Product Description

Bowling for Columbine did it to the gun culture. Super Size Me did it to fast food. Now The God Who Wasn't There does it to religion.

Holding modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight, this eye-opening documentary asks the questions few dare to ask. "Did Jesus even exist?" is just the beginning for The God Who Wasn't There. Your guide through the world of Christendom is former fundamentalist Brian Flemming, joined by such luminaries as Jesus Seminar fellow Robert M. Price, author Sam Harris and historian Richard Carrier.

In addition to the film, which won the Best Documentary award at the 2005 Grassroots Cinema Film Festival, this feature-packed DVD includes:

-Special commentary tracks with Richard Dawkins and Earl Doherty
-Over one hour of compelling additional interview footage
-An in-depth Web-enabled slide show
-Music from the soundtrack
-Bios of all participants

This provocative DVD takes off the gloves and gives religion an unprecedented, no-holds-barred examination. So hold on to your faith. It's in for a bumpy ride.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1910 in DVD
• Published on: 2005-06-06
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full length, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 320 minutes

Newsweek, June 27, 2005
"Irreverently lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed."

Los Angeles Times, June 6, 2005
"Provocative - to put it mildly."

Christianity Today, June 7, 2005
"What if Jesus Christ never existed?"

Customer Reviews

Good concept, poor execution
The first half hour of TGWWT offers an interesting premise and some compelling historical evidence (or demonstrates the lack thereof) for the presence of Jesus Christ in, as one interviewee states, "the historical timestream." However, that's where this extremely short documentary (it's only about 60 minutes) starts to break down. It then spends too much time making unauthorized use of "The Passion of the Christ" to demonstrate the violence and blood lust of Christianity, and then ends with an ambush interview of the principal of the school the director attended as a child.

In terms of the choice of interviewees, none is particularly high-caliber. Including footage of more eminent scholars -- such as leading historians who could talk about the appearance or non-existence of Jesus Christ in secular historical accounts of the time, and leading rational atheists such as Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins (who, in fairness, offers an optional audio commentary) -- would have been more convincing and effective. Nice soundtrack, though.

For the money, buy a copy of Dawkins' "The God Delusion" or Hitchens' "God is not Great" instead.

Poor, at best
I am a commited Christian of the Evangelical sort, I hold to a biblical, historical confession of Christian faith. I'm even studying to become a pastor and theologian, so that's where I'm coming from. I've always struggled some with faith and doubt, and if you're also a believer remember that Christ doesn't condemned those who doubt but tells you to seek with all your person.

But after watching it I saw a man attempting to validate his position. Poor argumentation, intentional choice of sources. He's got a point to prove and does a horrible job for someone claiming to be logical and rational. Very childish and immature. Oddly enough this documentary confirmed my faith, rather than destroy it.

Don't waste your time, there are many other well written and researched critiques and responses from both sides.

Read all of the ONE STAR reviews
I consider myself to be fairly well versed in history and theology. I also consider myself to be very open minded when it comes to Christian history and interpretation. I am the complete opposite of a Christian fundamentalist. With that being said, I have no agenda and take no personal offense by the horrible quality of this film.

I have nothing new or unique to say in my criticism of this film because it has all been said several times by those giving 1 STAR. Their arguments are my arguments.

My only purpose is to add a voice of support to their accurate commentary and to give this awful film another low rating.

As has been mentioned in other posts, if you are interested in critical study of Christianity, there are several other authors (John Shelby Spong, Bart Ehrman, Marcus Borg, etc.) that are far more qualified to make historical and theological arguments. You'd be wise to not buy/rent this movie and look for these other authors.