NT Gateway Weblog

Today's Christian features an interview with Robin Griffith-Jones about Paul. Griffith-Jones is Master of the Temple Church in London and features on the forthcoming American TV programme Jesus and Paul. He also has a book coming out called The Gospel According to Paul:

Letting Paul Speak
Author Robin Griffith-Jones wants to help us rediscover the humanity of the early church's most influential convert.
Interview by Melody Pugh

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Regular readers will remember the appallingly titled "Scholarly Smackdown" featuring Ben Witherington III and John Dominic Crossan on Beliefnet over The Passion of the Christ. Now, there's another one, this time in connection with the Jesus and Paul television programme and again featuring Witherington but this time with Elaine Pagels:

Scholarly Smackdown: Did Paul Distort Christianity?
With Elaine Pagels and Ben Witherington III
To help make sense of the scholarly debates about Jesus and Paul, we asked two of the preeminent scholars to email each other about early Christianity (while letting us peek in). Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton, is the author of the bestselling Beyond Belief and The Gnostic Gospels. Ben Witherington III is professor of New Testament interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky and author of The Paul Quest and numerous other books.

So far Round 1 is available. Remember to read this for free while you can -- Beliefnet have a habit of "going premium" on their content after a while.

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And Marcus Borg is in on the act too at Beliefnet's Jesus and Paul:

Paul's Unconventional Wisdom
The Apostle Paul gets mixed press, but his most important messages parallel the teachings of Jesus.
Marcus Borg

Many passages that form the negative image are in the six letters that may not have been written by Paul. When they are set aside, Paul emerges as a much more radical and subversive thinker than the negative stereotype suggests.

He was a remarkable man . . . . .

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Beliefnet have also excerpted part of N. T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997):

Who Founded Christianity: Jesus or Paul?
When Paul preached the gospel, he was consciously implementing the achievement of Jesus, not founding a separate religion.
By N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham

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Beliefnet continues adding features on Paul with a nice new short article:

Christianity Without Paul
What would the religion be like if the Apostle Paul had never lived?
By Bart Ehrman

What would have happened had Paul never lived? One could argue that the vast majority of people who today call themselves Christian would still be worshiping the gods of Greece and Rome, and Christianity would be one of the small sects within Judaism, with little impact on the world around it.

Lots more is available on the site in connection with the forthcoming special Jesus and Paul and I will be linking to some of the other items later.

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The full text of Filología Neotestamentaria Volume XIV (2001) is now available on the BSW site. They have been working hard there recently and these issues are now coming regularly:

Filología Neotestamentaria 14 (2001)

Stanley E. PORTER and Matthew BROOK O.DONNELL, «The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic Standpoint: An Exercise in Hallidayan Linguistics» , Vol. 14 (2001) 3-41 [HTML] [PDF]

Patrick A. TILLER, «Reflexive Pronouns in the New Testament» , Vol.14 (2001) 43-63 [HTML] [PDF]

Paul DANOVE, «A Comparison Of The Usage Of Akouw And Akouw- Compounds
In The Septuagint And New Testament» , Vol.14 (2001) 65-86 [HTML] [PDF]

Thomas J. KRAUS, «Grammatisches Problembewusstsein Als Regulativ Für Angemessene Sprachbeurteilung . Das Beispiel Der Griechischen Negation Und 2PETR» , Vol.14 (2001) 87-100 [HTML] [PDF]

James SWETNAM, «The Context Of The Crux At Hebrews 5,7-8» , Vol.14 (2001) 101-120 [HTML] [PDF]

J. DUNCAN and M. DERRETT, «Palin: The Ass Again (Mk 11,3d)» , Vol.14 (2001) 121-130 [HTML] [PDF]

Josep RIUS-CAMPS, «Las Variantes Del Texto Occidental De Los Hechos De Los Apóstoles (XIII) (Hch 7,23-8,1a)» , Vol.14 (2001) 131-148 [HTML] [PDF]

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I have serviced the NT Gateway Historical Jesus: Books and Articles page, deleting dead URLs (e.g. Tom Thatcher's articles) and changing the URLs of several others, all now marked with "New URL" in red. So everything should now be fully functioning.

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Also courtesy of Bible and Interpretation, this link to an article on beliefnet:

St. Paul, Friend or Enemy of Women?
It's too simplistic to call the apostle a patriarchal misogynist on the one hand--or to praise him unreservedly on the other.
By Rosemary Radford Ruether

It is a short article with this summary at the end

What Christians need to see today is that both options existed in early Christianity. In Paul's own writings, he assumed that women could teach and lead churches, although he wished them to do so with the traditional sign of women's secondary status on their heads. In the next generation Pauline Christians split between those who wanted to continue this ministry of women, linked to a radical view of women's new autonomy in Christ, and those who wished to suppress it altogether. But in the church for which Timothy wrote both views still coexisted in the same church.

One element in the article that may be a little overstated is here:

But the passage in I Corinthians 14: 33b-35 where it is said that women should not speak at all is generally conceded by scholars today to have been an interpolation from the next generation after Paul. It was not part of the original text.

