Related articles and links |  1 of 2

Four years ago, Peter Jennings of ABC News hosted a two-hour special on "The Search for Jesus." On Monday, he returns to the subject in an even longer documentary, Jesus and Paul: The Word and the Witness (8 p.m. ET). Dallas Theological Seminary New Testament professor Darrell Bock, who critiqued the 2000 program, talked to Jennings about this new project.

Why is ABC so committed to religious programming of this type?

I have lived in the Muslim world, covering the Middle East, Russia, and Africa among many other assignments. I saw it was important to understand or try to understand the intersection between religion, spirituality, and life. Events in these and other locales got me interested in covering religion as a "news story." This coverage shows the deep interest in and pervasive nature of religion.

When I got back to this country I understood how religion impacts people how it intersects with people's daily life. As such, it is important to cover. So we did a Prime Time hour on modern Protestantism, then on Jerusalem, and then Jesus. It seemed reasonable to do Paul next.

What does it mean to cover religion as a "news story"?

This considers the impact and use of religion in people's daily lives. Coming back from overseas, I saw football players give credit to God for touchdowns, saw prisons make efforts to deal with criminals through religion, saw the impact of religious faith on the military, saw religion impact social debates, which evoked deep religious responses often with great passion.

America has a religious dimension that needed coverage. So we have done stories to cover the impact of religion, first by hiring Peggy Wehmeyer as a religion reporter who helped us appreciate this dimension of life better, then through these various specials designed to consider the religious dimension of what makes people act and think.

What did you learn going through Jesus' story a second time?

We did not go back through the whole story. We simply wanted to make clear what the context of Paul's story was. Paul is more interesting, and there is more sense of continuity if Jesus is set as the backdrop for him. This did allow us to use both old and new material on Jesus.

It also allowed us a closer look at some details we raised the first time, such as the portrait of Pontius Pilate. I went to a screening of The Passion and I kept thinking, "Well, does that hold up about Pilate, is that true about Pilate?" Our advantage is that as reporters we can say, here's what scholars say. Jesus is the platform on which the Paul story has to be built.

What does Paul add to the mix?

Paul has a 21st century resonance. He discusses homosexuality, women, sexuality, anti-Semitism, treats issues of social behavior, and raises the issue of tolerance. He is Jewish, but ministered to Gentiles. He wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament. He gives us real insight into a little first century movement that was so tiny and yet led into what became Christianity.

Paul gives us insight into the Christian movement of the first century because scholars think that his letters are probably the earliest documents of the Christian movement. Reading his letters is going back to our roots.

He was talented, passionate, towering, powerful, complicated, fascinating figure, and I don't think people know everything about him. He had a great historical impact. It is a news story to tell the amazing story of Paul's role in the growth of that tiny community into a worldwide movement.

We have been looking at what a reporter can put his hands on. The textual, hard evidence. What is amazing to me about this story is the life and impact—mostly the life of Paul. I hope it will have an impact on the audience.

next page... |  1 of 2

March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48