Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Whirlwind Tour of the Church before Y1K
Review: "Christianity: The First Thousand Years," provides a very brief, yet fairly well researched and entertaining glimpse at the story of the Christian Church. This video briefly explains both the HOW's and WHY's of the Church Structure and the process of how Christianity spread, the horrors and martyrdom which hundreds of thousands Christians endured, and the final triumph and establishment of the Church and what we understand as basic theological principles of Christianity (the Holy Creeds).People whom are neither Orthodox, or of the Roman persuasion, might be in for more than a few shocks: Such as the astounding reality that the Bible did *NOT* fall out of a tree, high atop Mt. Sinai, into Martin Luther's lap, whilst he stuck pins in his Pope doll. Moreover, the early Church (first 500 years) was NOT, and NEVER was, a kind of Magical Mystery Holy Bible Tour by Jesus and Company. In fact, the establishment of Church theology (Tradition and Creeds) formed the basis for WHICH books of the New Testament would be declared "HOLY" -- in the *middle* of the first millennium. Hopefully this video's very quick glimpse at the history of the early Christians, and the Fathers, will inspire its viewers into a further <<GASP>> *READING* about Church History and most importantly, the FIRSTHAND WRITINGS of the Fathers of the Church, which are still closely studied with reverence by the faithful of both the original Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) Church. The actual writings of the Fathers are still very much around (the ones your mother never told you about), and are available right here at *AMAZON* (search under "Church Fathers" or, search for "Philokalia" -- a fascinating collection of the unabridged writings of the most important early Fathers). Hopefully, the purchase of this video might not only turn into a better understanding of the very cornerstone of Western Civilization, but rather a real, personal, and quite INCREDIBLE adventure! -- Enjoy the ride.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not fair and balanced.
Review: ...this visual survey of Church history is one-sided and distorted. The "experts" are persons such as those associated with "The Jesus Seminar," who by a vote of the membership have decided that something like 60% - 70% of what is attributed to Jesus in the Gospels was not actually said by Jesus. As they go along, the "experts" profer cynical observations such as the Nicene Creed was formulated by a group of "clerical bureaucrats," and that the main objective of Saint Augustine (who wrote over 400 documents) was to motivate people to avoid the pitfalls of promiscuous sex which plagued his own misspent youth. (As someone who has read a few Augustinian texts, I can assure you there is a lot more to his theology than this particular issue). This production is definitely not a centrist view of the last 2,000 years. It is unfortunately quite inaccurate and biased. I would have to conclude those involved in this effort were more interested in grinding axes than in presenting the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: One-Sided Christianity
Review: After sitting through 4 hours of this narrative of Christianity, I felt that much of this story was distorted. Christianity was presented as some tyrannical force bent on destroying its enemies throughout history. While I don't discount the many factual accounts of brutality presented, I also fail to see balance in the presentation. Where does it show the positive values of Christianity in sustaining people's lives during plagues, wars, etc? Where does it present the millions of good works performed by Christians throughout history? These films are all blood and gore and violence and death. This is only one side of the Christian story. Is Mother Theresa even mentioned? No. Also I would like to know who was behind the production of this show. How can I discern the biasses of the individuals who produced it? Who are they? And what was their motive for the show? It certainly does not present Christianity in a positive light at all. One might even call it anti-Christian. If anyone knows who selected the facts and organized this narration, I would appreciate hearing from him/her. Len Bazelak, Sarasota, Fl
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating viewing!
Review: I found the series completely riveting and fascinating from a historical point of view. A&E did a wonderful job on this documentary as they always did on their Mysteries of the Bible series. One minor technical point is that the transfer to DVD is slightly lacking in spots. An occasional bit of pixellization and one cut-to-commercial promo -- but certainly nothing that will spoil your experience. This is a LOT of show for the money here!! This is a great introduction to anyone wishing to learn more about the history of Christianity and how it applies to western civilization and European history!
Rating: 
Summary: Apostolic Church still alive as the New Apostolic Church
Review: I haven't seen it yet but, if it covers from the Apostolic Church to Catholicism, I know that the Apostolics kept breaking bread among themselves, and generaation after generation kept the Apostolic faith alive and renewed the church in the 1800's and that Church is now the NEW Apostolic Church which has millions of members around the world. It is not the Catholic church.