My own reading of the situation would be that it is not "generally conceded"; some think it an interpolation and some do not. The comment that "It was not part of the original text" might lead some readers to think that there is more text critical evidence for its omission than there is. I am not a text critic, but if I recall correctly there are no texts of 1 Corinthians that lack those verses though they are not always found at precisely the same point.

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Bible and Interpretation references this article from SFGate.com:

Arab censors giving 'Passion' wide latitude
Gibson film packs Mideast movie houses
Charles Levinson

Habib Malik, a professor of history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, said the allegations of anti-Semitism that have surrounded the film are undoubtedly part of the film's appeal in Lebanon.

"Word got around that this movie was upsetting a lot of people in the Jewish community in the West, and people here are predisposed to be anti- Israel, and anti-Jewish in general, and I think that's one of the reasons why people have flocked to see it," said Malik, who first watched the film with Mel Gibson and a select group of intellectuals and religious figures in Washington.

Malik said he hopes that even if people see the film for the wrong reasons, it may still have a positive influence by exposing Muslims to different religious viewpoints.

Some of this article makes pretty depressing reading.

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The beliefnet article previously noted mentions some films which may be of interest. One already completed and shown in selected cinemas in the UK is Man Dancin', directed by Norman Stone. This appears to be in the tradition of Jesus of Montreal and the like -- the modern day Passion play is re-staged (this time in Glasgow) and the hero's destiny begins to mirror Jesus's. There is an official web site here and a pretty lengthy, seven to eight minute trailer:

Man Dancin'

See also the IMDb entry.

The next mentioned is Regardt van den Bergh's The Lamb. The most informative piece I can find on this is in Variety from September 2003:

$20M leap of faith
Christelle De Jager

"The Lamb," a $20 million biblical epic, is scheduled to start shooting in South Africa in December, exec produced by former Paramount Pictures president Frank Yablans and directed by Regardt van den Bergh ("The Messiah," "The Nativity").

"The Lamb" portrays a journey of faith by Mattias and his son Joel, intertwined with encounters with Jesus. It will be shot in Israel, Tunisia and South Africa and will be one of the biggest projects to come out of South Africa.

You may recognise the director's name from the Visual Bible's 1996 outing, Matthew.

And speaking of the Visual Bible, producers also of the recent Gospel of John, the next project is the Gospel of Mark. There is not a lot available on this film at the moment. Reports usually simply say "in development". The beliefnet article says that it will start filming in "a couple of months". So keep watching this space.

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Beliefnet has this interesting article on Jesus films:

Jesus Movies As Old as the Art Form--With More to Come
By Ted Parks

The article mentions three films which I will blog on separately.

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Thanks to Helen-Ann Hartley for the link to this BBC News item:

Passion panned by French critics
The Passion of the Christ has been judged "sadistic", "manipulative" and "boring" by French film critics.

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Tikkun.org has this article in its latest edition:

Loosely Based on a True Story
The Passion of Jesus Christ in Verbal and Visual Media
John Dominic Crossan

In what follows, I raise first the question of historicity. What, in my best scholarly reconstruction, did and did not happen during that execution? What is Roman history and what is Christian parable? I also raise the question of transition from a verbal to a visual medium in any historical story and especially in this one. Finally, I wonder why Christians who believe they have received a gospel inspired by God in fourfold, that is, manifold format, want so regularly to get it all into one single, composite version.

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Thanks to Jim West on various e-lists for this one. John Dominic Crossan is to appear today on Fresh Air:

Fresh Air Online
As Easter approaches, we take a historical look at crucifixion as a form of execution. We talk with John Dominic Crossan, one of the leading scholars of the historical Jesus, and author of the books The Birth of Christianity and Who Killed Jesus?

It's not on-line yet but should be later today. I'll add a notice here when it is available.

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Some good news: Hypotyposeis is back! So too is The Synoptic Problem Home Page.

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Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.03.53 has a glowing review of Bart Ehrman's new Loeb Apostolic Fathers:

Bart D. Ehrman (trans.), The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. I: I Clement, II Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Didache. Loeb Classical Library, 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. Pp. 464. ISBN 0-674-99607-0. $21.50.
Reviewed by Benjamin Garstad, Brooklyn College/Columbia University

E.'s edition of the Apostolic Fathers is useful and engaging. I can whole-heartedly advise its purchase to all those interested in the literature of the second century and the development of the Christian church, even those who already own earlier editions and translations.

Spotted on RogueClassicism and Carl Conrad on b-greek.

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The International Herald Tribune yesterday published the following article:

Mel Gibson revives an old message of hate...
A Jewish View
Michael Lerner

[Read all on one page from this link]

An earlier version of this appeared on Tikkun mail and was subsequently published on 10 March on Tikkun.org as Gibson's The Passion, with the subtitle, "A plea to Christians to Respond with a Gospel of Love and Hope in place of this new fundamentalism".

