User Reviews

I'm upto episode 3 so far and find this an invaluable documentary. When you read an ancient text, you tend to inscribe your own filter over what you're reading and the results can be confusing. This documentary allows you to see for yourself the actual locations where situations from the gospels occurred. There are a few re-creations to elaborate on certain points but it is mostly footage from the real locations

The curiosity of the presenter was refreshing- he went about his work professionally and i could count at-least 5 professionals who were interviewed (in the 1st 2 episodes). Their feedback was valuable. The presenter did not appear to have a pre-concieved bias and often aimed to show respect to those he was interviewing.

People will unfortunately apply their own bias to this documentary in the same way they would to an ancient text- if people are determined to find fault with an ancient text like the Bible, they will probably see this with that filter. Unfortunately this can work both ways.

Either way, this is invaluable and worth seeing.

This is a very well done introduction to an extraordinary historical period.

Whether you are a Christian or not, this offers some very welcome information about what it was like to live, deal with illnesses and suffer punishment as a "criminal" during this time. In addition to people native to the area it additionally touches on how Romans lived and interacted with the "locals".

I've always loved history and have long been frustrated by the lack of books and documentaries out there that delve into the actual day to day lives and activities of people living in this pivotal period in human history.

While I'd love to have seen them go into much more depth, I realize many people might not share my passion for historical detail. This seems to be a decent introduction to the subject. I highly recommend it to any history buffs interested in this period.

Dr. Arne Kislenko, Associate Professor of History at Ryerson University and instructor at Trinity College, Toronto, hosts this National Geographic series on 3 major aspects of life at the time of Jesus: jobs, illness and healing, and crime and punishment. Along the way he talks to archeologists and experts, including locals with knowledge of the customs still handed down. He takes us to various sites in Israel and learns a lot of the everyday details not found in the Bible or indeed most general histories of the person. This is of interest not merely to people of faith but to those who love history and ancient cultures.

Actually I don't think it's veiled at all.

It's presented by a guy (Arne Kislenko) who says he's a historian. For all I know he may even be one, I can't verify his credentials.

For a historian he seems to be very relaxed about the very open possibility that the person from the title, Jesus of Nazareth, may have never existed, as no historical data, other than the Gospels, confirmed his existence. No public record, no mention of him in contemporary work, no archaeological artifacts that can be easily tied to him. Not even in the biblical writings outside the Gospels is Jesus mentioned as anything more than an imaginary deity. I'm citing other historians, of course.

This one, though, very easily tosses around sentences like "truly a miracle", "noble deed", "Jesus this", "Jesus that" - for a guy that may not be real in the first place. Hardly a scientific approach.

Objective scientific language is full of caution and not easily accessible to laymen, so I was willing to give Mr. Kislenko a benefit of a doubt, assuming he wished to avoid burdening his presentation with words such as "allegedly", "may have", "uncertain" etc. But he took this a bit too far. And when he practically advertised scientific studies confirming "power of prayer" while only mentioning that "*some* were disputing them" - he removed all doubt. This is a propaganda. Studies on power of prayer have been heavily, not slightly - heavily, disputed, and for the right reasons, because experimental science is an extremely taxing discipline, as it should be. Experimental designs, if not heavily scrutinized, can be a slippery slope for a researcher eager to reach some conclusions. Research on prayer is full of slippery slopes. But you won't hear that in this series. And lets not kid ourselves - it's all a lie. Any effect of a prayer is grounded in simple auto-suggestion. Because, when you consider millions of daily prayers on part of religious people versus only a handful of positive outcomes - you don't need a scientific study to tell you prayer is a waste of time. And, mind you, if you believe in a god that knows everything in advance and it's his will that is exercised in the end ("thy will be done", right?) - what's the point of praying anyway?

But I just named one example of faults I've found watching this - there are more and all are related to taking the Bible way too literally.

Otherwise, it looked to be a noble attempt of shedding light on day-to- day living in Israel in those ancient times. I don't really mind that privately financed TV-shows offer different opinions, even if they are plainly wrong. I don't mind they are being aired on privately funded TV- stations. But I wish, as a viewer and a history buff, to see objective or at least balanced reports on historical periods, and I found they are pretty scarce nowadays on channels that pretend to be about history. In my opinion, the purpose of history and historiography is to dismantle common lore about past people and events and use all the means available to reexamine them and tell the real story, however unpleasant or banal or politically dangerous it might be. The purpose of this show was to reinforce the myths and that's the job of mythology, not history.