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From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians | 
 enlarge | Actor: From Jesus To Christ-first Christians
Studio: Pbs Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $12.25
You Save: $7.74 (39%)
New (32) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $12.25
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 25384
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 240 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D705045D
UPC: 841887050456
EAN: 0841887050456
ASIN: B000BITUBG
Release Date: August 24, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Value Depends on Your Purpose July 10, 2008
Rick Ansgar (usa)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This video series is an object lesson on assumptions. It demonstrates how far off base even intelligent scholars can be when a basic assumption precedes all data, thereby colouring grossly all subsequent data and analysis.
The overpowering, underlying assumption to this entire series, and for the scholars interviewed, is that Jesus lived, was very likely martyred for his teachings, very likely rose from the dead, and very likely was a son of god, or the Christ, the son of the God.
Never minding the data is what most of these scholars have done, which makes them professional myth-makers, little more. Never mind that many of them are excellent speakers and excellent story tellers, and caring human beings. Never mind that the video series was written, filmed and produced with the utmost care and delicacy towards the sensitivities of every sort of "believer", whether Jewish or Christian. This series is, above all, a proponent of a myth. In this sense I give the series 5 Stars. But from the perspective of the latest scholarship, discoveries of documents, discoveries within documents, discoveries in archeology, I give this series 0.5 Stars.
Of course, Frontline is no stranger to myth-making, but mostly their expertise in that category lies within the political arena. After all, they are, in essence, an organ of the state.
 you will find your reflection in it June 26, 2008
R. M. Williams (tucson, arizona USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
i'm one of those people the series calls "orthodox Christians", theologically conservative, and knowledgable about many of the issues they talk about.
the show strikes me as a bit arrogant to assume that their particular viewpoint is widely shared, it isn't, but rather is restricted to academics and theologically liberal churches. but i supposed when they count noses on the issues, these are the only people whose opinions or noses count. sadly, it is not a unbiased presentations but rather the current state of the art for a specific theological tradition.
but if you can stomach the documentary hypothesis, Q, and the principle that prophecy is impossible so if a document mentions X that it must have been written after event X has occurs, there is some value to watching it.
 have watched this over and over June 14, 2008
Greg S
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am not religious but have watched this doc many times. Initially I had a VHS copy from the broadcast, then bought the DVD. It is extremely well presented and gives a lot of insight into the time of Jesus and the following years of the early Christians. Highly recommended.
Some good points of view, some not. February 8, 2008
Carlos E. Rangel
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
This DVD presents mostly the points of views of several bible scholars. Most of the observations about how Christianity initially developed are acceptable, and some are very good; but most of the final commentaries are way off target.
First, Constantine the Great did tell the Christian soldiers that, in a vision, he had been instructed to place a cipher of Christ (not exactly a cross, as they indicate in the DVD) on the shields of his soldiers, in order to win a crucial battle against Maxentius and to become the sole Roman emperor. But all these scholars appear to ignore that, at the same time, he had told the pagan soldiers that, in a visit to a sanctuary of Apollo in France, he also had a vision in which this pagan god had promised victory and long life to him; thus, it is evident that he was more of a shrewd politician than a true convert.
Second, at the end of the DVD, the narrator says that, with the adoption of Christianity by Rome, some saw the fulfillment of the prophesy that "the kingdom of the world would become the kingdom of God," or vice versa, and that now Jesus of Nazareth had become Jesus the Christ. Well, on one hand Saint Paul had started teaching extensively and in different terms about Christ more than two centuries before; and, on the other hand, Constantine stands for one of the most, if not the most corruptive person in the history of the Church, for now it was the Roman state who pulled many of the strings in the government of the Church, and, in general, authority in the Church became a matter not only of brotherly service, as Jesus taught, but of power and political influence.
Best Televised Documentary on Early Christianity January 6, 2008
deafguy (CT USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As I write this review, this program ("From Jesus to Christ") is nearly ten years old. Yet it is still by far the best televised documentary on the topic of early Christianity. In the place of celebrity or news media narration, this four-hour, four-part film employs some of the most respected scholars of ancient Judaism and Christianity from universities like Harvard and Yale. Visually, the film stays away from campy "reenactments" with bad sets and actors and instead shows archaeological remains from the time of the early Christians and the "talking heads" of the scholars. The information that the scholars convey is basically representative of the debates going on in the field of early Christian studies (the disagreement of the scholars interviewed is thus a strength, not a fault, of this program). One weakness of the program is that it does not include some of the most revisionist history that is emerging from some scholars (for instance, those scholars who tend to think the book of Acts is largely historically unreliable are not represented). But all things considered, if you want an excellent historical introduction to ancient Christianity in video format, "From Jesus to Christianity" is for you.
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