I was curious about the opening of this article. Something did not look right about it to me:

Mel Gibson unlocked the secret of why Americans have never confronted anti-Semitism in the way that we did with the other great systems of hatred (racism, sexism, homophobia) when he told an American TV audience in February that "the Jews' real complaint isn't with my film ('The Passion of the Christ') but with the Gospels." (emphasis added)

This is given in quotation marks, but did he actually say that? The alleged quotation is from the Diane Sawyer ABC interview of February 16. But only a moment's checking shows that this is a pretty serious misquotation. Here's what Gibson actually said in the interview:

"Critics who have a problem with me don't really have a problem with me in this film," Gibson said. "They have a problem with the four Gospels. That's where their problem is." (Source: ABC News; emphasis added)

Now whatever one thinks about Gibson's remark here, it is quite clear that he did not speak about "the Jews' real complaint". Lerner's quotation wrongly gives the impression that Gibson is speaking in toxic fashion about "the Jews" and their opposition to his film. As I have said before, it is precisely because the issue of anti-Semitism is so serious that it is essential that we are careful with our language. It really will not do to misquote in so serious and damning a fashion.

Now this article has already been pretty influential in the press and on the internet. A quick search reveals that it has often been reproduced, and always with the misquotation, e.g. The Globe and Mail reproduce what I imagine is the original Tikkun Mail version; The Metrowest Daily News has the fuller version and so on. But then the misquotation itself gets quoted by others. Take this Christian pastor who uses it as a reason for discouraging people from seeing the film

Addressing the question of whether the movie is anti-Semitic, Mel Gibson told a national TV audience on February 16 that "the Jews' real complaint isn't with my film but with the Gospels." In other words, Mr. Gibson seems himself to believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John blame Christ's death on the Jews. (Wheat Ridge Congregation Pastor's Page)

Or again, it surfaces on BustedHalo.com, The Problem With the Passion, When Hollywood Plays with Hate and History, by Nora Bradbury-Haehl. One of the most striking is this article on sf.indymedia.org

The Passion, Rabbi Lerner and the Gospels [Originally on Counterpunch]
by Gary Leupp

Leupp is a Professor of History at Tufts University and the article is intelligent and well worth reading, but its oddity in this context is that it sees Lerner's attack as misguided without have realised the greater problem of Lerner's serious misquotation (though note that Leupp has in parenthesis "if Gibson indeed said that").

One of the things I have find useful about Jim Davila's approach in Paleojudaica has been the quest for accuracy and holding journalists to account. One of things that is troubling about Michael Lerner's piece is that in encouraging as many as possible to reproduce his piece, he has made a damaging misquotation far more prevalent than what was actually said. This is no way to forward sensible, fair and balanced discussion of a serious issue.

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An interesting article appears in WorldNetDaily:

The power of 'The Passion'
Joseph Farah

Farah looks at the precedent for this film's impact in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927):

Like "The Passion of the Christ," it faced enormous opposition when it was released, sparking fears of anti-Semitism that, fortunately, were never realized . . . .

. . . . "In spite of excellent reviews ... what was harder to comprehend and cope with was the organized opposition of certain Jewish groups to the filmed history of the greatest Jew who ever lived," wrote DeMille.

The article goes on to connect one H. E. Wallner, who committed his life to Christian ministry after seeing this film, with the conversion of a German officer who helped Jews to escape from a concentration camp:

Wallner told DeMille in 1957: "If it had not been for 'The King of Kings,' I would not be a Lutheran pastor, and 350 Jewish children would have died in the ditches."

Some have ridiculed Gibson for suggesting the Holy Spirit guided him in the making of his film, but DeMille made a similar comment: "If I felt that this film was my work, it would be intolerably vain and presumptuous to quote such stories from the hundreds like them that I could quote," he wrote. "But all we did in 'The King of Kings,' all I have striven to do in any of my biblical pictures, was to translate into another medium, the medium of sight and sound, the words of the Bible."

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Beliefnet has exclusive excerpts from the script of Mel Gibson's next film project, which until this morning has been kept under wraps. It features in John D. Spalding's Sick Soul column:

'The Cleansing of the Temple'
Beliefnet's exclusive excerpts from the script for the next Mel Gibson movie
Responding to criticism that "The Passion of the Christ" did not deal enough with Jesus' ministry, Mel Gibson has apparently decided to follow up the blockbuster with another movie, this one focused on Jesus' teachings. Though the project has been kept highly confidential because of the controversial nature of his previous film, Beliefnet was able to obtain a copy of a script treatment guiding this "prequel."
John D. Spalding

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I've adjusted the URL for Matthew Robinson's Classical Greek Fonts and Utilities on my Greek fonts page. Thanks to Wim Pelt for flagging up that the old URL was dead.

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Another addition to my Journals page is:

Currents in Theology and Mission

The full text of volumes from 2002-3 is freely available at the Find Articles web site. There are several articles of interest and ultimately I would like to link to them individually on the NT Gateway. However, given the recent disappearance of articles from FindArticles.com, especially all those from Harvard Theological Review, I am a little loathe to do this at the moment -- and there are many other articles awaiting indexing which may be more stable. But here are some hightlights, with thanks once again to Holger Szesnat. Apologies for the partial references (no pp. numbers etc.)

