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TV Review: The Bible: A History - Jesus (With Gerry Adams)

21/02/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (6) Comments

Gerry Adams’ exploration of Jesus and his teaching was always going to prove controversial, but it was pleasing to see that Channel 4 didn’t just go for the headlines, but also managed to make a high-quality, thought-provoking, documentary as well. More ...

Film Review: The Book of Eli

16/01/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

Ever wondered what would happen to the Bible in a post-apocalyptic age? Denzel Washington clearly has, not only starring in The Book of Eli, but putting up much of the funding as well.

The story is set thirty plus in the future, but we’re never told when or what, exactly happened. There was a war, a flash, and now all that remains is a tiny fraction of the population and a landscape strewn with human and mechanical wreckage. Travelling through what remains of the world is Eli (Washington) who, unbeknownst to anyone, is carrying the last remaining copy of the Bible.    More ...

The Nativity and Contemporary Art

16/12/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

The birth of Jesus has always been a popular subject for art going right back to wall paintings in the Roman catacombs. Since then there have been thousands of paintings and sculptures made about the first Christmas, by many of the greatest names in art history.

So it’s no surprise that many contemporary artists have also attempted to depict the nativity. Interestingly as modern art has developed on the one hand, and Christianity’s privileged position in western society has slipped, Christmas-related works of art have become less straightforward and more complex and challenging More ...

Film Review: Nativity!

27/11/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

For many of us, the first time we really understood something about Jesus was perhaps when we starred in a nativity play. It’s a defining moment in many chldren’s lives, yet one rarely explored in the cinema.

Nativity! is the latest film by director Debbie Isitt starring Martin Freeman. Freeman plays Mr. Maddens a primary school teacher who was left with Scrooge-like attitude to Christmas after he was festively dumped by his girlfriend (Ashley Jensen) five years ago. Having previously studied drama, every year he is lumbered with producing the school’s nativity play and his enthusiasm for the project is further hampered by the shining brilliance of a rival school’s winter productions. More ...

The Invention of Jesus

02/10/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

Film Review: The Invention of Lying
Jesus once said “Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no” (Matt 5:17). It’s one of those sayings that, taken absolutely literally, no-one really follows to the letter, even if it does motivate many to be more truthful.

Nonetheless, Ricky Gervais’s new film, The Invention of Lying, examines what it would be like if we lived in a world where people spoke the truth, or at least their perception of it, at all times. Colleagues constantly highlight your failings, strangers express their disgust at your physical appearance and residential care for the elderly is called “A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People”. More ...

The Hidden Gospels - Part 5: Gospel of Judas

24/09/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

Judas is an unusual historical figure. For the last 2000 years he has been considered the most hated man in history, yet we know almost nothing about him. Even the manner of his death is disputed. Matthew’s gospel has him die by his own hand. Acts finds him falling over in a field and bursting his intestines. Some historians even suggest that Judas never actually existed. More ...

The Hidden Gospels - Part 4: Gospel of Philip

31/07/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (7) Comments

“The companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth”.¹ It’s the most famous quote from the Gospel of Philip courtesy of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. Interestingly the scene plays differently in the movie. Arch-conspiracy theorist Leigh Teabing gets cut off with the final “mouth” not yet upon his lips. The reason for this discrepancy goes back to the ancient text itself. Apparently parts of the only existing copy of “The Gospel of Philip” got gnawed away², meaning that, at best, we can only speculate as to where exactly Jesus was supposed to have planted one on Mary Magdalene. More ...

Film Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

16/07/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

Since the relaunch of the rejesus blog at the start of the year I've been reviewing new movies that relate to Jesus in some way. Whilst it's not always easy to find films that fit into that category, Harry Potter should have been straight forward. After all it's humble hero is an exceptional miracle worker, who is born to be the chosen one. The problem... was me. More ...

The Hidden Gospels - Part 3: The Gospel of Thomas

30/06/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

Perhaps the most famous of the hidden gospels is the Gospel of Thomas. We've known about it ever since it was written, but it has only been more recently when we discovered what it actually said. In 1945 a copy of Thomas' Gospel turned up in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, amongst a collection of other ancient documents, and closer study revealed that a few fragments from it had already been found 50 years earlier. More ...

Film Review: Year One

27/06/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

With his beard and his stout figure Jack Black has often seemed a littel prehistoric compared to his liposuctionned, bodywaxed, Hollywood cohorts. So it was perhaps only a matter of time until someone offered him a role playing a caveman. Black plays the role of Zed alongside Michael Cerra's Oh in Year One, the latest film from producer Judd Apatow (Superbad, Knocked Up, Anchorman) and writer / director Harold Ramis (Analyze This, Groundhog Day). More ...

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