CNN’s “Finding Jesus” Week 2: The Bones of John the Baptist

Last updated on: March 7, 2015 at 8:59 am by Kathy Schiffer

CNN’s “Finding Jesus” Week 2: The Bones of John the Baptist 2015-03-07T08:59:03-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

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On Sunday evening, CNN will air the second of six episodes in its original series Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery. Each episode will explore a different historical object–a relic–which leads us to reflect on Jesus’ life and times.

Last week, I previewed the first episode of the series, which dealt with the Shroud of Turin. According to Nielsen Fast National Data, Finding Jesus debuted as No. 1 in cable news in their respective time period in both total viewers and the demo 25-54 last Sunday night, March 1.

I’ve had the opportunity to review the second episode, on the Bones of John the Baptist, which will air Sunday evening, March 8. This episode discusses a box which was discovered buried in Bulgaria ten years ago, containing a cache of 2,000-year-old bones believed to be those of John. The research team also conducts DNA testing on a relic which has been housed in a Kansas museum, and which was considered to be one of John’s finger bones. The Kansas relic, according to the scientific findings, is not truly a relic of Jesus’ cousin, but is instead a medieval forgery–only about 1,500 years old.

As before, I uncovered a few concerns regarding this second episode. The narrator speaks of John’s “passionate belief that the end of the world is near.” Umm…. I guess that’s one way to interpret John’s warnings that “Judgment is coming.” More likely to me, he understood that his cousin Jesus was soon to change the world.

The narrator postulates that Jesus and John may have been related (oh! surprise me!) Isn’t that a pretty consistent view on the part of Catholics and other Christians, even without this new archeological study?

And the film reports the efforts of scientists to develop a map, exposing the crucial role played by relics in the spread of Christ’s message. Here, as I reported last week, I think they’ve overstated their case. Christianity spread in the centuries following Jesus’ Death and Resurrection due to the missionary zeal of the apostles and later followers of Christ. And as the faith spread, relics also were carried across Europe and around the world. But in fairness, the Cause/Effect relationship is the reverse of CNN’s claim: Relics were moved because the faith was being transmitted; it was not, as the series continues to imply, the reverse–that relics were carried to new lands, where their very existence inspired faith in the peoples.

One thing I liked is that episode 2 brought into the discussion Dr. Tim Gray, nationally renowned Bible scholar and president of the Augustine Institute. There are many scholars, both Catholic and Protestant, whose voices are heard in this series; but Dr. Gray brings a steady orthodoxy to bear in the analysis, and I particularly appreciated hearing from him.

My opinion? As with last week’s episode, I have some concerns this week which prevent my giving it an A+ rating. It’s a good and entertaining series, however. If you find yourself home on Sunday evening, relaxing before a return to the work world, click on the TV at 9:00 p.m. to see “The Bones of John the Baptist.”

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