E. R. Kalin, Romans 1:26-27 and Homosexuality, Currents in Theology and Mission (December 2003)

L. Maloney, Mark and Mystery, Currents in Theology and Mission (December 2003)

M. A. Powell, Binding and Loosing: A Paradigm for Ethical Discernment from the Gospel of Matthew, Currents in Theology and Mission (December 2003)

H. C. Waetjen, The Trust of Abraham and the Trust of Jesus Christ:
Romans 1:17, Currents in Theology and Mission (December 2003)

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Thanks to Holger Szesnat for pointing out this useful reorganisation of the Orion site and specifically its Symposia author index which provides easy access to lots of useful articles:

Orion Center Author Index

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I have updated the links to Semeia on my Journals page. Full on-line versions free to all users of issues 79-81 and 83-91 (PDF) are available on the SBL site at a new location:

Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism

The page also features a link to the book series that now replaces the journal, Semeia Studies.

Thanks to Holger Szesnat for the new URL and the information that those volumes are free.

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BBC Manchester and Online are holding a live debate about The Passion of the Christ tonight at 22:00--01:00 BST and you can join in. Details here:

The Passion of the Christ - The Debate
You can join Mike Shaft and guests for a special BBC GMR debate about the film The Passion of the Christ on Wednesday 31st March. You'll also be able to listen online and join our special live chatroom for the duration of the programme.

The list of contributors looks very interesting:

Our discussion panels will include the following guests:

The Right Reverend Terence Brain - Bishop of Salford
Professor Elaine Graham from the department of Theology, Manchester University
Jean-Claude Bragard, Executive Producer in BBC Religion & Ethics. Produced and directed Son of God, BBC 1 2001
Rabbi Brian Fox from the Menorah Synagogue in Sharston
Councillor Afzal Khan, Muslim Council of Great Britain
Professor Ram Gokal from Manchester’s Hindu Community
Rev’d Roger Sutton, Chair of RUN, Reaching the Unchurched Network and Senior Pastor at Altrincham Baptist Church
Matt Wilson from The Message
Andrew Graystone, Religious Broadcaster
Robin Gamble, Canon Evangelist for the Manchester Diocese

With contributions from:

Rev’d Sarah Foster Clark, Curate for the Rivington and Horwich Benefice
Murray Watts, Screen Writer for the 2000 animation film The Miracle Maker
Stephen Goddard from the Ship-of-Fools website
‘Flic Vic’ Luke Walton (Rev’d)
Rev’d Mandy Hodgson, Team vicar at St Luke’s, Benchill
Mani Raja from Manchester Buddhist Centre
Rev’d Eric Delve, St Luke’s Maidstone
Rev’d Steve Williams, St Gabriel’s Prestwich, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Manchester.
Denis Blackledge, Parish Priest, Sacred Heart Church, Blackpool

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Here's one for American readers, from the Religion Press Release Service:

INTERFAITH DIALOGUE ON HALLMARK CHANNEL "LIGHT ON: GIBSON'S PASSION" ORIGINAL TELEVISION SPECIAL TO AIR PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 4

Contact: Elizabeth Rumble
MacMillan Communications
(212) 473-4442
Elizabeth@macmillancom.com

NEW YORK, March 30 - "Light On: Gibson's Passion," an original television presentation, examines how Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ," has profoundly affected Americans and American culture since its controversial premiere last month. The one-hour special, produced for Faith & Values Media by Lightworks Producing Group, brings together biblical scholars, religious leaders and moviegoers representing diverse faith traditions. The program airs Sunday, April 4 at 6 a.m. ET/PT (rebroadcast at 12 noon ET/PT) on Hallmark Channel.

"In recent weeks we've seen how `The Passion' has shaken up society, with nearly every faith organization and media outlet offering criticism of or praise for the film. Faith & Values Media wanted to bring together thoughtful scholars and other commentators to take a deeper look at the implications this discourse will have on American society now and down the road," said Edward J. Murray, president and chief executive officer of Faith & Values Media.

Leading the discussion from New York City, and corresponding with biblical experts in Nashville and St. Louis, is Mary Alice Williams, an Emmy Award-winning journalist who reports for WCBS Radio, and has previously worked with CNN, NBC and the Odyssey Channel. Sister Mary Boys, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names and a professor of practical theology at Union Theological Seminary, and Amy Jill Levine, PhD., professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt University's Divinity School provide biblical insight to the roundtable discussion.

Randy Ingermanson, PhD. joins the interfaith dialogue from Nashville. An evangelical Christian and author of five books, Ingermanson wrote "Who Wrote the Bible Code? A Physicist Probes the Current Controversy." To provide a Jewish perspective, Rabbi Lynn Goldstein, president of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association, joins the discussion from St. Louis along with Father Gary Braun, chaplain of the Washington University in St. Louis. In addition, the Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder and pastor of the
Christian Cultural Center and Dr. David Benke, pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn and president of the Atlantic District, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, address the implications "The Passion" fervor will have on the Christian community.

"At a time when national, cultural and global events have turned Americans' attention to more pointed religious discussions, Gibson's film provokes a worthwhile controversy which can lead to serious introspection and dialogue within, between, and among faith communities," said Murray. "'Light On: Gibson's Passion' highlights how the film has brought this dialogue to the forefront of society and provides a unique opportunity to hear this conversation."

