Hi All
I am looking for recommendations for good TV Series or Documentary to learn more about Christianity and Islam .. I am keen to know more about the religion from its inception.
Any recommendations are appreciated.
P.S – I am not a follower of either religion
I wish i could.. but i am not a avid reader and Im sure ill fall asleep :) .. I am keen to watch/ learn out of interest and nothing else..
Also to be very honest .. If i start reading bible/ quran.. I doubt ill understand the real meaning ..
Would feel like Im having a conversation with Jesus/ Mohammad when I put my Sony 1000 XM3 and watch it online :)
It's pretty rare to find an honest and objective TV on either I've discovered. As pastry said, go to the source documents and see what you find. I guarantee you WILL find surprises. :)
from its inception
I assume you mean the history of it to today.
The BBC's A History of Christianity is brilliant. Search for similar on Islam
TLDR: Almost all religions are the same, they all copied each other the pretended to be the original. ie Jesus was copied from the Egyptians. Moses from the Samarians
There were multiple Jewish Jesus, the one we know was the just the most succesful at Marketing and publicity… the magic tricks he learned from the East and the Hallucination drugs he bought over also helped
And this is probably why he wants quality info and not the widely debunked urban myths surrounding the subject. :)
the first half has never been debunked…
Oh yes it has. Comparative religion was debunked decades ago (if not earlier). When you look at the original texts those assimilates simply don't exist. :)
All religions are similar in the way that they are a cultural method of dealing with the fear/uncertainty of death, or ‘Death anxiety’.
And there are always extremist minorities in every religion.
How much affect/influence they have on the other levels of faith are what causes extreme actions/conflicts to take place.
And then there was Brian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
At the end of the day it's all the same.
Bible: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
Quran: 167 verses - too many to cut & paste - that urge muslims to fight, war, and kill enemies - and the 'enemy' is anyone who simply decides not to be a muslim, or didn't believe in allah in the first place.
The same… Yeah, those radical terrorist anglicans and methodists are just SO prolific.
Oh yeah true - I forgot that the bible doesn't mention things like homosexuality being an abomination and those who partake should be put to death….
Not to mention the antics of the Catholic Church.
Real stand up people.
Dude, so misinformed.
Correct that both don't view homosexuality favorably. What makes you think Christianity now still thinks homosexuals should be put to death?
Been years since I been to a church(due to parents) but even I remember the story that a woman committed adultery and death was the punishment but Jesus stop them from killing her because everyone sins differently.
As for the Catholic church, just because there's some disgusting people, it doesn't mean they support it. If an atheist did what Pell did, would it be because of atheism?
Google how religions are recycled.
They're not even original concepts. Many of the stories are plagiarised.
The inception of all religion - how to control people's behaviour and/or financial benefit.
how to control people's behaviour
Even as a teen attending on the odd Sunday/youth groups and mainly due having friends in the church from primary school, it never felt that they tried to control my behavior.
They do discourage some things like drinking and premarital sex.
They claim an imaginary all-powerful being(s) will judge the collective of your actions/singular action of surrender at the conclusion of your life.
You think that has nothing to do with controlling your actions?
Is there anything specifically wrong with that. Do you believe there is something that they should be doing that they are not?
Wouldn't you think that is a plus side of religion. Otherwise, I'd see no reason to be a good person apart from getting chucked in the slammer.
Similarities with telling kids to be good or Santa won't get them a present. When they mature, they can believe what they want.
Even the laws of our country "control" people in that sense.
@Aliastar: If you think you need religion to be a good person, that's up to you.
To think everyone else needs religion is projection.
Laws are there to define what is acceptable conduct and by extension, to punish so yes, it absolutely there to control. The difference between law and religion is law doesn't care about what you believe in and it follows due process.
Religion doesn't.
@[Deactivated]: Don't need religion to be good, you can teach anyone to be good. The big issue is to define what is good.
Religion can help a person on WHY to be good. I don't think everyone else needs religion to be good. Knowing what is good and doing good aren't the same thing.
So if laws can control what is acceptable behavior, why can't religions do the same?
Not clear what you mean on the last part. Biggest issue with teens and what they talked about a lot was premarital sex. Even if you did have sex, you were still welcome. If you were a youth leader or assistant, you would be asked to step down if you openly do things that were against Biblical teachings, as what happened to my friend.
