Son of God: Press reviews

Were the press convinced by the documentary's arguments?

The national press review the first part of the new BBC documentary, Son of God.

---

The Guardian

Aside from some slightly odd, slightly irrelevant diversions - and lines as downright stupid as "I filed dozens of reports from here, but not one of my stories matched what started in Bethlehem 2,000 year ago." You don't say, Jeremy! - Son of God was rather interesting, if a bit midweek BBC2 at 8.10pm.

Visually, it was quite a treat, what with ancient harbours, great temples and cities destroyed long ago all reconstructed thanks to CGI. There were even some computer-generated quacking geese wandering around, which was a nice touch.

---

The Times

Now we know the facts. New developments in science and archaeology prove that the "stable" where Jesus was born was actually a cave. Or the lower room of a house. Possibly. The evidence is overwhelming.

That airport blockbuster, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, you may remember, proved conclusively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Resurrection could have been a stunt, and that Jesus might have run off with Mary Magdalene.

She possibly emigrated to southern France and founded a dynasty of warrior kings whose descendants are alive and well and running a mysterious secret society. Case proven. Probably.

I am not saying that Son of God is remotely as far-fetched as that fantastical edifice, but it does suffer from the same leaps of logic.

These are as superstitious in their way as good old-fashioned religious faith.

---

The Independent

The trouble was that Jeremy Bowen tried to present a version of the Bible that was atheist, but which would not offend Christians.

The result was that he ended up eager to believe everything that wasn't supernatural: plausible speculations and flabby generalizations were hardened into concrete facts.

All this was done in a tone of cringe-making piety, illustrated with tableaux of bearded men scribbling in darkened rooms, and computer graphics giving us a virtual Judaea. Awful.