The God Who Wasn't There
The God Who Wasn't There | |
---|---|
Directed by | Brian Flemming |
Written by | Brian Flemming |
Produced by | Brian Flemming Amanda Jackson |
Starring | Brian Flemming (narration) Sam Harris Richard Carrier Alan Dundes Barbara Mikkelson David P. Mikkelson Robert M. Price Scott Butcher Ronald Sipus |
Distributed by | Beyond Belief Media Microcinema International |
Release date | May 21, 2005 |
Running time | 62 mins |
Language | English |
The God Who Wasn't There is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical Jesus, as well as other aspects of Christianity.[1]
The overwhelming consensus among biblical scholars is that the Jesus depicted in the New Testament is at least in part based on a real historical person, contrary to the film's major premise. [2]
Overview
Jesus myth hypothesis
Most of the film is a presentation of the argument for the Jesus myth hypothesis. Flemming and interviewees in the film make these claims:
- The history of Christianity, especially the doctrine of the earliest Christians, is consistent with Jesus having been a mythical character, with historical details only added on later.
- The Epistles of Paul, which were written before the Gospels, show no awareness on the part of the author that Jesus was supposed to have been a human being who recently lived. Paul mentions only the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension and presents them as having occurred in a mythic realm rather than an earthly one.
- The death-resurrection-ascension sequence was common in previous mythologies and religions, making it more likely that the Jesus character was inspired by his similar forebears than that he actually lived on Earth.
- Other details of the Jesus biography offered in the Gospels also have precedent in previous mythologies and religions, especially Judaism. For example, the "Massacre of the Innocents" scene appears to be directly inspired by a nearly identical story in Exodus.
Other criticisms of Christianity
Besides defending the Jesus myth hypothesis, the film criticizes some other aspects of Christianity:
- Flemming argues that moderate Christianity makes even less sense than a fundamentalist interpretation of Christian doctrine, asserting that the Bible contains many messages incompatible with toleration of non-Christians, who reject Jesus as the Savior of Christian doctrine and must therefore be regarded by Christians as damned.
- Flemming sees God's demand that people believe in him or be damned as essentially mind control. He interprets Mark 3:29 and similar passages as damning anyone who doubts the existence of the Holy Spirit. He is appalled by the notion that Jesus will forgive murder, theft, and any other sin but not this type of disbelief.
- Because Jesus knows people's innermost thoughts, and that therefore one must police one's thoughts to avoid any doubt, Flemming summarizes this idea with the statement that the greatest sin in fundamentalist Christianity is "to think."
- Flemming asserts that Christians have historically been obsessed with blood sacrifice, and illustrates this viewpoint by pointing out that Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, which contains very few scenes that do not feature graphic violence or suffering, was more financially successful than any previous film about Jesus.
- The film references poll results indicating that 44% of Americans believe, to some degree, that Jesus will come back to Earth in their lifetime, and that this sort of thinking is not conducive to long-term governmental policies.
Interviews and commentary
Several notable personalities make appearances in the documentary:
- Scott Butcher is the creator of the Rapture Letters.com website.
- Richard Carrier is a philosopher and historian who holds a PhD in ancient history from Columbia University, New York.
- Alan Dundes was an anthropologist and folklorist. Until his death shortly after being interviewed for the documentary, he was Professor of Folklore and Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.
- Sam Harris is a researcher into the neurobiology of religious belief, and author of The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The Moral Landscape.
- Barbara Mikkelson and David P. Mikkelson are the founders of Snopes.com.
- Robert M. Price is Professor of Biblical Criticism at the Council for Secular Humanism's Center for Inquiry Institute.[3]
- Ronald Sipus, principal of Village Christian School, which Brian Flemming attended as a youth. Sipus walked out of the interview, accusing Flemming of misrepresenting himself and his reasons for the interview.
The following only appear on the DVD's commentary track:
- Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist and popular science writer.
- Earl Doherty is a contemporary advocate of the Jesus Myth theory and author of The Jesus Puzzle.
- The Raving Atheist is a lawyer and former atheist blogger, who has since converted to Christianity.[4]
Among the Christians shown in the film were attendees at a Billy Graham Crusade event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on November 18, 2004.
Blasphemy Challenge
In December 2006, the atheist organization Rational Response Squad announced it would give free DVDs of the film to the first 1,001 people who participated in the Blasphemy Challenge, an Internet-based project encouraging atheists to declare themselves publicly.[5]
See also
References
- ^ David Ian Miller (2006-02-13). "Finding my religion". SF Gate.
- ^ Stanton, Graham. The Gospels and Jesus. Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 145 (first published 1989).
- Wells, G. A. "Jesus, Historicity of" Tom Flynn (ed.) The New Encyclopedia of Disbelief. Prometheus, 2007, p. 446.
- For a summary of the mainstream position, see Eddy, Paul R. and Boyd, Gregory A. The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. Baker Academic, 2007, pp. 24–27.
- Also see Dickson, March 21, 2008.
- ^ Advisory Board, Secular Student Alliance, accessed April 15, 2010.
- ^ Christ is the Lord, The Raving Theist, December 22, 2008.
- ^ The Blasphemy Challenge Official site accessed on February 18, 2007
External links
- Official website
- The God Who Wasn't There at IMDb
- An interview with Brian Flemming by Christianity Today
- Review by Apologetics Coordinator at the North American Mission Board Mike R. Licona