Participants in NYC:

Mary Alice Williams, Emmy Award-winning journalist and reporter at WCBS Radio in New York City (Program Host)

The Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder and pastor, Christian Cultural Center

Sister Mary C. Boys, Sisters of the Holy Names and professor of practical theology at Union Theological Seminary

Dr. David Benke, pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn and president of the Atlantic District, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Moviegoers:

The Rev. Sara Lamar-Sterling, associate pastor, Park Avenue United Methodist Church Glenda Adams, an Evangelical Christian Joel Ney, a Modern Orthodox Jew Kathyrn Shaughnessy, a Catholic, and Instructor of Philosophy, Institute of Religious Studies. Rose Molina Kornblau, a Pentecostal Sheldon Kornblau, a Messianic Jew

Participants in Nashville:

Dr. Amy Jill Levine, professor of New Testament Studies at the Divinity School, Vanderbilt University

Demetria Kalodimos, Emmy-Award Winning anchor and reporter, WSMV Nashville

Randy Ingermanson, Ph.D in physics and an evangelical Christian and author

Participants in St. Louis:
Rabbi Lynn Goldstein, president of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association

Father Gary Braun, chaplain of the Catholic Center at Washington University in St. Louis

About Faith & Values Media

Faith & Values Media is the nation's largest coalition of Jewish and Christian faith groups dedicated to media production, distribution and promotion. Its member association is made up of denominations, organizations and individuals, who encompass most of the recognized Jewish and Christian faith groups in the United States. Together, these faith groups have more than 200,000 congregations with 120 million congregants. (A list of member faith groups and organizations is available upon
request.) The programming services of Faith & Values Media are available on Hallmark Channel and on www.faithandvalues.com. Faith & Values Media is a service of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, Inc., established in 1987.

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A positive review in the Manila Times:

The passion of Mel Gibson
By Dennis Ladaw

Mel Gibson succeeds in conveying the ugliness of violence. We belong to a generation that’s become numb to violent crimes and Passion in a way makes us feel more sensitive to suffering and to people who have fallen victim to torture, terrorism and oppression. Hopefully, it would make others see the major world tragedies in a new light. The 9-11 attacks weren’t just mere headlines and the mass murder of six million Jews, along with other WWII atrocities, are more than just chapters of a history textbook. Ultimately Passion also gives us a new perspective on every crucifix we see from here on.

Also in the news, much more on the confessions getting made after people have seen the film. This is from the LouisvilleChannel.com, but it's repeated in many places:

'Passion' Prompts Confessions To Bombings, Murder, Burglary

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Thanks to Charity Dell for sending this over and for permission to reproduce it here:

Everyone viewing THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST sees this film through a unique "lens"--our gender, religious upbringing--or lack of it--our ethnocultural heritage--combined with the accumulated collection of our personal experiences, shape the "lens" through which we perceive cinematic art. As an African-American Christian viewer of Mel Gibson's film, I must share what I saw, heard and felt when I and a friend attended a matinee showing of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST one Friday in Newark, New Jersey.

At the outset, everyone is drawn in to the movie's plot--immediately, you are "plunked down" in the Garden of Gethsemane and are "watching and praying", as it were, with Yeshua of Nazareth during His final hours. The theatre is completely quiet--except for a few muted voices here and there quoting remembered scripture--and people have neglected to bother with snack purchases and popcorn buckets.

The most riveting part of the film begins with the punishment of the young Jewish Rabbi at the hands of the Romans. Many of us literally FLINCHED in the seats when Yeshua was caned and whipped--and all around you were muffled, anguished cries of "Lord, have mercy!" and "Lord Jesus!"--the classic gut-wrenching phrases black people use to express shock, outrage and extreme horror. Men wept and attempted to stifle their sobs--one elderly black patron told me in the library in which I work* that he "was not religious at all", but that, while watching this movie, he started crying and his stomach got sick, and he literally could not bear to watch the first nail driven into the hand of Jesus: "I just HAD to turn my head away!" But he stated that "the film was good", and that the movie "essentially told the truth."

Descendants of slaves FULLY UNDERSTAND why Gibson's cameras show the instruments of torture and repression--whips and chains evoke powerful collective memories of the suffering of our African foremothers and forefathers HERE in this country at the hands of so-called "Christians." It wasn't so long ago that our great-grandparents literally bore the scars of slavery in their bodies--and the infamous cat o'nine tails was ALSO used on subjugated Africans by viscious, sadistic overseers who acted just like the Roman legionnaries and lictors depicted in the film.

One of the reasons people of color are responding so positively to THE PASSION OF CHRIST is due to Gibson's frank, realistic depiction of the horrors of scourging and crucifixion. The Yeshua of Nazareth depicted in this film shows a full range of emotions--He cries, laughs with His mother, stands up to angry religious authorities who want the adulteress stoned--but most of all, THIS Jesus experiences mental anguish and physical torture, is mocked by Herod and spit upon by the Roman soldiers and bears the full brunt of human hatred manifested in unspeakable brutality. In no other commercial movie venue is there ANY comparable depiction of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53--the "Man of sorrows" Who "hid not His face from shame and spitting", although "we hid as it were, our faces from Him...His visage was marred...yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise Him."

