Faithlife, the maker of Logos Bible Software and many other technological solutions for Christian churches, has made its foray into feature-length films with its first documentary on Biblical accuracy called, “Fragments of Truth.”
About the Film
Directed by Reuben Evans in cooperation with Fathom Events, “Fragments of Truth” follows Dr. Craig Evans around the world as he seeks answers to some of the biggest questions about the legitimacy of the New Testament. Along the way, he interviews various scholars and librarians who share their work and its relevance to the original texts of the New Testament.
During the scope of the 90-minute film, viewers are taken through how the New Testament scripts are coded, copied, stored, and preserved. We learn how to properly date texts and what textual criticism is, including which elements matter and which don't. We learn the process by which texts are written, copied, signed, and shared and what a Codex is and why it matters so much in defending the authenticity of the NT texts.
The film shared much knowledge about the physical forms of texts, intended purposes of specific texts, and formats of texts, as well as how scholars view and treat inaccuracies, of which there are few.
With over 5,800 original Biblical texts, the inerrancy of scripture and the reliability of the Bible was woven throughout the documentary in a very scholarly way.
Overall, if you're asking the questions…
- Is the Bible reliable?
- Can I trust the Bible as truth?
- Were there huge mistakes early in Christian history that affect the truth of the scriptures?
…then this film is definitely for you.
Review of Film
Although I'm not a Bible scholar, I appreciated the factual and intellectual approach to Biblical accuracy and found the various interviews to be valuable. I loved understanding more about the oldest New Testament papyrus on file and how precious and helpful these texts have been to the world understanding the validity of the Bible.
It was fascinating to learn more about the longevity of the earliest papyrus scrolls and that they were in use for 100-300 years. This is mind-blowing. Overall, the film was very well done. Lovely scenery of the various universities, libraries, and on-site locations was well used, and captions shared relevant scholarship of the subjects being interviewed.
While there was a slight overuse of b-roll and somewhat overly dramatic hopeful and compelling musical score, the narrator (John Rhys-Davies) filled in nicely without overuse as in some documentaries.
At nearly 90 minutes, the film is quite long, with a long question and answer session at the end. For a student audience or crown of non-believers, perhaps a shorter more succinct version topping out at the 40-minute mark would be advantageous.
I see this film being most used at universities, perhaps as a requirement for some classes or as extra curriculum. Bible geeks looking to go deeper into biblical accuracy with a couple of hours to spare will enjoy all the detail. Again, the film is quite long – few people have the attention span to hang in there for a 90-minute documentary. I recommend that Faithlife creates an abbreviated version to attract more people, perhaps even an infographic to share with bloggers and the like.
The website for Fragments of Truth has a form to fill out to get DVD purchase information for the film. A study guide can also be downloaded for free to use in small groups.
Since it was a one-engagement only night at the box office, if you'd like to enter your email to receive DVD purchase information about this film, that is currently the only way you can view it.
Overall, it was a valuable film with much compelling information about the accuracy of the Bible. Two thumbs up.
[Editor's Note: I did receive complimentary tickets from Fathom Events to attend this film for review purposes.]