I noticed the subtleness around 10.
Predominately a means to the ends ideal… that is they make up modern stories to reflect scripture… but they make it sound this actually happens… there was also an element of "only Christians can be good people" that weirded me out
Who cares if they think you're a good person. People of any religion would think that way. Being good is subjective. If I eat meat, a vegan would think I'm a bad person
@Aliastar: It matters because it creates a divide in society, it treats those outside its circle as 2nd class
Christianity likes to think its better than Islam because its part of a progressive modern society… yet its society rejection of Christian extremism why we're progressive
@Baghern: No it doesn't and no they don't. Every religious person would think their religion is the best and the "right" one, that's why they follow it.
And I'm sure Islam thinks they are better than Christianity. Christians aren't progressives.
If I eat meat, a vegan would think I'm a bad person
No. Vegans hold that harming other animals unnecessarily is immoral; they are not about comprehensive judgements on individuals. Good people can commit immoral acts, bad people can commit good acts - good and bad in this context can mean anything. Vegans don't think anything about you as a person but might call out your violence against animals if they see it. Big difference.
Like I said, a film of nonsense claims by people with a preconceived bias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30AunYXtYDg
Don't youtube either
If you want to reinforce an ignorant loathing of Christianity, there's plenty by the usual [cough] 'reputable' sources like the BBC. However these 'unbiased' [gag] 'documentaries' [lol] get so much wrong it's frustrating, even laughable - an insult to one's intelligence to indoctrinate yourself with them. If you however want some reality - ones made without an insidious false narrative based on their thinly-disguised personal bias - there really isn't one I can think of actually.
In the case of islam, most go to the other extreme: promoting, excusing, obscuring, and defending. However I have seen a few that present: a) What islam WISHES to portray itself as, and b) the REALITY of what the quran teaches, produces, and results in. I can't recall their titles atm though. (Just look for 'muslims riot over…' and put whatever you're researching, like 'documentary' and you'll start to go down the rabbit hole. Because when someone mocks Christianity, they shrug and respect that person's decision and willing ignorance. But when someone mocks islam - they go ape$#@& by the thousands (being so peaceful and all).
If you're looking because you want to learn what Islam teaches compared TO Christianity… in other words, critique/comparison… Look at the videos of 'David Wood' on youtube. There's also another with a title something like '1400 Years of Islamic History in 10 Minutes' by a woman who lived in the Middle East - search for her name/check her stuff. Also 'Robert Spencer' and 'Jay Smith' who have both produced some excellent books after indepth research of islamic history and culture. The books or youtube videos by these last two will give you some details about islam's inception without the 'children of the corn' indoctrination certain others would wish upon you.
"Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" is one. Another I haven't seen yet is "The Jihadis Next Door". But I do remember reading that a muslim in that was later responsible for some despicable terrorist act. (The impression I got was, he was saying 'I'm a good muslim' or 'islam is xyz', yet he then went and did that.)
There's another about women I can't find now that I think was about 40 minutes long. Sadly there's an irrational hatred of Christianity, and just as irrational love of islam, which means many of these get deleted, leaving only the propaganda - and without someone to guide you, point out the contradictions, lies, etc. it's difficult to know.
But, if you start with those individuals I mentioned above, other video suggestions will show on youtube (despite THEIR biased filtering - for the time being, anyway), and those will start to give a clearer picture for people that want truth and reality, rather than lies and fiction.
These are quite brilliant docos, not necessarily focusing on the holy texts as such, but the history and evolution of the religions. But they give good insights into the beliefs espoused by the religions.
BBC.A History of Christianity (6 Parts)
Children Of Abraham: (Religious History Documentary) - 3 Parts - on the shared roots of the 3 faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Paradise Found (Islamic Culture Documentary)
The Dark Ages: An Age Of Light - (Ancient History Documentary) - Although primarily about artistic achievement and ideas of Dark Ages – cast a lot of light on the religions themselves. Part-3: Wonders of Islam pertains to Islam.
Pope: The Most Powerful Man In History - 6 Parts - This was recently shown on SBS – a history of the Pope and the Catholic faith.
