History Channel Bible series

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Has anyone looked into this series? I am not a fan of the History Channel, but my question is due to conflicting information. I highly respect Father Serpa’s (name removed by moderator)ut and he outright stated that due to the History Channel affiliation that he would not watch and would rather recommend the Catholicism series by Father Barron. However, on our local Catholic Radio station, the hosts looked into the series and stated that they believe the creators, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (forgive the spelling if incorrect) are Catholics and that Mrs. Downey’s older brother is a Catholic Priest and they recommended the series.

Any thoughts on it’s faithfulness to Catholic teaching before I decide if it is worth watching?
 
CatholicServant said:
Has anyone looked into this series? I am not a fan of the History Channel, but my question is due to conflicting information. I highly respect Father Serpa’s (name removed by moderator)ut and he outright stated that due to the History Channel affiliation that he would not watch and would rather recommend the Catholicism series by Father Barron. However, on our local Catholic Radio station, the hosts looked into the series and stated that they believe the creators, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (forgive the spelling if incorrect) are Catholics and that Mrs. Downey’s older brother is a Catholic Priest and they recommended the series.

Any thoughts on it’s faithfulness to Catholic teaching before I decide if it is worth watching?
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I have been watching it, but I am a little behind as I am watching it on my DVR, so I am only seeing the Old Testament portions right now. However, I have not had any problems with it. It does not seem to go into a lot of detail on things and mainly does a high level re-creation of the famous Biblical stories. While I certainly do not think that anyone should use it as a source for learning about our faith, to me it gives a good illustration to the stories.
 
I watch it every sunday night! I love it and i see nothing in it that would go against the Catholic faith! Highly reccomend
 
I’ve only watched up to Samson. So far it’s pretty good as Bible movies go. It takes some artistic license as film adaptations invariably do, but I think it’s pretty faithful to the spirit of the texts. My main problem with it is the all-American-action-movie template, which is so overused and relies too much on constant over-the-top drama, action, and special effects. It also skips a lot, as another poster observed. The acting is good, though. If you don’t mind the Bible being an action movie, it’s worth seeing.
 
latin_rite said:
Would you take medical advice from someone just because their brother is a doctor?
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Actually I think I worded that poorly - the Catholic show on the radio recommended the series after investigating the producers with one of the reasons being the producers were Catholic and her brother is a Priest. I was conflicted due to the recommendation from the Catholic Radio show’s hosts and the non-recommendation from Father Serpa - and i haven’t been able to investigate the Catholicity of the show itself yet so I started this thread to see if any of my fellow CAFers had.
 
CatholicServant said:
they believe the creators, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (forgive the spelling if incorrect) are Catholics
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They might be both raised Catholic but I seriously doubt that they are practicing as Ms Downey has been married 3 times and her marriage to Mark was officiated by her previous co-star on Touched by an Angel, Della Reese. She only mentioned that she was raised Catholic in the interview Catholic Digest did with her.
 
CatholicGeek1 said:
I have been watching it, but I am a little behind as I am watching it on my DVR, so I am only seeing the Old Testament portions right now. However, I have not had any problems with it. It does not seem to go into a lot of detail on things and mainly does a high level re-creation of the famous Biblical stories. While I certainly do not think that anyone should use it as a source for learning about our faith, to me it gives a good illustration to the stories.
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Well said…
 
Denimguy said:
They might be both raised Catholic but I seriously doubt that they are practicing as Ms Downey has been married 3 times and her marriage to Mark was officiated by her previous co-star on Touched by an Angel, Della Reese. She only mentioned that she was raised Catholic in the interview Catholic Digest did with her.
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Thank you for the information - annulments and convalidation would seem to be required here. Or maybe they are now Protestant?
 
I love the series.

My only quarrel with it is the way in which it was “cut.”. I mean, skipping Joseph, then spending half-hour on Samson? And skipping from David directly to the Babylonian captivity?

No Elijah? No Jonah? No writing on the wall???

Still, I do understand that time is costly and a detailed presentation of Scripture’s events would take months.

Generally, I think the series is great presentation and very well done.

