PURDUE PANEL FOLLOW-UP. My thanks to Liz Bower, whether or not she saw my posting yesterday, for letting us know how the panel discussion on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ went. Excepts:

The Rev. John Pawlilowski, professor of social ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, received a copy of the shooting script before the film was released. He and eight other scholars examined the script and gave Gibson a private report.

[...]

"Ninety percent of the issues that were raised in our report were not changed in the movie; however, there were one or two things that were changed," he said.

[...]

Gordon Mork, professor of modern German history, said Gibson believed that he followed the gospel in the script. However, Mork noted that there was lack of consistency between the gospel and the film.

"Although Gibson claimed he followed the Bible, the film was based on visions (had by a nun)," he said.

Gordon Young, associate professor of ancient near-Eastern and Mediterranean history and director of the Jewish studies program, agrees with Mork.

[...]

Bob Bloom, film critic at the Journal and Courier, said, "In a sense, I admire Gibson as a film maker because he did not buckle under public pressure and the bottom line is it is a movie none of us were there and this is a good piece of film."