KAIROS PUBLIC FORUM
THE REAL JESUS CHRIST OF HISTORY
Jesus of The Bible
versus
Jesus of the Documentaries (National Geographic/Discovery /BBC)
Date: Friday, 20 November 2009
Time: 8.30pm – 10.30pm
Venue: Hall 1, Dream Centre
2 Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Influential networks like National Geographic, Discovery and BBC Channels are propagating new portraits (or fabrications) of Jesus that distort if not contradict what Christians traditionally believe about Jesus for 2000 years.
This Kairos Public Forum seeks to explain why these TV producers rely on pagan Mystery Religions and 2nd century Gnosticism texts to reconstruct new portraits Jesus, what methods and assumptions inform the scholars who advise these media channels for their distorted views of Jesus.
The Forum also offers evidence for the integrity of the New Testament Gospels as reliable historical records of Jesus’ life and ministry and critiques popular images of Christ in contemporary society.
Topics/Speakers
1) The Fabricated Jesus of Contemporary TV Documentaries
Speaker: Mr. Philip Koh
(Partner of a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur and Director of Kairos Research Centre)
2) The Historical Christ of the New Testament: The Test of History
Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng
(Research Director of Kairos Research Centre)
3) The Real Jesus Christ and Contextual Christs Today: Who makes the real difference?
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Tan Jin Huat
(Anglican minister and CTEE Director, Seminari Theoloji Malaysia)
Kairos Seminar on Jesus Christ and Early Christianity
There will be a follow-up seminar for those who want to learn in detail how contemporary research supports the historical accuracy and authenticity of the New Testament portrait of Jesus Christ.
Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng
Date: Saturday 5 December 2009
Time: 9.30am – 12.00 noon
Place: Dream Centre
To participate in this seminar contact Kairos office (Tel no: 7726 5420 or email: kairosmalaysia@gmail.com)
10 comments:
Hi Kar Yong,
I am excited about this forum as I am very interested to talk about the historical Jesus to my church members.
But I am also perplexed because from the brief description, it judges outright that documentaries on Jesus produced by these media companies are mere fabrication, unreliable, and worse still, detrimental to our Christian faith.
I have watched quite a number of BBC and NatGeo productions, and I do not think the verdict reflects the content accurately, especially for BBC's three part series where the main consultant was Tom Wright!
If this forum is for the purpose of building a hedge to 'protect' Christians from a false Jesus produced by these media companies, I am afraid the fears may be unfounded. Let's hope I am wrong tomorrow.
I am glad to see Kairo reseach promoting rigorous investigation in christian faith among the english speaking folks...
most of time I encounter english speaking folks in malaysian churches, very learned professionals, but surprisingly are alien to critical thinking/liberal arts disipline...
even the local news paper has no column in such areas...
how is KY observation?
Hi Israel,
I am not sure how the forum will turn up tomorrow. But what I can say is that I don't think what you have just described is what Kam Weng intended - at least from my conversation with Kam Weng. Kam Weng initially wanted me to take a session to critically evaluate the documentaries from NT scholarship and also from the Scripture, but unfortunately, I could not make it as I am now in the UK till Dec.
I would not dismiss completely these documentaries - but would rather interact with them critically.
Yes, I hope it will not turn out that way because I think this topic is really good for believers to have a true impression of Jesus. (Could even have help Calvary to avoid their disastrous 'temple' building plan.)
My hope is that they will not lump all the documentaries in the same category, but differentiate between those which are sympathetic to revisionists' views based on the Gnostic gospels and those which are based orthodoxy, and at the same time on solid historical grounds such as this one. One can almost read Wright's 'Jesus - Victory of God' in the 3 part series. ;-)
Hi Israel,
Would be good to have your thoughts about the forum.
Von Rad,
I don't think I could agree with your general observations. I do meet people who are very critical when it comes to biblical/theological disciplines in my interaction with many professionals, and they are very well read generally. However, I tend to find the chinese speaking ones that are less critical.
Just came back from the forum. I was surprised by the crowd. The hall was nearly full. It must be a record for Kairos.
It's really a pity that the speakers have to rush through their presentations because of time constraint. As a result I feel the flow was affected in certain areas. Kam Weng was also down with a bad flu.
What was interesting was there were a few Muslims in the audience and one of them, a guy by the name of Dr. Amir (I think, who said he is NKW's friend) made a comment as to why the Muslims' view on Jesus was not presented and suggested dialogues along this line.
I was quite irked by someone who is staying in Australia (I believe he migrated there) came out and made a comment that Malaysians Christians are brain dead and we are being brainwashed by the Govt so much so we dare not preach the gospel to the Muslims. I shall not mention his name but I believe he is the same person who used to write to Malaysiakini a lot and comments about the socio-political situation here. It's easy to comment from afar. Why doesn't he move back here and fight for a better Malaysia. Sheesh cannot tahan this kind of fella.
Thanks, SP, for the update.
Hi Kar Yong
I have posted list of pros and cons on yesterday's forum at my blog.
thanks KY for reply..
maybe both of our observations lack wider encounter...
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