ICXC NIKA
 
CatholicServant said:
Has anyone looked into this series? I am not a fan of the History Channel, but my question is due to conflicting information. I highly respect Father Serpa’s (name removed by moderator)ut and he outright stated that due to the History Channel affiliation that he would not watch and would rather recommend the Catholicism series by Father Barron. However, on our local Catholic Radio station, the hosts looked into the series and stated that they believe the creators, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (forgive the spelling if incorrect) are Catholics and that Mrs. Downey’s older brother is a Catholic Priest and they recommended the series.

Any thoughts on it’s faithfulness to Catholic teaching before I decide if it is worth watching?
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I have been watching it. There are inaccuracies but it is just presenting stories, not theology I think.

Some inaccuracies so far I had noted, which I told my kids to read the actual text in the Bible…it tells it differently (which I can recall-there may be more):

Samson…when blinded, he is directly led to the philistine temple, does not show his hair growing again.

How Samuel finds David directly in the field…and not through his father Jesse.

When Nathan confronts David and his sin of adultery…highly inaccurate.

Joseph and Mary…Joseph is treated as the same age as Mary almost

How Peter is called…Jesus calls him directly Peter, not Simon first.

If you are looking for accurary, not very.
 
pablope said:
I have been watching it. There are inaccuracies but it is just presenting stories, not theology I think.

Some inaccuracies so far I had noted, which I told my kids to read the actual text in the Bible…it tells it differently (which I can recall-there may be more):

Samson…when blinded, he is directly led to the philistine temple, does not show his hair growing again.

How Samuel finds David directly in the field…and not through his father Jesse.

When Nathan confronts David and his sin of adultery…highly inaccurate.

Joseph and Mary…Joseph is treated as the same age as Mary almost

How Peter is called…Jesus calls him directly Peter, not Simon first.

If you are looking for accurary, not very.
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Got it - thank you - but so far nothing anti-Catholic specifically?
 
Joseph and Mary…Joseph is treated as the same age as Mary almost
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Yesterday, I heard a homily (St. Joseph’s day) that argued that they were in fact the same age.

While I myself believe Joseph to be an older man, the case can be made either way.

ICXC NIKA
 
CatholicServant said:
Got it - thank you - but so far nothing anti-Catholic specifically?
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The baptism in the Jordan (maybe)…it was total immersion in the river…😃

A lot of things are skipped…the series is telling a long story that they are trying to condense… basically so far, as far as I can tell.
 
GEddie said:
Yesterday, I heard a homily (St. Joseph’s day) that argued that they were in fact the same age.

While I myself believe Joseph to be an older man, the case can be made either way.

ICXC NIKA
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Thanks, I had not heard this possibility before.
 
pablope said:
The baptism in the Jordan (maybe)…it was total immersion in the river…😃

A lot of things are skipped…the series is telling a long story that they are trying to condense… basically so far, as far as I can tell.
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Full body immersion was the norm back then, and remains the norm in Orthodoxy, IIUC.

Just because the church out West has since moved away from that, would not make depiction of a full-body baptism anti Catholic. IMNAAHO.

ICXC NIKA
 
CatholicServant said:
Got it - thank you - but so far nothing anti-Catholic specifically?
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Specifically anti Catholic? I don’t think so. I am bothered by some of the details but I may be picky as most of the posters don’t seem to be as bothered. For me:

The whole scene with Abraham and Isaac but specifically Abraham also carrying wood on his back up the mountain. Also, according to Jewish traditions, Isaac was adult age and willing sacrifice, not Abraham hogtying a preteen who was clearly not willing. Both, not only not scriptural but completely erases the archetype of Jesus.

The whole discourse in the town over Mary’s pregnancy and Gabriel’s lack of “Hail, full of grace”

Later, Jesus’s baptism, no Trinity, no “This is my Son”. He is dunked just like everyone else. Within minutes, he’s in the desert and instead of “Scripture says…” Jesus’s responses more narrative, which I’d be Ok with except the 3rd where he says “I will only worship the Lord, my God…” This statement struck me as a disconnect between Jesus and His Father in that it would be the same line someone like Abraham or Moses would say, but not the Son of the Father. So these two scenes within minutes of each other, really hit me like a disconnect in Jesus’s identity. I could help but wonder if that might have been political given the diversities of modalism and others.
 
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