As you may have heard, there is a new major motion picture due out in February about the crucifixion of Jesus called "The Passion of The Christ."

The film stars Jim Cavaziel (of the film Frequency, and others) as Jesus, and was directed and produced by Mel Gibson.

There has been quite a stir about the film among some Jewish leaders who claim that the film purportedly depicts Jews as being responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Conversely, the film has been widely praised by many Christian leaders for its accuracy and authenticity. I have not seen the film, but have spoken with others who have and they have said it was a very authentic and powerfully moving film.

If, in fact, the film is an accurate portrayal of New Testament accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, should other groups be offended? I don't know- having not seen the film that is still an unanswered question for me.

I am a Christian, but I enjoy rich friendships with people of many different faiths, including Jews and Muslims. I have not discussed the film with any of these friends as of yet, but would be curious to hear from others about their feelings and thoughts.

Reconciliation and interfaith cooperation is very important to me, and I also believe that it was important to Jesus himself. At what point, though, does one need to take a stand for what they believe, even at the risk of people from other faiths (or beliefs or even unbeliefs) being upset? I don't know, I am still pondering this question in my own mind.

Anyway, here is a link to the website for "The Passion of The Christ" film, it has trailers, background info and the like. Let me know what you think...

http://www.thepassion.tv


Peace,

John

You have to give Gibson credit for doing this to celebrate his faith. As someone who has survived Hollywood with his values I think it is great that he is willing to express his faith. That said, until the film is released, who can really critique it.

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i think it's great that he's doing it. i thought that it was the hollywood "sect" that was offended. hey, you can't please eveyone all the time. they weren't complaining it was inaccurate just that it might stoke anti-semitic sentiment.

Obviously one can't critique the film until it is released, but we can still talk about reactions to the website, trailer, and initial media critiques.

I also agree that it took a lot of courage for Gibson and his team to make a bold statement that they believe faithfully represents the account of the central figure of the Christian faith- Jesus.

I am honestly not suprised that some members of the Jewish community have had initially strong concerns, and begun to claim that this could stoke anti-semitism. I strongly disagree. I am hopeful that this will be an open door for a deeper dialogue about faith in America.

I can see how many Jewish people today would take certain parts of the Christian gospels as anti-semetic- the phrase that John uses in his Gospel so frequently- the Jews- in reference to the Pharisees who tried Jesus with the sanhedrin, has been widely interpreted by many Jewish people today as being anti-semetic, but I do not believe this was the intention of the writers of the gospels. Why? Because they were all Jewish.

I think we need to be careful about invoking that term, however. Especially in light of the fact that Jesus, and all of his early followers were observant Jews- they kept the Sabbath, they kept kosher, they observed all the holidays, they believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The separating factor comes with the Messianic claim.

That is where the real step of faith comes for Christians, I believe. I can also see how observant Jews hold to their beliefs that they still await the Messiah, even as Muslims believe that Jesus was a wise teacher and prophet, but not the Son of God.

The one commonality that virtually all faiths, as well as even many humanists and atheists embrace is the Golden Rule- "do unto others as you would have them do unto you,"- or in Christian and Hebrew scripture- "Love your neighbor as youself."

I hope that we can continue this dialogue- I also posted this on the Spirituality and Faith board, but that board hasn't seemed to be getting that many visits lately- so I figured I'd post it here as well.

Peace,

John

Some Jewish critic, I think, lied about being a preist and got in to see a showing at a Christian Conference. Mel has been doing this around the country, showing it to preists. This guy, after seeing it, said he was afraid it might create anti-semitism among viewers. I think that's BS. We all know who killed Christ. But we all know it had to happen, according to scripture. So why would we be mad? (I'm talking about Christians here. If you don't belive in Christ, then you would be mad anyway.) Maybe these Hollywood Liberals and media liberals should think about how they love and promote Europe and how anti-semetic europe is and try to do something about that, instead of worrying about a story about the life of Christ, which is already know. It's not really a suspenceful movie with a suprise ending.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

It may not have a surprise ending, as you say Jason, but there are still plenty of people who have not heard the story, or who don't believe it is relevant to them.

I just brought this up because the film is coming out soon and already there has been quite a bit of attention and controversy about it. Jesus did not shy away from controversy, though, as the result of the story of the passion tells us- he faced it head on and overcame it.

I guess am hopeful that it will stimulate discussions about faith and what sources of spiritual strength people are turning to these days. I hope we can continue the dialogue and cultivate more mutual understanding.

I also hope that some members of the Jewish, Islamic and any other religion for that matter will feel free to enter the dialogue and express their views civilly.

Peace,

J

Here is an excerpt and link from article in today's NY Times spelling out the allegation of the supposdely anti-Semetist sentiment in Mr. Gibson's upcoming film. It seems to me that some of the Jewish leaders may be over-reacting, but I am still very concerned about the perception that Jews and people of other faiths may have about all this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/04/mo...52c35309d35c21

Okay, I'm laughing my arse off here. Excellent post, Blob. (You would have fit in at my house in Xmas day when my step-brother is explaining why he didn't want to go to his mom's house because his mother's friend would be at the dinner table that night: "Isn't it obvious? The Jews killed Jesus." So wrong, yet all the really funny comments are.)

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Hey there folks,

Here is a link to info about Mel Gibson's upcoming interview and
special with Diane Sawyer on "The Passion of the Christ" film. It is
to air on Monday February 16th @ 10pm on ABC:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Prime...on_040216.html

I hope we can cultivate a healthy and enlightened interfaith dialogue.

In case you have not seen the film website or trailer yet, here is a link to the official site:

http://www.thepassionofthechrist.com

Peace,

John

I don't want to be enlightened.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."