Watch Eyewitness to Jesus

Eyewitness to Jesus is a gripping and thought-provoking television documentary aired on The Learning Channel (TLC) in 1998. The documentary is an hour-long exploration which proffers its viewers an intriguing journey into biblical archaeology and attempts to unravel novel insights into the mysteries of the New Testament. This show was created to question and discuss the authenticity and the context of several biblical narratives via a unique investigative approach, aided by some of the world's leading scholars, researchers and historians.

The focus of the show is on a piece of ancient papyrus, the Magdalen Papyrus, believed to have the earliest surviving words from the Gospels. First discovered in Egypt in the early 20th century, it is named after the college in Oxford, England where it has been kept. The tiny fragments, written in Greek, were identified as parts of St. Matthew's Gospel. The show points out the major debate surrounding this relic: its dating and its significance. This contentious object becomes the starting point of an ambitious quest that aims to seek evidence and clarification on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Throughout the show, viewers are taken on an engaging journey, featuring various locations, from Oxford, England to Egypt, to explore the age, origin, and relevance of the Magdalen Papyrus. Through the utilization of advanced historical, archaeological and scientific methods, including the controversial technique of carbon dating, Eyewitness to Jesus aims to shed light on unanswered questions such as when the Gospels were written and how accurate their depictions of Jesus are.

The strength of Eyewitness to Jesus lies in its unflinching quest for truth, yet providing an unbiased account without authoritative interpretations, thereby leaving the viewers to contemplate the provided evidence themselves. Amid the debates of biblical archaeologists, theologians, and textual critics, the viewers are presented with various contrasting viewpoints and are given the scope to develop an understanding or hypothesis of their own.

A central figure in the documentary is Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede, a renowned Biblical scholar and papyrologist. Thiede