Educational Media Reviews Online

The creators of the video series Two Thousand Years claim that it "charts the story of Christianity from its very beginning to the second millennial anniversary of Jesus' birth, set against the panoramic sweep of 2,000 years of history." Considering that the series consists of 10 segments, with each part running just under an hour, this is quite a statement to make. After all, just how much information from the past 2,000 years can one incorporate into a set of video recordings with a collective running time less than 12 hours? If the first two segments are an accurate reflection of the entire series, then the answer has to be "quite a bit."

The first segment, entitled "The Birth of a New Religion: Christianity in the 1st and 2nd Centuries," begins with the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth. Bolstered by the sight of their risen Lord, Peter and the remaining disciples began to spread Jesus' teachings throughout Judea. The first targets for conversion were of course their fellow Jews, but this changed after Saul of Tarsus' conversion. Renamed Paul, the new evangelist believed that Christianity should be open to anyone; Jew or Gentile, slave or free. This lead to friction with Peter and the original followers, who were willing to accept Gentiles only after they agree to accept Jewish customs and practices. Realizing that their new religion cannot survive such a potential schism, a council is convened in Jerusalem to settle the argument. The result of the council changed little in terms of practice (i.e. Paul continued to convert Gentiles without requiring acceptance of Jewish practices, while Peter and the Jews carried on as they always had ), but the main goal, to keep the fledgling church together, had been accomplished. It was about this time that Paul began his noted correspondences with the newly established network of churches throughout the Middle East. In addition the Gospels, which had existed until then only in an oral form, were finally standardized and written down. Christianity was now a firmly established, albeit minor, religion. During a trip to Jerusalem, however, the Roman authorities captured Paul and him shipped off to Rome where he is eventually executed. As it happens, Paul's death becomes a precursor of things to come.

At the beginning of the 2nd Century, the Romans stepped up their persecution of Christians throughout the empire. Because of their belief in one and only one God, Christians refused to worship either the pantheon of Roman deities or the emperor himself. While the former would've been viewed as a social faux pas and extreme bad manners, the later was considered nothing short of treason. Thus began the era of Martyrdom in the Christian Church, with the poor victims suffering unspeakable horrors for their faith. Instead of destroying the young religion, however, martyrdom seemed to strengthen Christianity. The major problem now facing the Church was the tremendous variations in theological teaching that existed. One example, the Gnostics, proclaimed that the individual through their own personal search for the truth could achieve salvation. If this was true, what need was there for an organized church? In a response to these variances, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon formulated the first official Church canon based on the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He also established the idea of Apostolic Succession, in which the Church and its bishops could trace their authority back to the first disciples.

The second segment, "Trials and Triumphs in Rome: Christianity in the 3rd and 4th Centuries," found the young religion making great inroads into all parts of Roman society. By the year 200 as many as 1 Roman out of 50 called themselves Christian. As the fortunes of Rome began to decline, however, things changed again for the worse. The emperor Decius, believing that Rome's misfortune was due to people turning their back on the old gods, proclaimed that all citizens must offer regular sacrifices to these deities. Furthermore, all Romans had to obtain a signed certificate affirming that this sacrifice had taken place. The Christians once again refused to make the sacrifices, and were again persecuted for their actions. Learning from their earlier failure, the Roman officials would imprison and systematically torture Christians rather than have them instantly martyred. This proved very successful from a psychological perspective, and many victims caved in to the torture and made the sacrifices. Still the Church survived, and with Decius' death Christianity continued to spread throughout the Roman Empire. One of the tenets that held the greatest appeal for possible converts was the belief in an afterlife. While other religions had possibly speculated about what happens after death, Christianity had established a clear vision through Christ's triumph over the grave. In addition there was an underlying social morality that existed within Christianity; that every life had meaning and was therefore important. It was this morality that set them apart from the vast collection of "mystery cults" (such as the all-male Cult of Mithras) that competed against the Church for believers, and was a major reason Christianity survived while these cults did not.

By the beginning of the 4th Century it was estimated that now 1 Roman out of 10 was a Christian. This did not, however, mean that their days of persecution were over. In 302 the emperor Diocletian renewed Rome's war against the Church. Throughout the empire bishops were seized and holy writings were burned in one last attempt to stamp out the religion once and for all. This latest (and effectively the last,) persecution of the Christians came to an unexpected end 3 years later when Diocletian abdicated the throne. He had hoped that his abdication would allow for the peaceful transference of power to his subordinates. What resulted was a bloody civil war that culminated in 312 with the Battle of Milvian Bridge between the armies of Maxentius and Constantine. The night before the battle Constantine had a dream where Christ told him that, in order to assure victory, he was to inscribe his shields and banners with the first 2 letters of His name, XP (Chi Rho). The next day Constantine reported seeing a cross set against the sun with the Latin phrase "in hoc signo vinces" ("in this sign you will be the victor"). To Constantine this vision validated his earlier dream, and so he adorned his armies with the Christian symbols. He defeated the superior force of Maxentius, and marched triumphantly into Rome. Constantine dedicated his victory to Jesus Christ, and in 313 he issued the Edict of Milan in which Christianity was officially recognized (if not sanctioned) by the Roman government. Interestingly enough, under Constantine certain pagan symbols, such as halos and angels, were incorporated into Christian imagery. It's also at this time that December 25th, an important date in the old pagan calendar, was established as the official birthday of Jesus. Through Constantine's influence the first great public buildings devoted to Christianity were built, such as St. John Lateran and the Santa Constanza in Rome. The Church's newfound success, however, also brought its share of difficulties. Probably the greatest at the time was the rise of the heresy known as Arianism. The renowned theologian Arius had set forth the premise that God and Christ were not of the same substance, and since there was but one God, Christ could not be divine. Constantine called together the Council of Nicea to address the problem of Arius and his followers. The result of this council was the Nicene Creed, which reaffirmed that Christ (the Son) indeed was of the same substance as God (the Father) and therefore divine. The segment ends with the Emperor Theodosius' massacre of pagans in Thessalonika, and his subsequent excommunication by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. This was an important event as it illustrated the control that the Church had developed over the State…a status that the former would retain until the Reformation.

As one can see from just these 2 segment descriptions, Two Thousand Years does indeed pack a wealth of information into a short timeframe. Other topics such as the Holy Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution are explored in later segments. One can also see from these descriptions that the information contained within each segment really moves too quickly to get into any real depth. Because of the enormous scope of the material involved, the creators of "Two Thousand Years" were forced to hit the highlights of each century and then move on. I believe this approach works, however, when one looks at the intended audience level. British TV presenter Melvyn Bragg and the producers at London Weekend Television created these videos for a general audience who wanted to be both educated and entertained. They were never intended for front-line religious scholars or their graduate students.

The technical quality of Two Thousand Years is top notch. The dramatic reenactments of key events throughout Christianity's history combined with on location footage from such places as Rome and Jerusalem provides the series with some very stunning visuals. Equally impressive is the quality of scholars that appeared onscreen. Jim Charlesworth and Elaine Pagels from Princeton University, N. T. Wright from Westminster Abbey, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor from the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, Henry Chadwick from Christ Church, Oxford, and the Emeritus Professor John Dominic Crossan from DePaul University are just a handful of the imminent personalities that contributed their knowledge and insight to this production. On the audio front, Two Thousand Years features works by such composers as Byrd, Purcell, Bach and Tavener performed by the likes of the King's Singers, the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Two Thousand Years is highly recommended for high school and undergraduate classes, especially those providing an overview of either Christianity in particular or world religions in general. Individual segments could also prove useful to high school or undergraduate history educators.