Zeitgeist – The Movie
The Zeitgeist Movement is a worldwide grassroots movement advocating broad social change concepts (the term ‘Zeitgeist’ literally means ‘the spirit of today’ or ‘the spirit of the age’). One major goal of the movement is for modern global society to transition from a monetary based economy to a resource-based economy. The movement is also connected to the The Venus Project, which is the lifelong work of industrial designer and social engineer Jacque Fresco. As of March 16, 2009 the movement claimed to have approximately a quarter-million members.
The Zeitgeist Movement is named after the documentary films produced, written, and narrated by Peter Joseph and released online. Zeitgeist, The Movie, was released in 2007 and a sequel, Zeitgeist: Addendum, was released in 2008. A third film with the working title Zeitgeist III, is scheduled to be released in October of 2010. Peter Joseph has stated that its topics will focus on human behavior, technology, and rationality. In general, all films portray the underlying societal problems manifested in monetary-based economic systems and offer possible solutions. The early films focused on conspiracy theory concepts of social control.
Zeitgeist, the Movie is a 2007 documentary film about alleged “social myths,” including religion, 9/11 and the banking system. Part One of the three-part movie, entitled “The Greatest Story Ever Sold” questions religions as original God-given stories, arguing the Christian religion specifically is mainly derived from other religions, astronomical facts, astrological myths and traditions; in turn derived from or sharing elements with other ones. In furtherance of the Jesus myth hypothesis, this part argues that the historical Jesus is a literary and astrological hybrid, nurtured politically in the interest of control. The name is obviously a sarcastic rip-off of the 1965 American movie on the life of Christ, The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Horus, the Egyptian Sun God, is introduced as having a number of attributes similar to many other religious deities which came after him, including but not limited to Attis, Krishna, Dionysus, Mithra and Jesus Christ; these attributes alleged to include the virgin birth on December 25, 12 disciples, burial for 3 days, resurrection, and performing of miracles.
Christianity is then said to be a Gnostic myth, historized by the Roman Empire for social control of Europe through doctrines established at the First Council of Nicea. The Dark Ages, the Inquisitions and the Crusades are given as events which maintained Europe’s submission to The Vatican through Christianity. The following is said in conclusion: “Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems [...] empowers those who know the truth, but use the myth to manipulate and control societies. [...] It reduces human responsibility to the effect that “God” controls everything, and in turn awful crimes can be justified in the name of Divine Pursuit. [...] The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created, and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths can flourish.”
Here is Part 1 of Zeitgeist, The Movie (The Greatest Story Ever Sold) for your viewing pleasure:
As is usually the case with these kind of documentaries, the often unwitting viewer is subjected to some fairly basic and blatant, but commonly peddled, fallacies about the historical roots of the Christian faith. As a large proportion of the public are not particularly discerning about where they receive historical teaching, and tend to prefer audiovisual media rather than knuckling down with a history book, these easily refuted inaccuracies are given a lot more credence than they deserve. Such ignorance is dangerous for Christian believers and society at large.
The oft-featured Centre For Public Christianity have once again provided a useful summary of these glaring historical porky-pies.
For a more detailed podcast go here.
New Zealand Philosopher Glenn Peoples does a fine job of dismantling this tripe on his blog here.
For excellent resources from Christian Apologist Lenny Esposito’s website Come Let Us Reason on the subject Did Christianity Steal from Mystery Religions? go here , here and the regular podcast (12th Dec 2010 to 2nd Jan 2011 episodes) here.
Stacey Derbinshire
on June 21st, 2009
Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.
rogermorris
on June 21st, 2009
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ” (Ephesians 6:12, 13)
A few quick points:
1. From the content of this movie, the Zeitgeist Movement is not merely trying to free mankind of the hinderance and mind-control of religion in general. This movie, representing the ideology of the Zeitgeist Movement, is blatantly and specifically anti-Christian, with the express aim to debunk and deride the Christian faith and those who hold to it.
2. The style of this movie gives me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as, along with the venomous rhetoric of the New Atheists such as Dawkins, Hitchens and co., the content and claims of this movie attempts to incite a loathing towards Christians that is very reminiscent of Nazi propaganda films about the evils of the Jews. We all know what followed that propaganda.
3. It is amazing how such blatant lies, flimsy conspiracy theories and widely debunked historical inaccuracies can once again be dredged up and pronounced with such rhetorical boldness. It is both laughable and frightening at the same time.
Mike Hitchcock
on June 21st, 2009
“3. It is amazing how such blatant lies, flimsy conspiracy theories and widely debunked historical inaccuracies can once again be dredged up and pronounced with such rhetorical boldness. It is both laughable and frightening at the same time.”
