Episode 3 Dark Ages

Eight part history of the Christian faith, looking at its origins, development and turbulent past. High profile British personalities examine a religion that has particular resonance for them. Channel 4 series, not the BBC one. Ours is said to be a Godless age, yet billions remain faithful to religions thousands of years old. This provocative eight part series explores the history and global impact of the world’s biggest religion through the personal views of leading British figures. Over the course of the series, eight high profile personalities including Michael Portillo, Rageh Omaar, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Cherie Blair, look at the origins and history of the Christian faith. In each film the presenter addresses a subject that means something particular to them. In doing so, they bring their own perspectives to a challenging and comprehensive debate that explores Christianity’s role in shaping the modern world.
Episode 3 Dark Ages – Theologian Robert Beckford’s personal view of the dark ages in which he explores how warring pagan tribes became one nation under a single religion, Christianity and asks if this is the most misunderstood and underrated moment in Britain’s history. In this extraordinary story, which begins with the fall of the Roman Empire 400 years after the birth of Jesus, we chart the precarious survival of Christianity in the Celtic West and Ireland following a struggle for souls between three different religious traditions the warrior pagan religion of the Anglo-Saxons, Celtic Christianity and a resurgent Roman Christianity, which arrived with St Augustine in 597. With the aid of noted experts in the field, Robert reveals how these conflicts were resolved and why Christianity was a vital element in the eighth century creation of an alternative identity for the English peoples. This was a spectacular cultural achievement with a revolutionary agenda, which became, in the Kingdom of King Alfred, the basis of the nation we live in today.