Was trying to find the series on history of Islam I watched which was really interesting. Finally found it:
The Caliph
- P1: Foundation
- P2: Division
- P3: Decline
You can learn from external sources as mentioned above, but you can also learn from internal sources. I expect if you approach any evangelical Christian for a run down they will go as long as you want. Depending on who you get you might get less of an academic treatment, possibly even much bs, but you will see the kernel of their faith and the associated fervor that keeps these beliefs alive in a way that cannot be experienced from external sources.
I recommend ‘Islam and the future of tolerance’, a recent release.
Interesting part where they very accurately break down the structure and levels of faith in the religion, and you will realise it can be easily applied to any religion or belief. There are always those who strongly believe because it suits/benefits them, there are those that strongly believe, there are those who believe because it’s convenient (puts them at ease), and there are those who say they believe because it’s convenient (peer pressure, fitting in, cultural/social reasons).
Google Christopher Hitchens on you tube
Guaranteed you won’t be disappointed
So as you can see even here there's… Debate.
But what you might want to think about is whether you want to know about the core tenets of the faiths (so then you would be looking at their beliefs, documents, and how that's reflected/practiced in the world), or if you are interested in the history of the faiths (which might then include institutions, structures, also cultural practices, and interactions). It's important to recognise that there is no singular, unitary perspective/practice that can be said to be the "true" version without setting off firestorms…
Also both faiths have developed over the centuries.
They share certain commonalities, and are two parts of the three Davidian or abrahamic religions, along with Judaism. They evolve from a roughly similar geographic location. They are prophetic, and Muslims believe Jesus was one of a series of prophets, whilst Mohammed (peace be upon him is normally used after writing his name) is considered the last, and the one who conveyed the literal words of Allah (peace be upon him is also used).
On YouTube the khan academy has a good set of introductory presentations if you are interested in the history.
Children of Abraham looks at the three religions, and also examine the contemporary and historic controversies.
Paradise Found looks more at the vast world wide cultural and social practices of Islam , against a backdrop of the London bombings.
I find Reza Aslan a particularly good speaker on both Islam and Christianity. He does a good speech called Understanding God he's also discussed a lot on the idea of Islamic Reformation. There's a great conversation between him and a Reverend about Islamic Reformation.
Christianity: The First 2000 years does a very good job of contextualising the origins of the religion and its beliefs against the historic background of the times. There are six episodes that run for around forty minutes.
None of these is comprehensive. Experts will pick holes in all of them, and a primary question is which Christianity do you want to know about? Which Islam? It is also impossible to fully separate the history from the social from the cultural from the spiritual. I think it's fair to say that's still the case today.
It's also important to note that terms like fundamentalist arise in the US in the late 1800s as an historic/social response, but it doesn't translate well into its application with Islam. All Muslims claim to follow the exact law of the Koran, even if it is disagreed upon what the law means.
What is common is that some adherents of both faiths have used very similar arguments and very similar methods to respond to the problems of Modernity, that is, the loss of a primary identity associated with faith and empire, as well as other traditional ideas being radically transformed by the modern world.
Sorry to be so detailed, but it's important to offer some perspectives as you set out to know more :)
Try reading some work by Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou.
"She is a British theologian and broadcaster. She is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter and Head of its Department of Theology and Religion. The main focus of her research is on the Hebrew Bible, and on Israelite and Judahite history and religion."
She is an atheist and describes how various religions and their practices came about based on archeology, cultural, and historical research.
I'm not religious, and find the tendancy of individuals to align themselves with belief systems somewhat bewildering, yet I find myself also recognising that a great deal of charitable work is performed by devoutly religious people. So, I'm on the fence as to whether religion is a weakness or a giver of strength.
With that in mind, I find debates such as the below illuminating, even if all speakers are somewhat biased.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy9tNyp03M0
These won't tell you all of the history, but deals with many of the contrasting viewpoints within both intra and interfaith discussions.
This series looks like it would be pretty interesting on Christianity. It's been produced by Christians, so would give a different perspective to, say the BBC documentary. You can watch individual segments for free, or rent the whole thing online:
https://www.publicchristianity.org/fortheloveofgod/
I have a bit of an interest in, and therefore know a bit about, the origins of modern religions. If you want to pm me I'd be happy to arrange a private Q&A.
If you are after an 'Islamic' TV series, try Resurrection Ertugrul. It's available on Netflix
if you really want to learn i'd recommend picking up a bible and The Quran and reading it otherwise another good way would be attend a few services see what you think?