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Whistle Stopper - Christianity - The First Thousand Years
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List Price: $39.95
Our Price: $29.00
Your Save: $ 10.95 ( 27% )
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Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Starring: Gloria Reuben, Caterina Scorsone, Justina Machado, Dean McDermott, Rick Fox
Directed By: Mike Rohl
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780767012683
Format: Box set
ISBN: 0767012682
Label: A&E Home Video
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Release Date: 1998-11-11
Running Time: 800
Studio: A&E Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2003-10-18
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a reliable source
Comment: Visually and musically the film is very well done but I did not make it past the first 30 minutes. Below is a list of the errors the film made in the first 20 minutes.
1. The narrator said that Jesus was killed for treason against Rome.
Anyone who has ever read the New Testament or even one of the Gospels should know how wrong that statement is. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the Jews thought that claim was blasphemy so they brought Him to Pilate (a Roman Governor) to have Him crucified. Jesus did not commit treason against Rome. I don't know where anyone would get that idea.
2. The film starts out saying that Peter was the leader of the early Church, 5 minutes later they argue that James was the actual leader. The verse the narrator quotes is Galatians 1:19 to support that James was the leader. Yet if anyone reads the verse in context they would see how twisted it is to use that verse to support James as the early Church leader. Galatians 1:18 (one verse before) Paul says "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas [which is Peter's Aramaic name] and remained with him fifteen days." Yet the only verse the narrator reads is verse 19 which says "But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother (in what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie)." I'm sorry but that doesn't prove or say that James was THE early church leader. In fact Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:18 "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." Peter means rock so I think that means Peter was going to be the early church leader which is made evident in the beginning of acts, such as Pentecost.
3. The narrator says that after Christ died, Christianity struggled to find a new leader, which is something that will trouble the Christian faith for the next 2000 years.
4. The film makes it sound like the early Christians thought they were actually drinking the real blood and flesh of Christ when they partook in communion.
The wine and the bread resembled Christ blood and body but they didn't think it was his actual blood. During the last supper with the disciples, Jesus said to have communion in remembrance of him, but they obviously didn't think it was his actual blood and flesh while he was at the table so I'm sure they didn't think that after he departed. Though Catholics might disagree with me on that.
5. Around 18 minutes into the movie, the narrator said that Paul was struck blind by his fall to the ground.
Paul went blind temporally when Christ came to him. Paul did fall to the ground but it was the radiance and glory of Christ that made Paul lose his sight temporarily.
6. Around 19 minutes into the movie the film says that Paul's apostleship was in question by the other apostles.
Read Galatians or Acts and you will think otherwise.
One or two of the people interviewed in the first 30 minutes are biblical and historical scholars, the rest are skeptics that are not very thoughtful, do not know the Bible well and give inaccurate and misleading information. If the narrator of the film says in the first couple minutes that Jesus was killed for treason against Rome, I mean if the narrator doesn't even know the most basic reason why Jesus was crucified, which was the climax of Biblical redemptive history, I doubt the film is going to be a very accurate source.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Exposure
Comment: I've always been interested in history but never read about Christian history except tangentially. These dvds provide a decent chronology especially as to the first 1000 years and they provide important details I was not aware of: St. Ignatius returned to school with adolescents to learn Latin, etc., so as to be allowed to preach; Nicea was prompted by Constantine's desire to publish 50 collections of what today we call the Bible; Pope Gregory enforced a very unpopular decree that (married) priests must be celibate; etc. Well worth the time.
Louis J Sheehan
Customer Rating:
Summary: good pre-modern history of christianity
Comment: This was overall a good video on the historical development of Christianity (pre-20th century). The part on
Christianity in the 20th century was very weak.
Customer Rating:
Summary: really good, not great
Comment: I learned a great deal of history through the 400 minutes of video in this series, and I thought I already knew a lot! I liked it overall and I think it's something that everyone should watch. My only complaints were that there are a couple of times that they weren't completely accurate, or mispresented something, such as making it seem like the canonization of the books of the Holy Bible were done hastily at the demand of an Emperor.
I also wish that there were more acted out scenes. Through most of the video you're looking at artwork or scenery, and it's not always pictures of what they're talking about, which was weird.
Still... my rating is a 4 because I think it was really good, just could've been better.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Comment: It was nice to watch an objective look at the first 2 millenia of Christianity. There are no punches pulled here. There is no glorification of the religion; it is an honest look at the largest religion in the world, from its beginning to current day. It does not make Christianity look bad, nor does it make it look good. If you are looking for an unbiased look at the history of the church, buy this.
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Editorial Reviews:
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It is an epic beyond anything Hollywood could hope to imagine, embracing emperors and itinerant preachers, the teachings of a man accepted by millions as the Savior and the battles fought in His name. From the Crucifixion to the coming of the Crusades, CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS traces the rise of one of the world’s great religions. Scholars explore the intertwined fates of the Roman Empire and the faith it persecuted, then later adopted. Theologians reveal how the New Testament was shaped, how pagan festivals were transformed into Christian holidays, and how modern discoveries shed new light on the dawn of Christianity. Drawing on ancient texts, the Scriptures and visits to sites like Istanbul’s magnificent Hagia Sophia, this is a spellbinding journey through CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS.
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