ARTE Distribution

Jesus, the founding figure of Christianity, is also an exceptional character in the Qur’an. Why? In what way? This series leads the investigation, with 26 of the greatest specialists from around the world and explore the emergence of Islam during the tiem of Muhammad. 

By the creators of “Corpus Christi.

A historical and scientific enquiry into the origins of the New Testament and the life of Jesus Christ involving specialists from all over the world.

Corpus Christi explores the question of Jesus seen historically and through the texts which tell us about his life. Corpus Christi tackles the viewpoints of the most eminent researchers worldwide who are working on the subject. Corpus Christi enables us to understand just how spectacular the distance is between what we know about Jesus - or what we think we know - and what is known by historians, linguists, bible scholars, and epigraphers who are endlessly analyzing and questioning the most fundamental Christian texts.

Released on DVD by ARTE Video

Best Historical Documentary - Nuit Des Clio 1997.

The history of anti-Semitism is a story of demonization that is deeply intertwined with the societies, countries, and ages where it takes place.

It is the story of anti-Semites, of those who, over time, have made Jews their worst enemies. Indeed, at certain times in their history, societies have had a need for a common enemy to unite or galvanize their people, to divert attention, or to serve as a scapegoat. At other times, Jewish people have happily integrated within the communities where they live.
 
This series examines the twists and turns of this story, from Antiquity to the modern day, from the shores of the Mediterranean to those of the Volga, and from the Iberian Peninsula to the birch forests of Poland. It will encompass Stalin and Pope John XXIII, Hitler and Alfred Dreyfus, King Louis IX or Saint-Louis as he was subsequently known, and Spinoza; some figures of hatred, others more benevolent characters.
 
The visual framework of the narrative will comprise both the traces left around the world, and remarkable 3D historical reconstructions created for the video game Assassin's Creed, acting as illustrations from the past, along with photographs and film archives from more recent times. It will draw upon research and analysis carried out by prestigious and respected academics. Eschewing witness testimonies and subjective opinions, it will bring together a wide range of contribution from some 30 historians, psychologists, and psychoanalysts to explore the multiple facets of the phenomenon and how they have evolved over time.
 
It will focus on specific stories from each era that mark out and illustrate the form of these manifestations of violence and hatred in an enlightening and moving manner. It will also provide context for the fightback against this recurrent phenomenon.
 
This four-episode series paints a comprehensive picture of this, “the longest hatred”.

She changed the course of history: a cold case about the most enigmatic heroine of the Middle Ages. Dive into her epic rise and spectacular fall, with 3D animations and never-before-seen documents from her rehabilitation trial. 

An epic rise and a spectacular fall: the destiny of a young village girl who claimed to have been sent by God to save France from the English invaders. Worshipped by an entire people, she was adviser to the powerful, became a war leader, won decisive battles, liberated cities and had her king crowned. Her adventure would take a tragic turn – at the age of 19, when she got burned alive at the stake after a mock trial. A deep dive into European medieval history, between animation and historical documentary.

In verses 157 and 158 of Surah IV, the Qur’an tells the story of the crucifixion of Jesus very differently from the Christian tradition.

In it, Jesus is crucified, “or so it appears”. Might those who witnessed the scene have been victims of an illusion? Might someone else have been crucified in his place? Did Jesus really die on the cross?

The image of Christ on the cross is known all over the world, but are we even certain how the torture was inflicted?

Were convicts nailed or tied to the cross? What shape was the cross? Where did executions take place? Do the writings by historians of antiquity confirm those of the Evangelists? What can we learn from bone fragments of the sole crucifixion victim ever discovered (in Jerusalem), which are also dated 1st century AD? Who crucified Jesus: the Romans or the Jews, as the Gospel according to Saint John leads us to believe?

Where did anti-Semitism first emerge? How did it grow? The first major wave of violence directed at Jews occurred in Antiquity, at Alexandria in Egypt, and has been well-documented.

How did anti-Jewish sentiment spread in Christian and Muslim civilizations? After three centuries of a golden age on the Iberian Peninsula, Grenada was the setting for a massacre.
The worst period was the time of the Crusades, when attacking Jewish people became a mass phenomenon. But the history of anti-Semitism in the first millennium AD also encompasses the first struggles to counter the spread of this hostility. This went from the first text denouncing hatred of Jews in Alexandria to the refusal of the Carolingian kings to discriminate against them, and from the protection for Jewish communities accorded by the Muslim rulers of Spain, and the appeals by Abbott Bernard de Clairvaux to bring an end to the massacres during the Crusades.

According to Surah IV of the Qur’an, “the People of the Book” —in this context, the Jews— claim that they have put Jesus to death. 

Contrary to historical fact, they contend that they have crucified him. Why this implausible claim? Why this self-accusation? Why does the Qur’an polemicize so much against the Jews of Arabia and yet all the while appear to remain faithful to the biblical tradition? 

How, and by whom was Jesus judged? Was Jesus tried once or twice? Was there a Jewish trial and a Roman trial? Are there two different stories of Jesus: one told from the Jewish viewpoint, the other from the Roman viewpoint?

In the Gospel according to Saint John, the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate seems to want to save Jesus from his torture. Can this attitude be reconciled with the fierce portrait of Pilate painted by Jewish historians of the time? Why did the Evangelists try to exonerate Pilate and accuse the Jews? Can this enable us to definitively date when the texts were written? Or to determine what their theological and ideological issues were?

Over five centuries on three continents, the gradual dehumanization of Jews entered a new dimension. This was when the first “Jewish nose” appeared in the art of the Middle Ages. This stigmatization would soon go beyond iconography to give rise to the first distinctive characteristic bestowed on Jewish people.

Yet where did the stereotype associating Jews with money come from? Hatred of Jews became a political instrument, resulting in their expulsion from most of Europe. In the kingdoms cleared of their Jewish populations, a new, paradoxical phenomenon emerged: Anti-Judaism without Jews. After the Spain of the Inquisition, the series moves on to Eastern Europe where Jews found refuge. This was when the first anti-Jewish imagery appeared, along with the proliferation of so-called blood libels throughout Europe, falsely accusing Jews of the ritual murder of Christian children. The French Revolution would change the history of Jews worldwide. 

The Qur’an accords a place of great prominence to Mary, the only woman it mentions by name. Why is Jesus always presented as the “son of Mary”? 

What are the implications of this expression, which seems to further convey the “terrible calumny” Mary is accused of? Why is she said to be the sister of Aaron and Moses, though they are separated by a thousand years?  

The titulus, or act of accusation, placed on the cross was inscribed "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews"; is this inscription the oldest surviving text which refers to Jesus?

Did "Nazarene" mean someone from Nazareth? How can the fact be explained that there are no archeological traces of Nazareth dating earlier than the 2nd century AD? In spite of the differences among the four Evangelists, they all agree that the inscription on the cross included the words "King of the Jews", in reference to Jesus. Was he executed principally for political reasons? Did Jesus himself have royal pretensions, which would certainly have posed a threat to the Roman imperial government?