It is THIS Jesus--the JEWISH, biblical "Lamb of God"--not the "Pale Pitiful Mystical Robot-Poppet" of Hollywood's imagination--that African-Americans and Latinos recognize as "OUR Jesus"--the God Who let Himself be beaten, humiliated and crushed, Who felt the sting of violence under a harsh regime, Who suffered injustice and oppression, and Whose torn, lacerated flesh bore the marks of a savage, repressive empire bent on world conquest. Black Christians identify with the God Who becomes a "slave" during Passover, the Festival of Freedom--He is bought for 30 pieces of silver, the market value of a slave in first-century Israel--in order to free humanity from its captivity to sin and death. The honest, unsparing depiction of the harsh reality of Roman punishment "hits home and "rings true" for those whose lives are impacted daily by systemic injustice and senseless violence.

African-Americans immediately recognized the "Jesus" we've heard about in our Sunday Schools, Vacation Bible Schools and worship services, on the knees of our parents and grandparents and community elders--the "Jesus" of our prayer chants, our lined-out psalms and our spirituals and gospel anthems, Who inspired our slave ancestors with hope and gave us joy in the midst of sorrowful lives--and we have ALWAYS heard from our pulpits the message of discipleship--"NO CROSS, NO CROWN!"

Mel Gibson's artistic vision does not spare theatregoers the simply stated, awful truth of the "Apostle's Creed"--"He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead..." Black Christians find it easy to identify with the God Who endured unspeakable agony to redeem a sinful, evil world and reconcile humanity back to Yahweh our Father.

Hollywood is understandably "upset" with Mel Gibson for his "failure" to trivialize suffering and spare them the horrid truth of the ENORMOUS COST of humanity's redemption. For the last 25 years, the Movie Establishment was content to serve up a "saccharine slop of syrupy sweets" and sell these sentimental trifles as "biblical movies" to a jaded public. But then its collective little stomach "heaved" when scourging and crucifixion were accurately portrayed on film! We know from history that the backs of scourged victims were essentially reduced to raw hamburger meat and the internal organs, tendons, bones and muscles were frequently exposed--so Yeshua of Nazareth certainly looked far WORSE than anything imagined by the production company's make-up department!

The "Pampered Princes of Suburbia"--including "media pundits", "leading theologians" and "religious scholars"--who are all whining "Ooooooooh; it's just too bloody for meeee--I can't deal with all that mess and gore!!" ought to try seeing this movie--and the Messiah's suffering--through the eyes of those intimately acquainted with violence and degradation. Scourging and crucifixion cannot and should not be "sanitized, scrubbed clean and prettied-up" to charm the "comfortable folks" who want the movie to "prophesy unto us SMOOTH things!

Those of us deemed "marginal" by the media elites are NOT the ones complaining "there's just too much graphic, gratuitous violence"--Hollywood and the media moguls have not bothered to sample the opinions of black or Latino audiences--who are buying literal blocks of tickets and keeping the theatres filled with busloads and carloads of theatregoers! Nor are black and Latino viewers muttering "anti-semitic slogans" or "cursing all Italians" for "what the Romans did to Jesus"--most black and Latino Christians leave the cinema THINKING and quietly discussing all we have seen and felt.

Inasmuch as Mel Gibson's picture has illustrated the suffering of the biblical Yeshua of Nazareth--and has not shied away from showing that redemption was "bought with a price"--THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is destined to become a movie classic embraced by people of color who have suffered and can recognize the crushed Son of God Who was mistreated, and yet triumphed through it all.

"And let the church say, "AMEN!"

End of review.

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Thanks to Helenann Hartley for this link to Sunday Sequence which features a discussion of the Passion of the Christ and has 5-10 minute interviews with Tom Wright and Geza Vermes on the question of anti-Semitism in the New Testament. You can listen to the whole programm here (c. 50 minutes):

Sunday Sequence

Wright's interview is towards the beginning (clearly on the phone rather than in a studio) and then Vermes. Worth listening to; plenty of interest. Both are not keen on the term "anti-Semitism" and rightly prefer to use "anti-Judaism". They agree on little else although -- alas -- they are not given the chance to engage with each other. Vermes does comment on The Passion of the Christ but Bishop Tom does not. Come on, Tom, we want to know what you thought about the film!

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BBC Religion and Ethics have provided a summary of their programming over the Easter period, which may be of interest to some, mainly UK readers:

Religion and Ethics: Easter Programmes

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It's time for another Passion of the Christ round up. The Guardian reports on its UK success:

Passion crowns UK box office

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was the No 1 film at the UK box office this weekend with a haul of just over £2m in three days.

Many screenings were sold out, with churches, as expected, buying up seats through block bookings. The film's total of £2,019, 803 also marked the highest opening for a subtitled film on these shores, defeating incumbent Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

I must admit that it has surprised me. I haven't met many people who have been to see it and those who have have not liked it, but then few academics do like it. I'm unusual. Thanks to Helenann Hartley for a link to a similar story on BBC News here:

Passion wins zombie cinema battle

From here, I spotted a link I had previously missed to an article written by a former fellow-student from my Oxford days:

How faithful is Gibson's Passion?
by The Revd Dr Andrew Goddard
Tutor in Christian Ethics, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford

Far from inciting violence, the lurid portrayal of brutality - overwhelmingly at Roman hands - will hopefully re-sensitize us to its horrors.

