Film Forum and Reviews

I teach (among other places) in the religion department of a Christian university, and this semester I have a class on Paul and his writings. So, I've been getting these documentaries from Netflix. I've seen 3 of them so far, so I thought I'd let you knw how they are.

Mysteries of the Bible: Paul the Apostle This was the best of the 3 I've seen so far. It is an A&E production, which gives it some legitimacy, and the scholars they interview are reputable. The only problem I have is that it is a bit sensationalistic. For example, it asks, "Could Paul's doctrines have been influenced by the mystery religions that were so prevalent in the Greco-Roman world?" Then they go on to talk about the cult of Mithras, but the answer is, of course, no, he knew about them but there's no sign that his teachings were influenced by them. So, why bring it up? Because they wanted to keep people watching over the commercial break.

The Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches This one was boring. "Paul went here, then he went here, then he went over here. This is a nice city. Then he went to another city. It was nice, too."

Paul, Apostle of Grace This was pretty good, and it had a lot of nice footage of the ruins of the cities Paul went to (most of which are still thriving cities). It was pretty slow-paced, though, and I could have done without the gentle but persistent altar calls inerpsersed throughout. Stiil I did like the way it wove passages from the letters into the Acts account. That was fairly helpful from a teaching point of view.

I'll let you know when I have more to report! I'm sure there are several more on my list.