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
This piece places Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ into the context of Christian anti-Semitism over the last two millennia, not accusing it of being anti-Semitic, but explaining why some Jews have been so concerned about it. The essay covers a lot of historical territory I know little about, but the areas I do know about look to be covered accurately. Do go and read it all. The conclusion reads:
��� 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.
��� Even more troubling is the possibility that the movie will fuel anti-Semitism in some areas abroad. Gibson, as is well known, deleted the subtitles for Matthew 27:25, �His blood be on us and our children.� The sentence is still present in the Aramaic, however, and it is entirely possible that it will be translated when the movie circulates in other areas. Anti-Semitism appears to be on the rise globally, and there are definitely audiences who will interpret Gibson�s film, however well intentioned it is, in the worst light possible, a minority of audiences, to be sure, but audiences nonetheless. In a world where even the atrocious and absurd blood libel charge still circulates, there is reason to be concerned about the ripple effects of this movie.
��� None of this means that Christians should not go to the movie or that it is wrong to be moved by it or that the spiritual experiences it has prompted are invalid or inappropriate. It does mean, however, that rather than belittling Jewish concerns and demonizing the film�s critics (Jewish, Christian, and other), we should perhaps listen. Gibson�s movie provides Christians with an opportunity to reflect on the depths of the suffering of Jesus, but it also provides us all with an opportunity to reflect on the unfortunate role the passion narratives have played in Jewish-Christian relations.
A quick check of Google will show you that there are many anti-Semitic websites on the Internet spewing all sorts of vicious and false vitriol (some of it is summarized in this Al Jazeerah article). And some early reactions to the movie from the U.A.E. and Kuwait are profoundly disturbing.
Mark Goodacre promises some comments on the piece as well. (Later: he has now posted comments at the same link.)
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