Computer-generated image of Jesus, the Messiah of Christendom. -ContributedLONDON (AP):
WAS JESUS dark-skinned? Was he actually born in a cave?
"Son of God," a new documentary television series co-produced by the British Broadcasting Corp., considers these questions in its attempt at a purely scientific investigation into the Messiah of Christendom.
"The combination of new scientific and archaeological discoveries with a re-evaluation of the historicity of the gospels has allowed us to tell the story of Jesus in a fresh and exciting way," co-producer Michael Wakelin said of the three-part series, to begin broadcast April 1.
The documentary is to be broadcast in the United States in its entirety on April 15 on The Discovery Channel, which co-produced it.
For the series, a computer-generated image has been created to suggest what Jesus' face might have looked like, contrary to the fair-skinned and fine-featured image familiar since medieval times.
The new image was created by a forensic artist at the University of Manchester using the 2,000-year-old skull of a Jewish man from Israel. Cues on hair and skin tone with a round, robust face and a stout nose.
The idea of a darker Jesus is becoming more accepted by Catholics -- a dark-skinned Jesus was selected in 1999 for a special millennium-edition of the American independent newsweekly, the National Catholic Reporter.
The series goes beyond the skin-tone question, challenging another widely accepted image of Jesus -- his birth in a wooden stable. The programme argues he was more likely born in a cave.
It also questions whether Judas betrayed Jesus to the Roman authorities, suggesting that a mistranslation could mask that fact that Jesus worked with Judas to provoke his own arrest.
Using diverse historical accounts the documentary weaves a tale of how a young carpenter may have been inspired to lead a pacifist rebellion against the establishment in Jerusalem, launching a religion now embraced by 2 billion people.
