Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Goodacre on Schama on Paul

DOCUMENTARY FAIL: Simon Schama's misreading of Paul (NT Blog).
To reiterate, I think this is a superb documentary and I am a big fan of Schama. But I think this section falls below his usual standards. One of the reasons that this is important is that getting the history right plays a key role in Jewish-Christian relations. Given the appalling history of Christian attitudes to Jews and Judaism documented by Schama, it is worth paying careful attention to what Jews like Paul, right at the beginning of the Jesus movement, actually said.
Background on the documentary The Story of the Jews is here and links.