ANOTHER PASSION REVIEW: Jacques and Carol Krie have a new one up on the Bible and Interpretation website:

History is Beside the Point:
Deconstructing Mel Gibson�s "The Passion of the Christ"

"The film has nothing to do with historical debates; it is a passion play, both successful and abysmal in representing that genre�Mr Gibson has fashioned a blunt instrument of propaganda, edged with artistry, whose visceral power gives it the potential to become his most lethal weapon of all.... And, as in the case of any passion play, the artistry consists of what is invented, not in fidelity to the Gospels, and history is beside the point."
�Bruce Chilton

One brief excerpt:

This master narrative, or theory, as constructed by the Church Fathers in the 4th century, has become the basis of Christian fundamentalism. Scientific research as embodied in modern biblical and literary scholarship is a much greater challenge to Fundamentalist Christian theology than the traditional conflict between "science" and "religion." We believe that, to be a Christian in the modern world, cognizance must be taken of that debate, and its full implications must be confronted.23 If we do not do so, we are living a religious lie.24 And that is our biggest problem with this film. It presents a picture of the foundational event of Christianity that is now being challenged by well founded biblical and historical research. The Church is hiding this challenge from its members and from non-Christians alike. It is as if Gibson made a historical film showing how God made man out of mud, as depicted in Genesis 2, ignoring all scientific evidence for evolution.