have to inflict earnest religious content on my family on Christmas day, though I suppose we have the option of going for a smorgasbord of Some Like it Hot on Channel 4 at 4.35pm, followed by the new Doctor Who on BBC1 at 7pm, followed by Beckford at 8pm. Actually, we'll probably stick with Marilyn Monroe and David Tennant and video Dr Beckford. Sorry, Robert. by Mark Goodacre on 19/12/2006 16:50