God. Seen on the box!
Jan. 13th, 2009 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningIt seems that the turning of the year has brought a deep welling of spirituality to British television. (I originally wrote “tv”, but then I thought Transvestites for Christ might think I was slandering their spirituality…).
Channel4 has a new series on Christianity.
BBC4 has two series on Islam – one about Islam in Europe, the other about the undoubted influence of Islamic science on modern thinking and science. (One of the BBC4 series the Story of Maths last autumn also dealt with the importance of Islamic mathematicians.)
And then BBC2 simply cannot make up its mind – lead by a C of E vicar, it is going Around the World in Eighty Faiths.
I have seen episodes from each of these except Jim Al-Khalili’s exploration of Islamic science (only because I haven’t got around to it yet).
I was very impressed by Howard Jacobson’s examination of Jesus from a Jewish perspective. Jesus was of course Jewish – indeed, his baptism by John the Baptist was part of a Jewish, not a Christian, rite. Jacobson suggested that the real split between Christianity and Judaism stemmed from a need to be seen to be different in order to influence the Roman Empire – a bit of spin-doctoring by St Paul, decades after Jesus’ death. The result of this was centuries persecution and anti-semitism.
This Channel4 series is called a history, though, and I think what I saw was much more of a personal view – challenging and thoughtful, and all the better for it. Future episodes feature Michael Portillo and Anne Widdecombe, which probably reflects that former MPs need to earn money rather than strong links Christianity and Conservatism – perhaps to add a little balance, another presenter is Cherie Blair. They probably couldn’t afford Tony!
Rageh Omaar’s exploration of Islam in Europe painted a picture of a much more tolerant society in Moorish Spain, with Muslims, Jews and Christians working together to translate ancient books during the “dark ages” (as one contributor said when Omaar used the phrase, “there were no dark ages in Spain” – it all seemed rather enlightened). A bit of a travelogue, the programme made Cordoba and Toledo look fascinating places to visit. (Omaar is also presenting one of the Channel4 programmes, looking at the effect of the crusades.)
The BBC2 series Around the World in Eighty Faiths really is a travelogue. Eight episodes, eighty faiths… So that’s ten an episode, then – little more than five minutes each. Peter Owen-Jones dashes from country to country in a year; they started in Australasia – which included the Philippines – and they moved back to Asia. Owen-Jones has such an open mind that I couldn’t help wondering why he is a vicar, although he did baulk at being actively involved in the later stages of a witchcraft ritual in Sydney. Many of the faiths they looked at in the first episode were more like sects – there were several offshoots of Christianity, particularly where aspects of local religions had been incorporated.
Of the three series I have looked at, this one was the most superficial – indeed, with their shooting schedule, it couldn’t have been anything but superficial – and this made it the least effective and interesting. “Oh look, there’s another religion! Quick, tick the box and back on the bus!”
Channel4 has a new series on Christianity.
BBC4 has two series on Islam – one about Islam in Europe, the other about the undoubted influence of Islamic science on modern thinking and science. (One of the BBC4 series the Story of Maths last autumn also dealt with the importance of Islamic mathematicians.)
And then BBC2 simply cannot make up its mind – lead by a C of E vicar, it is going Around the World in Eighty Faiths.
I have seen episodes from each of these except Jim Al-Khalili’s exploration of Islamic science (only because I haven’t got around to it yet).
I was very impressed by Howard Jacobson’s examination of Jesus from a Jewish perspective. Jesus was of course Jewish – indeed, his baptism by John the Baptist was part of a Jewish, not a Christian, rite. Jacobson suggested that the real split between Christianity and Judaism stemmed from a need to be seen to be different in order to influence the Roman Empire – a bit of spin-doctoring by St Paul, decades after Jesus’ death. The result of this was centuries persecution and anti-semitism.
This Channel4 series is called a history, though, and I think what I saw was much more of a personal view – challenging and thoughtful, and all the better for it. Future episodes feature Michael Portillo and Anne Widdecombe, which probably reflects that former MPs need to earn money rather than strong links Christianity and Conservatism – perhaps to add a little balance, another presenter is Cherie Blair. They probably couldn’t afford Tony!
Rageh Omaar’s exploration of Islam in Europe painted a picture of a much more tolerant society in Moorish Spain, with Muslims, Jews and Christians working together to translate ancient books during the “dark ages” (as one contributor said when Omaar used the phrase, “there were no dark ages in Spain” – it all seemed rather enlightened). A bit of a travelogue, the programme made Cordoba and Toledo look fascinating places to visit. (Omaar is also presenting one of the Channel4 programmes, looking at the effect of the crusades.)
The BBC2 series Around the World in Eighty Faiths really is a travelogue. Eight episodes, eighty faiths… So that’s ten an episode, then – little more than five minutes each. Peter Owen-Jones dashes from country to country in a year; they started in Australasia – which included the Philippines – and they moved back to Asia. Owen-Jones has such an open mind that I couldn’t help wondering why he is a vicar, although he did baulk at being actively involved in the later stages of a witchcraft ritual in Sydney. Many of the faiths they looked at in the first episode were more like sects – there were several offshoots of Christianity, particularly where aspects of local religions had been incorporated.
Of the three series I have looked at, this one was the most superficial – indeed, with their shooting schedule, it couldn’t have been anything but superficial – and this made it the least effective and interesting. “Oh look, there’s another religion! Quick, tick the box and back on the bus!”