'Mad Mel's' Movie Not Anti-Semitic
Recently a whole bunch of folks, including self-appointed critics purporting to represent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (cringe, the USCCB has since apologized and disassociated itself with said critics) and the Anti-Defamation League, have denounced Mel Gibson's new movie the passion for being anti-Semitic. Their reason? It depicts the decision to crucify Christ as having been made by Jewish authorities of the Roman period. But wait, isn't that how all the Gospels tell the Passion story as well? Yes. But, critics argue, the New Testament is unreliable because it was written "some 40 to 70 years after Jesus' execution." It was really the Romans. (In which case, shouldn't Italians be griping about the film?)
Two problems here: The first is that biblical scholars hardly agree on that point. Theologians certainly would. In fact, most would probably argue on the other side. The second is, what they are really saying is that the Bible is anti-Semitic. The league should be (what am I saying? they probably are...) lobbying to have the Bible rewritten so nobody, no matter how poor a critical reader, could possibly be offended.
It's clear that the Gospels are not anti-Semitic. They pit Jesus not against the Jews (that's who he is and who he's ministering to in the story!), but against some Jewish religious leaders who were behaving in a hypocritical and legalistic fashion. It doesn't say all Jewish religious leaders, were so. It also doesn't imply that the Jewish faith or people were inherently so. It simply isn't an anti-Semitic story.
So if Gibson's movie is faithful to the Gospel versions of the story, and if these folks are saying it's anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate because of that, and because they have a completely different (completely speculative, undocumented and scientifically groundless) take on what happened, born a desire to revise history for the sake of political correctness... well ... I don't know what. Here's a link to a new, longer version of the movie trailer. I can't wait.
Recently a whole bunch of folks, including self-appointed critics purporting to represent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (cringe, the USCCB has since apologized and disassociated itself with said critics) and the Anti-Defamation League, have denounced Mel Gibson's new movie the passion for being anti-Semitic. Their reason? It depicts the decision to crucify Christ as having been made by Jewish authorities of the Roman period. But wait, isn't that how all the Gospels tell the Passion story as well? Yes. But, critics argue, the New Testament is unreliable because it was written "some 40 to 70 years after Jesus' execution." It was really the Romans. (In which case, shouldn't Italians be griping about the film?)
Two problems here: The first is that biblical scholars hardly agree on that point. Theologians certainly would. In fact, most would probably argue on the other side. The second is, what they are really saying is that the Bible is anti-Semitic. The league should be (what am I saying? they probably are...) lobbying to have the Bible rewritten so nobody, no matter how poor a critical reader, could possibly be offended.
It's clear that the Gospels are not anti-Semitic. They pit Jesus not against the Jews (that's who he is and who he's ministering to in the story!), but against some Jewish religious leaders who were behaving in a hypocritical and legalistic fashion. It doesn't say all Jewish religious leaders, were so. It also doesn't imply that the Jewish faith or people were inherently so. It simply isn't an anti-Semitic story.
So if Gibson's movie is faithful to the Gospel versions of the story, and if these folks are saying it's anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate because of that, and because they have a completely different (completely speculative, undocumented and scientifically groundless) take on what happened, born a desire to revise history for the sake of political correctness... well ... I don't know what. Here's a link to a new, longer version of the movie trailer. I can't wait.
<< Home