ABC to Air Special on Jesus and Paul Monday

Crosswalk ^ | April 2 nd 2004 | Katie Krompegel

[missyme]

Rarely has so much attention been lavished on the life and death of Jesus. Thanks to The Passion of the Christ and the ensuing media blitz, people are talking about, reading about and wondering about Jesus. On Monday night, in a three-hour primetime event, ABC News will do its part to explore the story of Jesus and the founding of Christianity, including an in-depth look at Paul.

Targeted to those not yet familiar with the Christian faith, "Peter Jennings Reporting: Jesus and Paul – The Word and the Witness" will air Monday, April 5 from 8 –11 p.m. ET on the ABC Television Network.

ABCNEWS.com will feature companion programming, including a comprehensive interactive map and timeline of Paul’s journey, a gallery of images, Web exclusive articles, more about the scholars interviewed in the program, and a message board for viewers to debate ideas. The broadcast will also appear on ABC News Live, the 24/7 Internet news channel for a broadband audience available to subscribers at ABCNEWS.com

In recent years, ABC News has taken steps to focus attention on the complex, "sometimes controversial, issues surrounding religious history and personal faith." And while some evangelical Christians may disagree with the choice of scholars and the research findings, the special at least will generate lively discussion and hopefully, propel viewers to do their own studies.

"After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul becomes the main character in the Bible story about the birth of Christianity," notes a press release from ABC. "Jesus and Paul were two men of remarkable faith, iron will, and radical vision. Without them the religion we know today as Christianity would not exist. Both sacrificed everything for the belief that God had chosen them to change the world. They did."

When Jesus died on the cross, he left behind a small and frightened group of followers struggling to make sense of his death. Scholar and author Karen Armstrong tells Jennings: "If anyone had said this is a great idea for a new religion, a man who died a disgraceful death of a common criminal in an obscure province of the Roman Empire who is in some way divine, people would have laughed in your face!"

Yet within a few decades, against all odds, the tiny Jesus movement began to spread and in spite of ridicule, suspicion and persecution it would ultimately displace the Caesars as well as the mystery religions and pagan cults that crowded the Roman world.

If it weren’t for Paul says Armstrong, "Christianity probably would have remained a small sect within Judaism."

Both conservative and liberal scholars say it was Paul who first articulated the ideas we have about the Jesus who was sent by God to die to redeem the world’s sin. The letters Paul wrote as he traveled the Roman Empire formed the basis of the religion that today we call Christianity.

The special will explore the "controversy" surrounding Paul. Scholars tell Jennings that in Paul’s own day, "he fought bitterly with the closest friends and family of Jesus, who had a different vision for their fledgling movement."

According to ABC, Paul is described by some as a "madman and by many as a genius. He is also the man blamed for centuries of anti-Semitism." The program looks at whether that is fair as it traces Paul’s role in turning Christianity into a religion that was separate from Judaism.

[Tall_Texan]

ABC to Air Special on Jesus and Paul Monday

Place your bets now:

Odds ABC News will proclaim Jesus was pro-choice: 4-1.
Odds ABC News will proclaim Jesus and Paul were gay: 7-2.
Odds ABC News will question whether Jesus actually rose from the grave: 2-1.
Odds ABC News will find a way to blame this on Bush: Even.

[beaversmom]

I'm looking for a good modern historical book on Paul written by a Christian author. Wish Mel would make a movie about Paul--nothing controversial about him--ha, ha.

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[beaversmom]

I've already said that they will claim Paul was gay--so I'll have to place my bet on that one.

[missyme]

When I saw Peter Jennings on Larry King the other night he actually said that one of the things he had un-covered about Paul is that he was agaisnt homosexuality, but in the same sentence he said that Paul was agaisnt marraige because he saw the world coming to and end...This program should be interesting..One thing I was suprised to hear is that Jennings is a Christian and ABC is letting him produce programs about what he believes in, something you do not hear from other network programs.

[beaversmom]

Ping

[William Martel]

This whole thing sounds a bit screwy to me. In the first place, notice that they say nothing about the ressurection, start with the assumption of "Christ's death with a handful of scared followers", and look at Paul as the starting point of the religion. A follow-up to "The Passion of the Christ" this AIN'T.

[DoughtyOne]

I saw part of the King Jennings interview and was not quite as impressed as you were. Perhaps my take is incorrect with regard to the whole interview, but it was my perception that his use of the word 'sects' and a few others in conjunction with the Christian movement circa Jesus time to 100 ad led me to believe he was going to muddy the waters more than anything else.

