Sydney
6 April 2003

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Peace ... harmony

Rugby league scores a try in a GPS college

Passing the baton

Peaceful action for peace

Catholic Weekly takes a holiday over Easter

Tissue project wins archbishop’s grant

A voice for the disabled

Faith centre moves

Younger set is 50

Fr Chris is guest

Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in wetlands

US move welcomed on partial birth abortion

Project Compassion 2003 - Leyte farmers can face better future

Editorial - Victims of war

Letters - Ash Wednesday

Conversation - Fr Patrick Byrne, Rome-based head of Children’s Mission: Big project or small, ‘it must be for kids’

Voice of Youth - Renaissance of thinking about the Middle Ages

Celebrate Love? Live it to the ‘max’

Heading off conflict before it hits crisis point

Crucifixion story wouldn’t go away

New home for new breed of priest

Christian Brothers spread social justice net

Luke’s Story wins award

300 at social justice forum

Music lets Andrew ‘share my faith’ ...

Crucifixion story wouldn’t go away

Rome crucified thousands of men for religious, political and other reasons, men whom history has long since cast into the mist of oblivion.

But one crucifixion still remains to the forefront.

Its story has been and is still told in history books, novels, movies, documentaries, music, theatre and musical theatre.

Why - and how - did one death, the death of Jesus Christ, have such far-reaching ramifications for the world?

These questions are explored in Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution, a new two-part documentary series on the rise of the Christian religion in the first century AD. (It begins on SBS at 7.30pm on Easter Day, Sunday, April 20.)

Using the words of Paul and other ancient writers, interviews with scholars and dramatic re-enactments, Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution investigates how two men weathered crippling disagreements and political persecution to lead one of history’s most astonishing religious movements.

It deals in some depth with the obstacles the Christian faith had to overcome before it ‘conquered’ the Roman empire that initially determined to stamp it out.

Unlike others before him, Jesus did not disappear from history.

Instead, his memory was kept alive by a small band of Jews, men and women who held fast to their conviction that he was the Messiah.

These early followers faced powerful obstacles. The might of the Roman Empire and the dangerous politics of ancient Jerusalem lay a heavy burden on those who believed in Jesus.

But the new faith would not die. In a brief span of time, the movement would transcend its origins in the provinces of Rome and absorb the capital of the empire itself.

With their Messiah executed and their cause deemed subversive by the Roman Empire, the followers of Jesus face a bleak future.

However, an explosive moment of hope saves the movement from extinction, when Peter and others envision the risen Jesus.

The sighting convinces them that Jesus has not been beaten. Re-infused with hope and determination, Peter becomes an indomitable figure, uniting the group into a tight community of ardent believers.

Persecution, imprisonment and dispersal follow, but support arrives from an unexpected source. Paul, a fervent Jew and a former persecutor of Jerusalem’s Jesus community, has a startling revelation that leads him to embrace Peter’s faith in Jesus as his own. Educated, passionate and determined, Paul is also dogmatic.

It is a turning point for the fledgling movement, as Paul uses his formidable talents to spread his new beliefs around the Roman Empire.

Led by missionaries, faith in Jesus continues to spread among Jews and non-Jews throughout the empire. However, hostile locals, imperial forces and conflicting ideas threaten to tear the young movement apart.

Paul falls into open and angry disagreement with some of the oldest members of the movement on the issue of conversion.

Despite Peter’s apparent efforts to mediate the crisis, Paul distances himself from his one-time allies.

He establishes congregations of Jesus followers around the Mediterranean and writes letters that will become central to Christian theology.

Disaster strikes in 70 AD.

After decades of rising tension, Judea erupts in revolt against Rome. War rages for four years.

When Rome finally re-establishes control, it destroys much of Jerusalem, torches the sacred Temple, and enslaves the population.

The scorched earth of Judea can no longer support a Jewish Jesus movement, but the communities established by Paul will survive and grow.