TV SPECIAL 'Who Is This Jesus' weighs evidence of Resurrection
The show features Protestant, Catholic and Jewish scholars.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Two thousand years after Jesus walked into history, scholars and skeptics still question whether he walked out of the tomb. On Palm Sunday, an award-winning one-hour documentary, "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?," peers into the empty tomb and explores the possibilities.
Watched by more than 12 million people when it premiered Christmas 2000 and winner of a 2001 Finalist Certificate from the New York Festivals of Art, "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?" returns Sunday on the Coral Ridge Hour with nearly twice as much Resurrection-related content as the original broadcast.
Co-hosted by scholar-theologian D. James Kennedy and popular actor Dean Jones, "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?" features Protestant, Catholic and Jewish scholars from Westminster Abbey, Harvard, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Princeton, and the Jesus Seminar. Together, they weigh the evidence for the traditional Christian belief that Jesus came back to life.
Overwhelming
For Kennedy, author of more than 40 books on New Testament issues, that evidence is overwhelming. "You cannot disbelieve in resurrection and literally believe in any ancient event," he said.
According to AP religion writer Richard Ostling, the original Christmas broadcast, "Who Is This Jesus?," "achieved more journalistic success" than "The Search for Jesus," a 2000 ABC News documentary top-heavy with skeptics who dismissed most New Testament claims about Christ. It was that program's take on New Testament scholarship that propelled Kennedy to offer viewers a balanced answer that presents the overwhelming evidence for Christ's birth, life and resurrection.
Beyond its examination of the Resurrection, "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?" also gives viewers reasons to believe the entire Gospel record. It demonstrates, for example, that all significant facts of the life of Jesus can be reconstructed from ancient non-Christian sources, that archaeology confirms the historical accuracy of the Bible, and that the Old Testament contains more than 300 predictions fulfilled by the life of Jesus.
XMore information about "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?" can be found at www.risenindeed.info.