VisionTV specials explore the controversy sparked by author Tom Harpur’s controversial bestseller The Pagan Christ

What if it could be proven that Jesus Christ never existed?

That’s the provocative question that Canadian author Tom Harpur pondered in his 2004 bestseller The Pagan Christ. And it’s the question at the heart of a special Easter season programming event on VisionTV, airing April 1 and 2.

Harpur, Canada’s best-known spiritual writer and broadcaster, believes the New Testament is based on myth and metaphor rather than historical fact. In The Pagan Christ, he concludes that Jesus never lived, that the Gospels are rooted in Egyptian mythology, and that the text was meant to be read allegorically.

Millions of Christians beg to differ – among them Stanley E. Porter, Dean of McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ont., and Stephen J. Bedard, pastor of Woodford Baptist Church and First Baptist Church in Meaford, Ont. In a 2006 book entitled Unmasking the Pagan Christ: An Evangelical Response to the Cosmic Christ Idea, they challenged Harpur’s controversial claims.

So was Jesus a messiah – or a myth?

On Wednesday, April 1 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, VisionTV presents the award-winning 2007 documentary The Pagan Christ. This hour-long film from Canadian producers David Brady and Milt Avruskin explores Harpur’s arguments in detail.

The following night, Thursday, April 2, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, the producing team behind The Pagan Christ revisits the controversy in a brand new hour-long documentary.

Based on the book by Porter and Bedard, Unmasking the Pagan Christ questions the claim that the Christ story was taken from mythological sources, and makes the case for the existence of a historical Jesus. Says Porter: “What we have found is that the cause and effect relationship just doesn’t exist between Egyptian religion and Christianity.”

Immediately following Unmasking the Pagan Christ on April 2, at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT, VisionTV will air an hour-long discussion program from the producers of the VisionTV/Joytv current affairs series The Daily Weekend Edition. This special presentation, moderated by Todd Cantelon, will pose the question: Would the world be different if Jesus had never lived?

VisionTV’s examination of The Pagan Christ airs as part of a two-week series of specials exploring the mystery and meaning of Easter. For details, please visit www.visiontv.ca.