Children's Bible Stories: The First Easter [2007]

Customer Reviews:

Very variable, but enjoyable.......2007-01-30

I bought this video, since I was interested to learn about the lesser apostles. I was glad this was a joint production with London Weekend Television introduced by Melvyn Bragg. I started with Peter and really enjoyed the take, even though Melvyn explained again and again it wasn't historical and there was no evidence Peter even went to Rome. If the scholarship had been better the producers would have known the Latin authors at the time, who testified to Peter's appearance to Rome and that of Paul, both of whose tombs have recently been verified. This gave me a slightly uneasy feeling. The whole thing then seemed to go in the direction of whether Peter would have been worries seeing all the Christians in St Peters, all baptised and devout and for some reason the Irishman who appeared in a floppy hat at regular intervals said he would (???) St James was dealt with seriously and with great piety, even through they managed to find one or two people who had only made the pilgrimage for 'tourism'. Very interesting was the emphasis on the shrine of St Jude,(Thaddeus)the patron Saint of Hopeless Cases in America.The histories of Philip, Thomas and Batholomew (poor St Bart with his skin flayed off)were sensitively and truthfully portrayed .With Judas however, the producer lost the plot and started an anti semitism rant which went on accusing first the Christians of lying about Judas , then the early church demonising them and then Martin Luther denouncing the jews with culminated in the holocaust!!! It is feasible that Judas was part of the plan to get Jesus into the clutches of the Pharisees, whom he upset, but obviously it would have been part of God's plan from the start that there would be a traitor, someone disappointed perhaps with Jesus mission, the priesthood did hand Jesus over to be executed, but blaming the holocaust on Western Christianity. There were various other groups of people in the middle ages who were persecuted, women being a prime example-what about the war between Stephen and Matilda . It was a notoriously intolerant time, when marauding warriors went round killing people randomly ( as in '30 years war' and 'Wars of Roses')Jewish people were a prime target because of their wealth and brilliance.Often Saxons were also targeted for ther wealth.There were no doubt abuses in the church, but ,in fact, the holocaust was caused by a man driven by thoughts of a Pagan Aryan purity and many Christians, Catholics, Lutherans and Baptists in particular paid the ultimate price in defence of the Jews, others were frightened, but it is a bit much to try and point out hatred of Judas as a factor in hatred of the Jews. Finally , the chapter on Mary Magdalene repeated the assertion that Jesus was married, even though there is not a shred of evidence for this, and criticised Paul, the kind and the greatest Apostle for not allowing women to preach. there was a good reason for that. Christian women were responsible for Children while men went off, and apostles all went off to their death. Preaching was dangerous for women. It was Christianity that for the first time gave women prestige, an equal soul before God. The whole idea of women going off on their own preaching was simply not custom at that time. there are plenty of feisty women later and many martyrs. Mary Magdalene was helped by Christ to a feeling of her own worth, but to present evidence of a 'marriage' where there is no proof at all either in the Bible or out of it with the Latin writers,who did write accounts of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul under Domition for example.They would have certainly recorded details of Christ's marriage with everything else.So whilst the colours are lovely and the pictures of the Holy Land fabulous,and whilst I really enjoyed hearing about the lesser known Apostle Bartholomew founding the first state Christian Church in Armenia, and learning about his martyrdom, I felt that it fell victim a bit to campaigning for social change in allowing women priests and vicars and holding up Mary Magdalene as an example. There seemed to be no representatives of the Catholic Church available for the episodes of Judas and Magdalene which was staffed by comments only from the Church of England which had recently allowed women prists.I would have thought the Magdalene could have held her own as a disciple without having to have a man. There was also an erroneous assertion earlier from a vicar that the Gospels were all written around 70AD. We now know they were written earlier and it is said Matthew wrote his account in Aramaic , his own language before getting it translated. Papyrus fragments of John's gospel have been dated at 100AD, which would have meant they were in Egypt by then, and John's gospel was the last and now dated around 60 AD. Melvyn Bragg's commentary whilst clear and straightforward was never exciting, yet I feel the scriptwriters did not have sympathy for the Christian message in spite of the wonderful art and indeed. It was not mentioned that Mark was a young scholar in Rome who faithfully recorded the preaching of St Peter about the Apostles' memories and experiences of Christ's teaching. Nor was the legacy of Luke, companion of Paul and writer of the Acts of the Apostles mentioned anywhere, in spite of their mission to non Jews.
So slightly imperfect, but a very enjoyable series and basis for discussion for Lenten groups etc.I think that many people will enjoy many things about this, especially the wonderful art and locations and the wonderful episode about St James.So with these reservations, a good and entertaining fount of information about the Apostles.

BJ's Teddy Bear Club and Bible Stories, Vols. 3 & 4 (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

BJ's Teddy Bear Club and Bible Stories, Vols. 3 & 4 (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Various
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Animated | Comedy | Categories | DVD | Video

All Children's DVD | Children's DVD | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000HC2LSA
Release Date: 2006-09-05

BJ's Teddy Bear Club and Bible Stories (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

BJ's Teddy Bear Club and Bible Stories (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Various
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Animated | Comedy | Categories | DVD | Video

All Children's DVD | Children's DVD | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000GIW9IM
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Average customer rating:

BJ's Teddy Bear Club and Bible Stories (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Various
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Animated | Comedy | Categories | DVD | Video

All Children's DVD | Children's DVD | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000HA4WMK
Release Date: 2006-09-05

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