Rating:
Summary: Bring Your Own Opinions With You
Review: I love DVD's and I love documentaries. This is my favorite DVD of all time. A great peace of work. FYI, I am a Christian.
I realise they only have time to cover each topic once and give one point of view on it. I think they did a great job considering they are covering 2000 years of a religion.
If anyone takes this as a "liberal" view of things, I don't agree. There is no hidden agenda here. I appreciate humans giving a human perspective on things. It was nice not to see a fire and brimstone session.
This is not the word of God. It is a documenary by humans. If you remember that, you will appreciate the work and effort.
This is as good as a documentary can get.
I have a feeling many people bought this looking for some sort of divine inspiration or guidance and then they felt left down thus giving it bad reviews. Also, I think people don't like it when Christianity gets a bad rap (some of the past leaders made mistakes, let's face it, they were human). Just remember, it is a documentary, with human voices and flaws covering humans trying to find their way. It is sometimes beautiful to watch, sometimes horrible.
I thought the narration and music was excellent. I could not be more happy with a product.
Rating:
Summary: Bring Your Own Opinions With You
Review: I love DVD's and I love documentaries. This is my favorite DVD of all time. A great peace of work. FYI, I am a Christian.
I realise they only have time to cover each topic once and give one point of view on it. I think they did a great job considering they are covering 2000 years of a religion.
If anyone takes this as a "liberal" view of things, I don't agree. There is no hidden agenda here. I appreciate humans giving a human perspective on things. It was nice not to see a fire and brimstone session.
This is not the word of God. It is a documenary by humans. If you remember that, you will appreciate the work and effort.
This is as good as a documentary can get.
I have a feeling many people bought this looking for some sort of divine inspiration or guidance and then they felt left down thus giving it bad reviews. Also, I think people don't like it when Christianity gets a bad rap (some of the past leaders made mistakes, let's face it, they were human). Just remember, it is a documentary, with human voices and flaws covering humans trying to find their way. It is sometimes beautiful to watch, sometimes horrible.
I thought the narration and music was excellent. I could not be more happy with a product.
Rating:
Summary: Political Correctness at its Worst
Review: I'm not a Christian, but watching this unjust documentary was enough to make feel pity for their side of the case. Though truth be told, it's not as anti-Christian, as it is just childishly anti-Western. A few examples: 1) The narrator says that slavery was "unknown to the New World," and even rather slyly gives the listener the impression (without actually saying so) that slavery might have existed in Europe only, and nowhere else. This is a howler. Amerindians kidnapped and enslaved each other continually, all over the New World. Ditto for Africa and Asia. Actually, at that time, Europe was just about the only place in the world that people had ever questioned the morality of slavery. Before the Europeans invented the crazy idea of individual liberty, slavery was the worldwide norm. 2) The script makes the Christian defeat of the tyrannical Emperor Montezuma out to be an unmitigated tragedy for the happy-go-lucky Amerindians of a utopian indigenous Mexico; though the neighbors of the Aztecs, who took Cortes' side, apparently didn't see it that way. Not revealed is the fact that Montezuma's boys used to collect conquered peoples like human taxes, in order to rip out their still-beating hearts and throw them, spraying blood, down the steps of their temples, at the rate of about a thousand innocent victims a year. Nice. Pisarro was as bad as can be, but Cortes's case isn't that simple. The noble pagans did eat each other, too, by the way, just for the record. Though they lived in such desperate squalor and chronic hunger you can hardly blame them. The truth is, I have to admit that Christianity almost looks wonderful, when you compare it to the grisly, savage sort of stuff it happened to replace, at least in most of the Western hemishpere. But you wouldn't guess that from watching this "documentary."
