St. Louis Post-Dispatch

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

February 24, 2004

MISINTERPRETING
THE PASSION
MEL GIBSON'S MOVIE MERELY REINFORCES ANTI-SEMITIC INTERPRETATIONS OF THE GOSPELS

Author: Judson R. Shaver

Edition: FIVE STAR LATE LIFT
Section: EDITORIAL
Page: B7

Index Terms:
MOVIE FILM CONTROVERSY RELIGION

MISINTERPRETATION CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM JEWISH CHRIST

DEATHCOMMENTARY

Estimated printed pages: 3

Article Text:

In "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson does a credible job of bringing the passion story to the screen. But the passion story is not history. Nor is it benign with regard to the Jews. I don't believe for a moment that Gibson is anti-Semitic, yet his film is unhistorical and replicates the Gospels' shifting of blame from Rome to the Jews.

This blame-shifting is part of a broad strand of Christian anti-Semitism that begins in the New Testament and runs through modern, well-intentioned Christian thought. Two millennia of sometimes violent contempt of the Jews force us to ask some critical questions: Is anti-Semitism intrinsic or essential to Christianity? Does it go back to Jesus? If it does, can one remain a Christian? If it doesn't, what shall we do with the anti-Semitic texts of the New Testament, to say nothing of passion plays and films like Gibson's that are based on them?

While scholars find it difficult to establish exactly wh! at Jesus said or did, there is no reason to believe that he rejected Judaism or the Jews. Every textual indication that he did is better explained in the historical context of the author's experience than in that of Jesus. The roots of Christian anti-Semitism do not go back to Jesus; nor is anti-Semitism intrinsic to Christianity.

The Christian church, however, has had a mixed history. We've had great saints and great sinners. We've had committed, faithful priests, bishops and popes, and we've had some of each who abused their offices for personal gain or gratification. We have reached out in love, and we have grabbed what wasn't ours.

The history of our relationship with Jews, the people of Jesus, is especially disturbing. The fact that Christian anti-Judaism is rooted in some New Testament texts has both created the sickness and delayed the cure. We cannot deny the sinful events in our history or the members of our fellowship who fall far short of the Christ! ian ideal; neither can we can reject our scripture.

Gibson may have cut the blood-curse subtitle, but it is still in Matthew.

If we can't abandon the New Testament or even its truly regrettable passages, I believe we can learn to read scripture differently. In the past, we have read the New Testament's texts about the Jews as though they were really about the Jews. We learned that Pharisees were evil hypocrites, the Jewish leadership despicable and the Jews collectively guilty of deicide. But none of this is true.

The Gospels actually reflect early Jewish Christians and their struggles to survive Rome and differentiate themselves from other forms of Judaism. Over time, Christianity separated from Judaism and became a predominately Gentile religion. Christians forgot that the Gospels, with their passion narratives, were originally the literary and theological creations of Jews. As a result, many interpreters of the Gospels mistook the story for history and took its negative portrayal of "the Jews" as fact.

Many of us! know better, but millions of Christians don't -- including, I fear, Mel Gibson and the large evangelical audience his film will attract.

If Christians can learn to read the Gospels for what they are, we will discover an early Christian slander, rather than Jewish guilt. Such a reading of scripture would produce an entirely new script with the potential of producing true repentance and perhaps even the reconciliation promised by God. One can only imagine how powerful that film would be.

* * * * *

Some of the serious and offbeat films that have told Jesus' story

1927 King of Kings (silent): Solemn drama with scenes of Roman decadence.

1953 The Robe: A Roman official is tormented by his role in Christ's crucifixion.

1959 Ben-Hur: A remake of the 1925 silent film; starring Charlton Heston

1961 King of Kings: It was the first biography of Christ since the silent era.

1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told: Epic tale with a rev! erent and conventional approach.

1979 Jesus Christ, Superstar: Film version of the hit Broadway musical.

1988 The Last Temptation of Christ: Jesus is an ordinary, tormented carpenter.

2004 The Passion of the Christ: Has stirred controversy over its depiction of Jews.

Caption:
Photo by the ASSOCIATED PRESS - Mel Gibson, right, directs Jim Caviezel on the set of Gibson's movie "The Passion of The Christ," in this undated publicity photo. The film, slated for release Wednesday, has stirred controversy over its depiction of Jewish responsibility for Jesus' death.PHOTO

Memo:
COMMENTARY
A FORUM FOR OTHER VOICES, IDEAS AND OPINIONS
Judson R. Shaver is president of Marymount Manhattan College in New York and a scholar of Christianity and Judaism in antiquity.