One man's journey

I've seen the shorter version of "The god who wasn't there" on Youtube. Perhaps the DVD version with additions is better, but the original documentary comes across as somewhat weak, if the purpose is to convince the viewer that Jesus was a myth.

The interviews with Richard Carrier, Robert Price and Sam Harris are interesting, but only as appetizers. The theory that Jesus was a completely invented and fictitious character is considered "out there" even by mainline *secular* scholars such as Bart Ehrman. The narrator, Brian Flemming, seems to accept it wholesale, even claiming that Paul considered Jesus to be a purely mythical character, rather than a recently deceased, actual person! Such a bold statement requires a lot of additional discussion, lest it sounds Biblically illiterate...

After declaring that Jesus wasn't there and hence is silent, Flemming attacks Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ", interviews a rapture-ready Christian blogger and finally reveals that he (Flemming) is a recovering fundamentalist. The documentary ends with a somewhat awkward interview with the principal of Flemming's old Bible school.

"The god who wasn't there" is essentially a movie about one man's journey out of fundamentalism, and some of the things that made him quit. Nothing wrong per se, but not what I expected either. I will therefore irreverently award it three stars.