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Biased
Review: It gets three stars, because much if it is factual, and it's presentation is very well-done. I appreciated it for its cinematographic value. There are several errors that I spotted here, and I would expect more out of A&E. Such errors include: 1) James, not Peter, was the leader of the first Christian community. This is clearly false. The vast consensus among scholars is that Peter was the leader of the early Christian community. Check out the Encyclopedia Britannica article "Peter", as well as anything published by Oxford University, as well as just about every book on Church history. The "historical consultant" for the 1st 1000 years was Dominic Crossan of the laughable Jesus seminar. He wrote a book titled "James, the Brother of Jesus". It's pretty much his view, and the view of his small circle of scholarly rejects that James, not Peter, was the leader of the early Church. James may have had immediate leadership over Jerusalem, but primary leadership was Peter's This is evidenced in the very name "Peter" itself. See Matthew 16:13-19, as well as the Church Fathers. Also, the DVD is inconsistent. It begins by introducing the disciples, and it actually identifies Peter as their leader. 20 minutes into the documentary they say the leader was James. Inconsistent. 2) The role of women in the early Church. There is not one documented record of a woman serving in a clerical role. You did have orders of deaconesses, but the liturgical manuals we have in our possession, like the "Apostolic Tradition" and the canons of the Council of Nicea, make it clear that these were not ordained positions. The early Church did have prominent women figures. There were orders of virgins, widows, and deaconesses. But these were forerunners to the modern nun, not "women clergy", as the film implies. 3) The film says that the three-fold hierarchy of bishop, priest, and deacon was "proposed" by Ignatius of Antioch, in the 100s A.D.. It is true that Ignatius's letters, written around 107 A.D., are among the first references we have to this hierarchy, but they aren't THE first. Such appears in the Letter of Pope Saint Clement I to the Corinthians, and is certainly implicit in the Bible itself. Not only that, but by the time Ignatius had begun writing his letters, on his way to martyrdom, he had already been bishop of some 40 years. So we know for a fact that there was a three-fold hierarchy at least by 67 A.D., when the Apostles were still alive. (Granted, this system was not universal in Apostolic times, but it certainly was by the 2nd century). It's also important to mention that Ignatius was a disciple of John the Apostle. The documentary fails to mention this. The show also says that Ignatius was among the first to bar women from the clergy. Again, there is no evidence of this. Saint Paul himself had barred women from preaching in the churches. 4) Not once in the first disc of the film is it mentioned that the orthodox branch of Christianity was known as "the Catholic Church". This is a serious fly-over. One hears the of this one Christian body, but it isn't called "catholic" until DVD disc 2, which starts off in the year 1000. Ignatius was the first one to employ the term, and it was used to distinguish orthodox Christians from heretical ones. 5) The DVD says that Pope Saint Leo I was the first Pope to assert authority over the East. Again, this is false. Pope Saint Clement I, Pope Saint Victor, Saint Ireneaus, the Ecumenical Councils prior to Chalcedon, etc. all affirmed the primacy of the Pope. The Popes of Rome frequently took it upon themselves to excommunicate heretical Eastern Patriarchs, and later on Eastern Christianity sided with them. 6) In Disc 2, Post-Reformation Catholicism is passed off as completely anti-intellectual and anti-technology. When the Church condemned "Modernism", it wasn't condemning change or technology, but rather what we call today "liberal Catholicism". And Vatican II didn't change any of that. 7) The series ends on a negative note with the document "Dominus Iesus". What isn't mentioned is that "Dominus Iesus" was little more than a re-statement, word for word, of the teaching of Vatican II. (It's presented as anti-ecumenical). It's obvious that the producers of the series did not bother to read the document. 8) The Church in Colonial America is presented as pro-slavery, with certain exceptions among friars. This is not true. All the popes, even prior to 492, condemned slavery as incompatible with the Catholic religion. They were largely ignored, but the penalty of excommunication "ipsi facto" (the same punishment given to women who commit abortions today) was threatened, and applied, to those who kept slaves. 9) The lie that Pope Pius XII did nothing to help Jews is told in this documentary. Pius XII helped save over 800,000 Jews, more than any other nation did. H did this through monasteries, convents, fake baptismal certificates, and sneaking Jews in the Vatican among the Swiss Guard. Catholics were the 2nd-largest group murdered in the Holocaust, after Jews. Of the 5 million non-Jews murdered in the Holocaust, 3 million were Catholics. I'm not trying to be an apologist for Catholicism (yes, I am Catholic), but I think that all my comments and discrepancies are justified and objective. Pretty good, but take it with a grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the price.
Review: It's interesting to read that several reviewers seem to be a bit upset by this video. I find it extremely interesting and helpful, to the point that I have watched it over and over again.
It is intelligently done, especially considering the monumental task of covering two thousand years of history in such a short time. I didn't find it biased at all, and I'm sure that it is as accurate as any other such account could possibly be. I suppose I could understand why it might make fundamentalists a bit nervous.
I happen to be a devout Christian. Whenever anyone tells me that something is inaccurate or not what it should be, that's exactly when I take a look for myself, and indeed that has made my faith stronger, as has this video presentation.
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