Jennings has been anti-US for as long as I can remember. At the very least his view of what the US ought to be is vastly different than mine. I'm sorry but I cannot fathom Jennings being a devout Christian, and certainly cannot picture him presenting anything on the subject worth hearing.

[Ranald S. MacKenzie]

"I'm looking for a good modern historical book on Paul written by a Christian author."

Try "Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free" by F. F. Bruce. He's a serious evangelical scholar and this is an excellent book.

[jazzlite]

I am sure the secularists in positions of power are staying up at night to think of a way to neutralize the effect of "The Passion of Christ" because for the first time, someone (Mel Gibson) has been able to make clear why the Christian community is so committed to the teachings of Jesus. The major media will nearly always use deceit to distort what Christianity is. I do not trust Jennings or ABC. They have been diametrically opposed to the Christian beliefs on the most political issues over the years. Their major thrust has been to remove all Christian influence from our institutions. What the public does not realize today is that the very freedom we enjoy came into existance because of the Christian teachings which caused human beings to gain inner control over bad behavior which injures others. Because of left-wing politics and the left-wing media, our society has turned from the basic rules which produced freedom and those rules are simply the "Ten Commandments." The other possibility, of course, is that they are just trying to jump on the bandwagon of success that "The Passion" has been so far. I am very cynical about these folks..They have destroyed so much that was good and decent over the years..I hope I am wrong about this..

[hellinahandcart]

Peter Jennings is going to give Jesus and Paul the "scholarly" treatment this week. As you can probably guess, after our discussion yesterday, I'm about to wet my pants with joy. Finally, a scholarly treatment of Christianity, hosted on network television by an anti-American socialist!

You mustn't miss this scholar's learned opinions about Islam and the Palestinian situation:

Karen Armstrong: A Profile in Literary Diversity.

And what a relief, Bill Moyers likes her too:

Bill Moyers interviews Karen Armstrong

[I still care]

Peter Jennings did a special on Jesus quite a few years ago. It was so inaccurate, so in the liberal theological toilet, that the Christian Research Journal wrote a large rebuttal.

Jennings is to Christianity just what he is to conservative politicss - he thinks he understands but he is clueless.

I would be really surprised if the special was anything other than an ivory tower, "You silly people still believe in the Jesus of the gospels - let me educate you" special.

[hellinahandcart]

Well, my stupid link doesn't work now, even though Google originally took me right to the page. For some reason I had to go to the archives on wrmea.com and find February 1993. You'll have to scroll down most of the page, it's #38 under "Departments".

http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0293/index.htm

[I still care]

CRI, an excellent, scholarly, conservative, apologetics group actually issued a paper called "A point by point rebuttal to Peter Jennings The Search for Jesus".

Here is the adobe acrobat link. We probably are going to see the same inaccurate gospel undermining rehash, so it probably is worth a look - when people come up and tell you the gospels aren't accurate, you will have a ready and strong answer.

http://www.equip.org/free/DJ920.pdf

[GulfWar1Vet]

I agree with you...

I can bet you that they will have the members of the Jesus Seminar on the show. It never fails to have liberal "theologians" to discredit Christianity and especially Jesus.

I know that I ain't gonna watch it. I will trust God and His Word instead of Peter Jennings and man.

Fox News Channel is having a special on Jesus, "Who's Jesus?" tomorrow night. I sure hope that it is fair and balanced..we will see.

The controversey over Jesus will not stop. Either you believe in who He is, or you don't. He, Himself, warned that whatever your decision on Him, will determine where you will be in eternity.

[hellinahandcart]

Must-see TV.

(snort!)

[Hardastarboard]

Yeah, I'm thinking if Jennings is a Christian, then maybe it's time to look for a new religion.

[New Horizon]

Odds ABC News will proclaim Jesus and Paul were gay: 7-2.

LOL! That was my first thought after reading the title.

[NYer]

CRI, an excellent, scholarly, conservative, apologetics group actually issued a paper called "A point by point rebuttal to Peter Jennings The Search for Jesus".

Thanks for the link! It should be worth monitoring to see how they respond to Jenning's new special. Like many, I have serious doubts as to the objectivity of this program. Sadly, these programs are viewed by the poorly catechized and accepted as 'gospel truth'.

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list