I realize that the Gibson movie has already received a full attention here, but if I am not mistaken, the James Carroll article seems to have been overlooked, for example, in JJB's excellent and harrowing list of excerpts from yesterday. I decided to post it, since it pretty much expresses my own views. There is perhaps one point that hasn't been made in the discussion here. Consider the immense sorrow and the shame, as well as the anger expressed by Carroll, that thoughtful Christians must feel at this abuse of the Gospel and this inexcusable outrage against the Jews.
An Obscene Portrayal of Christ's Passion
by James Carroll
Boston Globe
February 24, 2004
"THE PASSION of The Christ" by Mel Gibson is an obscene movie. It will incite contempt for Jews. It is a blasphemous insult to the memory of Jesus Christ. It is an icon of religious violence. Like many others, I anticipated the Gibson film warily, especially because an uncritical rendition of problematic Gospel texts which unfairly blame "the Jews" for the death of Jesus threatened to resuscitate the old "Christ-killer" myth.
But seeing Gibson's film convinces me that it does far worse than that. His highly literal representation of the Passion narratives, his visual presentation of material that, in the tradition, is meant to be read and heard, together with his prejudiced selection of details and his invention of dialogue and incidents, cause one serious problem, very much at the expense of Jews.
But the impact of his perverse imagination on a sacred story, coming at a time when the world is newly riven with primal violence in the name of God, threatens an even more grievous problem. The subject of this film, despite its title, is not the Passion of the Christ, but the sick love of physical abuse, engaged in for power.