Christ Files DVD by John Dickson

Guys,

Just thought of sharing a resource which I think is quite interesting and useful for anyone who is interested in the historical study of Jesus, but has no time or inclination to read the tons of books written on the subject.

Actually, I am quite surprised that it has not caught the attention (at least in my network of information circulation) of the Christian blogosphere enough for it to be suggested as an invaluable resource in addition to the printed materials.

I am speaking of the Christ Files DVD which is based on the book of the same title written by John Dickson. The DVD is a beautifully filmed (some of the background scenes across the globe are quite stunning due to the high quality of the production which is almost equivalent to HD) documentary with a clear logical path that traces the sources (including Gnostic, Jewish and Greco-Roman materials) of our knowledge of Jesus starting from the period furthest away from the Lord's lifetime to the sources nearest to the time of his death and resurrection. Very clearly presented by the witty author with a sound logical argument and neat visual timeline. Interspersed in between are short interviews (the second disc contains 6 hours of the full interviews) of various renown scholars in the field. I took the liberty to paste the list below.

• Professor Richard Bauckham of St Andrew’s University, Scotland on the Gospels and Eyewitness Testimony
• Professor Marcus Bockmuehl of St Andrew’s University, Scotland on Gnosticism and the Gnostic Gospels
• Professor James Charlesworth of Princeton University, USA on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jesus
• Professor James Dunn of Durham University, England on how ancient societies preserved traditions aurally
• Professor Sean Freyne of Trinity College, Dublin on the Archaeology of Galilee (filmed on location in Israel)
• Professor Martin Hengel of the University of Tubingen, Germany on the historical value of the Gospels
• Professor Alanna Nobbs of Macquarie University, Australia on the Greco-Roman sources for studying Jesus
• Dr. Adolfo Roitman of Shrine of the Book, Israel on the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Professor Peter Stuhlmacher of University of Tubingen, Germany on the Apostle Paul and the value of his letters for the study of the historical Jesus
• Professor Christopher Tuckett of Oxford University, England on the source behind the Gospels, such as ‘Q’ 
• Right Reverend Dr. Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, England on the importance of the Old Testament for understanding the historical Jesus

The effective segmentization of the DVD menu allows viewers to select according to topics, subtopics, or interviews. This is particularly useful if you want to zoom in on a certain topic for discussion with friends or for further study in a cell group. There is even a shorten version of the documentary which was meant for airing on TV. It has a nice contemporary feel in the way the video shots are taken. Compared to Strobel's DVDs, this is much better.

I ordered this DVD through Canaanland about half a year ago. The price is RM59.90 nett. They have several copies. Perhaps less than 15. The book is also available at the price of RM32.50 before discount. Do check out the DVD's website if you are interested to view excepts of the documentary or interviews (Bauckham and Wright really speak well compared to Hengel and Dunn). 

A lengthy promotion, but do not get me wrong. I have no share of profit from Canaanland or Dickson.