DIRECTOR INTERVIEW
RICHARD DENTON
Friday 11 July 2003
BBC Four: Your central question is did Jesus die on the cross rather than did Jesus
die at all.
Richard Denton: It is really. I originally wanted to call it The Body of Christ because
that seems to me to be the crucial question. Obviously he died at some point, but
when and how is the question.
BBC Four: How do you think he might have survived crucifixion?
RD: Crucifixion took up to three days; the maximum he was on the cross for was
nine hours, it might even have been six. And even if you read the gospels Pontius
Pilate is clearly surprised that he's already dead and wants to be reassured by the
centurion that he really is dead. My personal take on it would be that he goes into a
shock induced coma, and probably they thought he was dead.
BBC Four: If he did survive why do you think it's not related in that way in the
gospels?
RD: First of all, they would think it was a miraculous resurrection. You don't have to
think of that as a conspiracy theory or a lie, it's just a mistake. What you then have to
do is get him out of the way. The real question doesn't hang over the resurrection,
which I think is explicable. The real question hangs over him ascending into
heaven.
BBC Four: You make the point that the Ascension isn't actually mentioned in the
gospels.
RD: It's not in any of the original versions of the gospels which is astonishing. It was
in the last 16 verses of Mark, which were put in 300 years after and it's inserted, in a
sentence, into some versions of Luke because he was assumed to have written the
Acts and it's mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. That I think is the lie, the cover
story to get him out of the country.
BBC Four: If Jesus was revived in this way where then did he go?
RD: One story is that he gets out and goes to the South of France with Mary
Magdalene, there is a certain amount of evidence that she went there. And the other
is that he goes to India and there are a number of versions of this. One of which
suggests that in fact he had already been to India during the missing years between
12 and 29.
BBC Four: It was very interesting the parallel between the story of the three kings
and the search for a reincarnated Lama?
RD: Absolutely, we explore that and the similarities between the miracles and the
teachings of the Buddha and Jesus in the programme. And of course Buddha pre-
dates Jesus by about 500 years, so it's not unreasonable that he may have gone to
India, learned Buddhist teaching and brought it back. Then when he returns to India
after the crucifixion he carries on the ministry in Kashmir until he dies at the age of
80.
BBC Four: What actually prompted you to start exploring this topic?
RD: I was intrigued because most academic theologians and intelligent churchmen,
or a very significant number of them, do not believe that the resurrection is the literal
truth. It's a metaphor to tell us that there is hope. Whilst not saying that it's a literal
truth they don't actually say it's a lie, but if you're saying something's not literal truth
then you are saying it's a lie. I was shocked that none of the people we interviewed,
with the exception of the Canon of Westminster, believed it was true. Yet if they don't
think it's true what on earth do they think is the motivation behind writing the story in
the Bible?
BBC Four: You say that the resurrection and the literal truth of the Gospel have in
the past been the cornerstone of Christianity.
RD: Exactly. And the idea that you can go on preaching this to the ordinary stupid
faithful while not believing it yourself seemed to me truly offensive. So what I was
looking for was another version of the story that had the possibility of being
historically true, that could have been misinterpreted by the people at the time, so
that what they said was not a lie, it was the way they understood it.
BBC Four: And in the end have you found that the most credible account?
RD: Yes, I think so. On the other hand I am a person who does not find the idea of
rising from the dead and ascending into heaven credible. I'm faced with the choice,
do I believe that the gospel writers were cunning liars or do I think they were simple
men who misunderstood things and were amazed by this man.
BBC Four: And did these feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains
green?
RD: I personally don't think they did walk upon England's mountains green, I think
they walked upon Kashmir's mountains green. They may have walked in France for
all I know.