The Bible’s Buried Secrets is a landmark two-hour NOVA special taking viewers on a fascinating scientific journey that began 3,000 years ago and continues to this day. The film presents the results of more than 100 years of excavation and centuries of biblical scholarship, digging deep into the origins of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament.

A reasoned, well mannered archeological detective story, the documentary tackles some of the biggest questions in biblical studies. Where did the ancient Israelites come from? Who wrote the Bible, when, and why? How did the worship of one god — the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity and Islam — actually emerge over polytheism? The film’s roster of interviewees is wide and varied, including The Gift of the Jews
author Thomas Cahill and academicians like P. Kyle McCarter of John
Hopkins University, Michael Coogan of Stonehill College and Manfred
Bietak of the Austian Academy of Sciences. The result is a powerful intersection of science, scholarship, and scripture; The Bible’s Buried Secrets provides unique insight into the deeper meaning of the biblical texts and their continuing resonance through the centuries.

Perhaps most interesting are the movie’s clear contextual framings. Several other films, including Walking the Bible, have delved into the archeological history of the Bible, but The Bible’s Buried Secrets is upfront about the lack of historical reference and support, for instance, for the Israelites’ desert wandering, which would have had to have been sometime between 1275 and 1208 B.C. Side-by-side discrepancies between accounts of the Great Flood and Noah’s Ark are also spotlighted (“40 days and 40 nights” is the most popularly recited length, but the Bible also tabs the event as lasting 150 days), and linguistic analysis supports the argument that the first five books of the Bible, also known as The Torah, was written not by Moses, but many generations of scribes, spanning 100 or more years.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, The Bible’s Buried Secrets comes presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with optional closed captions and described video for the visually impaired. Unlike most other WGBH Boston Video titles, there are bonus features included — this time in the form of a half hour of extra scenes/excised material. Materials and activities for educators are also spotlighted via a link to the NOVA web site. To order any DVD or VHS release from WGBH Boston Video, including the aforementioned Walking the Bible, phone (800) 949-8670 or click here. B+ (Movie) B- (Disc)