At the very least we will question what we do to those who are different or who threaten us.

On Christianity Today, Frank Schaeffer explains why he is not going to see it -- he doesn't like the "celluloid Jesus":

Not This Easter, Mel
I haven't seen The Passion of The Christ, and I don't plan to. Here's why.
by Frank Schaeffer

Meanwhile on Christianity Today's weblog, a link to an extraordinary story from Norway:

They said The Passion of The Christ would provoke neo-Nazis, and they were right: in one case, it's provoking a neo-Nazi to confess to his sins and repent.

Johnny Olsen, whom the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten calls "one of Norway's most feared men," turned himself in to police on Saturday after watching the film.

"He said that it was the film that made him realize that he had to show his hand. He has been preoccupied with Christianity, guilt, punishment, atonement, suffering and conversion during the 10 years I have known him," Olsen's lawyer said. "It has been a long process but the Jesus film made the difference. Now he shows true regret and is ready to make amends."

The full story is here in Aftenposten Norway:

Confessed after seeing 'Passion'
Johnny Olsen, a notorious convicted killer and neo-Nazi, has confessed to two bombings in Oslo in the 90s. Olsen, 41, decided to purge his guilty conscience after viewing Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ, newspaper Dagbladet reports

Back to BBC news, thanks again to Helenann Hartley again for this one from Saturday:

Brothers seek French Passion ban
Three Jewish brothers have gone to court seeking a ban on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in France.

In opposing the release of the film, the Benlolos submitted pages of quotes from US movie reviews, which the judge said would not be accepted as evidence.

And the outcome? In Monday's BBC News:

Judge rejects French Passion ban
A judge in France has rejected a request by three Jewish brothers to ban Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Claims of anti-Semitism stemmed from "a narrow view" of the film, she said.

"To make the death of Jesus into the major motivation of anti-Semitism that leads to secular persecutions against Jews would stem from a narrow view of Mel Gibson's film," said Judge Lagemi following a private screening of the film.

Thanks to David Mackinder for this link to a very negative review in the most recent (April 8) New York Review of Books. The first half of the article is about The Passion of the Christ:

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners
By Garry Wills

My wife and I had to stop glancing furtively at each other for fear we would burst out laughing. It had gone beyond sadism into the comic surreal, like an apocalyptic version of Swinburne's The Whipping Papers.

etc.

Gaff of the day: I was speaking at a sixth form day school in Birmingham today on "The sacred text in Christianity". As is my wont at the moment, I began topically by commenting on The Passion of the Christ, asking how many of the 160 or so students present had seen the film yet. A few tentative hands went up and I was taken aback that so few had seen it. One of the teachers kindly took me to one side later on and reminded me that that all of those present were lower sixth, 16-17 years old, and The Passion of the Christ has an 18 certificate.

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Thanks to Mark Elliott for this latest on the Bible and Interpretation Essays on the Passion, now building up to a very valuable collection:

An Unacknowledged Passion
While most Christians are familiar with the stories in the Gospels of Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion, they are less familiar with how those same stories have been used throughout history to justify not only anti-Jewish sentiment but, at times, violent persecution of Jews.
By Mark A. Chancey
Department of Religious Studies
Southern Methodist University
March 2004

Chancey's article is an excellent exposition of the appalling history of Christian anti-Semitism, aimed at those who are cannot understand the fuss about The Passion of the Christ. "Understanding why aspects of this movie could be seen as anti-Semitic," he says, "requires understanding the unfortunate role Christianity has played in the historical development of anti-Semitism." I am grateful for Chancey's careful tone -- he avoids the excessive and unhelpful rhetoric that some of the film's critics have used. It is also particularly useful to have a well presented summary of some of the worse episodes in Christian anti-Semitism. Chancey summarises:

It is within this larger context that the furor over Gibson’s movie must be understood. The types of anti-Jewish sentiments mentioned above are foreign to most American Christians today, most of whom who have never heard of “deicide,” “blood libel,” or the ad versos Judaeos tradition. Many Christian denominations have issued official statements repudiating the deicide charge and committing themselves to fighting anti-Semitism. The fact that so many Christians have not regarded Gibson’s movie as problematic is in many ways a sign of progress on this front: most Christians are not carrying anti-Semitism with them into the theater, and they are not finding it on the screen once they get there.

Perhaps because I am a born optimist, I find this last comment particularly encouraging. But Chancey goes on:

”Most” is not the same as “all,” however. If some people can read The DaVinci Code and then believe that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, it requires no stretch of the imagination to think that at least a few viewers will believe Gibson’s movie is an accurate portrayal of events. They will see Gibson’s whitewashing of Pilate and his vilification of the Jews, points on which the movie goes well beyond what we find in the Gospels, and walk out thinking about how vicious “those Jews” were. The anti-Semitic slur “Christ-killer,” though repeated less frequently now than in decades past, is still heard. The minority of viewers who already harbor anti-Semitic feelings may well walk away feeling validated, having just witnessed “the Jews” kill Jesus on the movie screen. Those who still hold to the view that all Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus, and the view does still circulate in some sectors of American Christianity; will find nothing but confirmation of that belief in this movie.