As an atheist, this is exactly how I see religion.
Craig
on June 21st, 2009
I was going to post something about Zeitgeist: The Movie today more or less debunking one of the claims made about Christianity.
Tosh77
on June 21st, 2009
There is so much good stuff debunking Zeitgeist. To be fair it is brilliantly made but really does crumble upon closer inspection. But that is the point, in the 21st century , where people have this endless thirst to be constantly ‘entertained’ there is significant illiteracy levels (Christian and Non-Christian) when it comes to an understanding or even interest in history.
I do however think films like this (as well as the writings of the New Atheists) are indeed having the opposite effect on many people. They are serving to put God back into the public square and driving people to talk on deep philosophical questions again.
smijer
on June 22nd, 2009
Roger… this might be a good time to ask you about your view of Christian history. Is there a particular strain of Biblical and/or historical Jesus scholarship that you find especially compelling?
Personally, as intriguing as some of this type of scholarship is, I always find myself wishing that there was more evidence and less speculation. I’m just fininshing Jeffrey Butz “The Brother of Jesus, and the lost teachings of Christianity”. Like so many other popular accounts of historical Jesus scholarship, its claims are somewhat fabulous, and only the occasional nugget of real evidence is adduced in favor of them. On the other hand, some of its core points do seem relatively likely…
Anyway… as fabulous as some of these claims appear, and as contingent as they are on a narrow base of evidence and on a particular view of which traditions are likely to carry a grain of historical truth… there is a relatively convincing made on at least some points. I say “relatively”… relative to other historical claims in modern scholarship. Unfortunately, it is the rare point that is so well established historically that one could state it as likely fact without a caveat or two.
Anyway – are you, like me, agnostic on most of these historical claims, or is there a strain you find especially credible?
rogermorris
on June 22nd, 2009
Hi smijer,
Having done a lot of family history/genealogy research over the last few years, I have found that it is hard enough to construct a historically accurate profile of a person living in the 19th Cent, let alone in the 1st Cent !! Having said that, there has been a lot of good scholarship on the historic Jesus over the last couple of decades (I’m sure you’re familiar with much of it). I thnk that much of the finer points of the life and person of Jesus will remain obscured in the mists of time, but I do trust the oral and written tradition of Jesus that followed, as it was completely falsifiable and refutable by many contemporary sources at the time that these matters were being recorded.
I tend to subscribe to a hybrid of writers when it comes to the historic Jesus, and, probably not suprisingly, it tends to fall into the category of mainstream, orthodox scholarship on the matter. I trust the work of people such as Darrell Bock, Ben Witherington, Gary Habermas. N.T. Wright has also been quite prominent in recent years and I tend to agree with his assertion that Jesus needs to be understood in the context of 1st Cent Judaism and Messiah teachings, though I believe Jesus’ vision was a little broader than just the Jews, as Wright tends to argue.
smijer
on June 23rd, 2009
Those are good names. They are conservative, but they are generally honest and thorough. I follow Ben Witherington on his blog – I wish they all had blogs. I’m interested in James McGrath – I may try to read something of his next.
I would counter that they even if they had been falsified and refuted by contemporary sources, we might not have much direct evidence of it today.
Paul and others frequently rail about ‘false teachings’ in the early church, so it is certain that there was controversy over which traditions were authentic even at the time.
On the other hand, I think that the traditions that survived both in and outside of the NT canon can lead a careful researcher to a better understanding of the history.
smijer
on June 23rd, 2009
P.S. I’m a big fan of Ray Brown… He is Catholic, and I think that colors his view in a number of ways, but he does a bang up job of covering vast territories of NT scholarship.
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on December 29th, 2010
[...] Zeitgeist – The Movie [...]
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on December 29th, 2010
[...] Zeitgeist – The Movie [...]
Jason
on December 30th, 2010
Wow Mike, a soundbite, how very atheistic of you.
At least commentators on Zeitgeist actually produced a response that showed it was historically worthless. You, not so much.
HIS
on January 13th, 2011
I believe the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ because it works where every else fails. “If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and heal their land” – it works, that’s all that matters.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God – you cannot see (understand the ways of) God through a dirty heart – you cannot hear that “still small voice” with the clatter of the world in your ears.
The Occult is mass confusion. Jesus (God’s Word) is Truth. Its simple.
Man’s soul is a mirrow. He reflects what he focuses on. God is holy. God is love. He NEVER changes. Focus on Him.