YOUNG JESUS is perhaps the first comprehensive attempt in television to not only try to reconstruct the childhood of the historical Jesus, but to do so from a Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspective. The one-hour program is written and directed by archaeologist and historian Jean-Pierre Isbouts, a Professor at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara.

The film is based on his new book, YOUNG JESUS: Restoring the ‘Lost Years’ of a Social Activist and Religious Dissident, published by Sterling Publishing/Barnes & Noble (2008).

       Young Jesus features CG reconstructions of Herod’s Caesarea and the Second Temple in Jerusalem

YOUNG JESUS, produced by Santa Monica-based Pantheon Studios, aims to re-assess the early years of Jesus based on  a growing body of historical  evidence that has been uncovered by biblical scholarship in the past twenty-five years. “One of the most dramatic insights of this research,” says Isbouts, “is the re-interpretation of Jesus as a quintessentially Jewish figure – the son of Jewish peasant farmers, who became a Jewish social activist and rabbi among the poor of Lower Galilee, crushed by Herodian and Roman taxes.”

Consequently, the film shows that much of Jesus theological program and activist agenda is firmly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, which Christians know as the ‘Old Testament.’ It also investigates the actual relationship of Jesus with the influential Jewish party of he Pharisees, and the role of John the Baptist in the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

At the same time, the documentary reveals the role of Jesus in the Qur’an, the holy scripture of Islam. “Jesus is a highly revered figure in Islam,” says Isbouts, “possibly the most important figure after Muhammad and Musa (Moses).” Among others, he argues, “Muslims believe in the immaculate conception of Mary, and the great spiritual and miraculous circumstances of Jesus’ early life.”

The TV special was shot on location in Israel and the Palestinian Authority over a period of three years. It features the leading biblical scholars of our day, and is illustrated with stunning 3-D reconstructions of Herod’s Caesarea complex, courtesy of Continuum in London and the Caesarea Development Corporation, as well as a 3-D reconstruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The result is a highly provocative and strictly non-denominational documentary that will resonate with thinking viewers of every possible religious and ethnic background.

Title: Young Jesus

Produced by: Pantheon Studios (Santa Monica, CA)

Writer/Director: Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Producer: Catherine Labrador

Director of Photography:Michael Shubitz

Editor: Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Featured Experts: Prof. Bruce Chilton, Prof. Elaine Pagels, Prof. Abou El Fadl, Prof. Jean-Pierre

Ruiz

Running length: 55:00

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