Now having made those positive comments about Chancey's article overall, there are some elements in this paragraph that I find a little troubling. The first is the use of the term "the Jews" in inverted commas. As I have commented previously, some care is necessary here. As is well known, the Fourth Gospel does repeatedly characterise a body it calls "the Jews" in a very negative fashion. But The Passion of the Christ, in spite of what one reads in some articles and reviews, never does this. Indeed the only time that the term "Jew" is used, it is used in positive contexts, with reference to Jesus and to Simon of Cyrene. So we need to be careful about importing terminology into the film that is not found there. It is because the issue of anti-Semitism is so important that we should strive for accuracy in commenting on this film (and not just this film, of course).

Chancey's comments on the film's relationship to the Gospels overstate the case. In the passage quoted above, he writes, "They will see Gibson’s whitewashing of Pilate and his vilification of the Jews, points on which the movie goes well beyond what we find in the Gospels, and walk out thinking about how vicious “those Jews” were." But does the film go "well beyond what we find in the Gospels" here? I don't think so. It pulls back considerably not only on John's language, already mentioned, but steers well clear of the possible implication in Luke that the Romans had little to do with Jesus' death. Lines that are spoken by the crowd(s) especially in Matthew are transferred solely to Caiaphas in the film. As I have frequently commented before, I wish that Gibson had taken more care here. In particular, I wish he had taken seriously the need for an advisory board of academics who would themselves be accountable. But I am also keen that when we discuss what is in the film we do so as accurately as possible. As scholars, it is important that we set the standard on these issues, and show both the film-makers and the media reporters how importantly we regard care, accuracy and fairness.

Jim Davila also comments in Paleojudaica.

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Channel 4 is showing a documentary on the Turin Shroud tonight at 9 pm, part of the Secrets of the Dead series:

Series in which forensic science is used to investigate history. The probity of the Turin Shroud, popularly believed to have covered the body of Christ, has long been subject to scrutiny. This programme reveals the latest developments in theories regarding its age following restoration work in 2002 by a Swiss textile expert.

The Channel 4 web site is also advertising a live chat with the producer/director Alex Hearle after the programme, 10 pm.

Update (23.53): watched this programme tonight. Didn't add much of interest. A textiles expert claimed that the stitching on the shroud was of a kind only found previously at Masada and never found in medieval relics, but that was covered in about five minutes and in insufficient detail. What I'd have liked to have seen something on would have been the Jerusalem shroud discovered by Shimon Gibson two years ago, which -- if I remember correctly -- contrasted radically with the Turin shroud. If there is anything new worth discussing, then that is it.

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I was going to blog this article from Ship of Fools on Friday (see previous entry) but decided it needed to be dignified with its own separate posting, and it's had to wait for this weblog's weekend off:

According to Mel
The Passion of the Christ as seen by Iwan Russell-Jones

It is one of the best reviews I have seen; I have the feeling that he "gets" the film in a way that many reviewers seem not to, reviewers who on the whole have been unable to explain the film's massive public appeal. It's all worth reading, but here's an excerpt:

This is why the violence and the brutality are such an important and integral part of the film. Even as the blows rain down on Christ, the flashbacks remind us of his teaching: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, forgive. The torment, the sufferings, the cross of Christ, are all put in the context of a love that goes to any lengths, extraordinary lengths, to restore and heal. As a grief-stricken Mary tries to comfort him as he stumbles along the way, he tells her, "See, mother, I make all things new."

In Gibson's vision, Jesus, the apparent victim of the worst that the human race can dream up, becomes the victor, the one who through suffering conquers the powers of evil and death, and makes the love and forgiveness of God available to all. The cinematic realization of this vision, at the climax of The Passion of the Christ, is both moving and breath-taking.

Mel Gibson has created a remarkable film. There are images, ideas and words here that will linger long in the memory, and may even have the power to change our lives forever.

And at last someone else grasps the Simon of Cyrene material that I've been banging on about here:

But, crucially, the film itself pulls the rug out from under any form of anti-semitism. This occurs, very consciously, in the sequence involving Simon the Cyrene, who is pressed into helping Jesus carry his cross. When Simon cries out in protest against the viciousness of the Roman soldiers towards Jesus, they turn on him with contempt. "Let's go, Jew," one of them spits out. At this moment where Simon's compassion and humanity become apparent, Gibson has provided a deliberate and forceful reminder of his racial identity.

Quite right (though I remember the line as the single word "Jew"; will need to check this on my next viewing).

There's another less positive review on the same site:

According to Mel
The Passion of hte Christ as seen by Mark Stafford

One comment on his review:

We are given little or no context for these sufferings, we're not rooting for the cause or longing for a resolution, we just come slowly to the point of wanting to stand up and shout, "Leave him alone!", because there's only so much punishment you can watch being inflicted on one person.

But one of things that is so powerful about the Simon of Cyrene episode is that he stands up and shouts exactly this -- "Leave him alone!" We stand there with him, wanting to intervene, unable to be an idle bystander. The film draws us in; its story captures us.

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