Category Archives: history

Bible Mini-Series Positives

Posted on by under Bible, history, Old Testament, Scripture, video

the-bibleLast night, the History Channel aired their Bible mini-series. It’s a 10-part series over 5 weeks giving an artistic display of the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation. I didn’t get to watch it, since I live in Belgium and it was airing at 2.00am Central European Time. Maybe I’ll catch it online or when I visit the US in a few week’s time.

But I did see that Old Testament scholar, Peter Enns, shared some thoughts following the airing of the first 2-hour segment.

Enns shares how he, and we, can sometimes cringe at the embellishment of the biblical narrative – as we bring in our own imaginative efforts or we try and smooth over some of the difficult accounts told in holy scripture. And while Enns noted some of the negatives of the Bible mini-series, he also shared his appreciation for the overall projection of the biblical narrative, mainly that the series presents ‘an interconnected grand story rather than a series of disconnected “Bible stories.”’

These are some of Enns’ specific words, noting the positive, but intermingled with some constructive criticism: Continue reading →

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History Channel to Air Bible Mini-Series

Posted on by under Bible, history, Scripture, video

the-bibleThis week, I learned that the History Channel will be airing a drama mini-series about the Bible. It will be a 10-part series over 5 weeks, beginning on 3rd March 2013. It looks to be an artistic display of the biblical accounts from Genesis to Revelation. The series is produced by Mark Burnett and Roman Downey, who have also done shows like The Survivor and Touched by an Angel.

Darrel Bock, New Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, had this to say about the series following the pre-screening:

It is nice to be able to recommend something that has both artistic and spiritual merit. So save the date. Sit back and watch the Bible come alive.

Below, you can view the trailer. You can also follow this series on Twitter and Facebook.

Continue reading →

The Date of Jesus’ Birth

Posted on by under Christmas, history, Jesus

December 25th! A wonderful day, at least in the west. Well, it’s kind of taken on quite a different focus with the rise of extreme commercialisation of the date. But, as Christians (at least in the western hemisphere), we celebrate this day as the date when the Word-became-flesh. Or more simply, this is the day we celebrate Jesus’ Birthday.

But most people don’t realise that Jesus might not have been born on that date. Hey, the Eastern Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on 6th January (along with Epiphany).

To be honest, we really cannot know for certainty the exact date Christ was born. But that’s ok. I’m up for celebrating the Word-became-flesh the other 364 days of the year. Not in some overly spiritual and religious sense. But just the simple reality of celebrating Christ as much as possible by offering ourselves as living sacrifices.

Still, I thought you might be interested in checking out an article over at Mark Driscoll’s blog on the dating of Jesus’ birth. So, click here if you are interested in a little more reading. And here is another interesting article by a colleague of mine on the same topic.