FOUNDATIONS OF THE WEST: Episode III: “Christ, the Center of the World”

“Christ, the Center of the World” is Episode III of FOUNDATIONS OF THE WEST, a five-part documentary series on Daily Wire about Western Civilization and its cultural and historical roots. In this episode, psychologist Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau, editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal, visit the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem, where Jesus carried the Cross to Golgotha, the place where he was crucified. They also visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to see the probable sites of the Crucifixion and the Empty Tomb while discussing Christianity’s crucial impact on the creation of Western Civilization and on individual Christians. Episode III of FOUNDATIONS OF THE WEST is a deep, inspiring discussion of how Jesus and His death and resurrection became the foundation of Western Civilization, including Europe and the United States, as well as the rest of the world.

Psychologist and acclaimed author and speaker Jordan Peterson follows Jonathan Pageau as Jonathan leads Jordan through the Stations of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa, in Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or Church of the Resurrection. They discuss the biblical history behind Jesus carrying the cross toward Calvary (also known as Golgotha), the hill on which Jesus was crucified. They also briefly discuss one of the apocryphal incidents of Jesus carrying the Cross. This incident is where a woman supposedly used a cloth to wipe the blood off the face of Jesus, and it left an impression of his face on the cloth. Jonathan, who’s editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal, says the Orthodox Church considers that image the first icon of the Christian Church.

As the two men visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, they stop at the place where Jesus was crucified, the stone table where the women prepared Jesus Christ’s body for burial, and the Empty Tomb. They finally end in the actual church at the site. A painting of Jesus Christ holding in His hand the world, attached to a cross, graces the domed ceiling. If Jerusalem is considered the Center of the World, then this part of the church is considered the Center of the Center of the World, Jonathan says.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its centrality to the world, but the Christian Emperor’s mother, Helen, led its rebuilding and made Jerusalem and the Gospel of Jesus Christ the center of the world. After she also built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, towns in Europe began to make the Christian church the center of their communities. Thus, Christianity didn’t just become the center of the Holy Roman Empire and Western Civilization, it also became the center of Europe, England and the United States. At one point in Episode III, Jonathan Pageau says, “Civilization was born from the Cross” of Christ.

Episode III of FOUNDATIONS OF THE WEST provides a thoughtful, inspiring discission of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by focusing on Christ carrying the Cross toward the rocky hill where He was crucified. In visiting the “Stations of the Cross” and the sites of Calvary and the Empty Tomb, the episode validates the death and resurrection of Jesus and the meaning it has for Christians. The ending also shows how vital and important it became for Western Civilization, including Catholics, Eastern Orthodox believers and Protestants.

Episode III also highlights some Christian, biblical themes such as service (in the image of Christ as the Suffering Servant), and man’s connection to God through Jesus Christ and His church. For example, one of the two hosts, Jonathan Pageau, says that, after the Emperor Constantine’s mother built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the sites of the Crucifixion and the Empty Tomb, many new towns were created in Europe, with a church being established as the center of the community. At one point, he and Peterson mention Jesus Christ’s admonition to “Take up your cross and follow Me” in Matthew 16:24. As they note, the Via Dolorosa where Jesus carried the Cross translates into “the Way of Suffering” in English. Therefore, people should not run away from suffering, but “take it and move forward.” The good news, they note, is that Christianity teaches people, through Jesus, that God will be with you through the worst suffering. The messages of Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection, and vicarious atonement are not just for Jews in the Holy Land but also for all the people in other lands.

Many Christians go to Jerusalem to walk the Way of Suffering and visit the Church of the Resurrection (or Hoy Sepulchre). In doing such a pilgrimage, they make the story of Jesus and His death and resurrection even more real. “You’re more than just a contemplative being,” Peterson says. “It’s necessary to do things. It’s more important to do things than think things. The whole purpose of thinking things is that you can then go do them.”

Episode III is accompanied by a separate, 76-minute dinner conversation between Peterson and Pageau that continues the discussion. Being a psychologist with experience in clinical psychology and psychoanalysis, Peterson is known for discussing the psychological and philosophical meaning in society, people’s lives, their dreams, and all kinds of stories. So, his discussion of possible meanings sometimes gets rather speculative. However, in discussing Christianity, he often affirms that the meanings in the biblical stories in the Old and New Testament have great wisdom and are even confirmed by clinical studies about human beliefs and behaviors.