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Commission
On Interreligious Affairs
of Reform Judaism
Some
Jewish Reactions to Mel Gibson's, "The Passion
of the Christ"
by
Michael J. Cook, Ph.D
Jews
generally affirm Mel Gibson's right of artistic license.
They also realize that many Christians will experience
his controversial film differently from the way many
Jews will view it. To foster mutual understanding,
the following explains why some Jews feel discomfited
or will find the film objectionable:
[1]
In significant departure from Gospel testimony, Mr.
Gibson draws heavily on mystical visions by a nineteenth
century German nun (Anne Catherine Emmerich). The
pervasive tenor of his movie as well as aspects of
his personal theology -- and above all many scenes
where Jesus is tortured by Jews and where other characters
are assigned anti-Semitic actions or expletives --
all of these are directly and demonstrably inspired
by this nun (who had no expertise in first century
history).
(http://www.emmerich1.com/DOLOROUS_PASSION_OF_OUR_LORD_JESUS)
[2]
While Mr. Gibson has often praised his production
as the most historically reliable ever made, he knows
little of, or ignores, a century of recent Christian
New Testament scholarship concerning what led to Jesus'
death, and has restricted his consultants to those
similarly disposed.
[3]
Mr. Gibson's powerful influence could have the effect
of undercutting four decades of advances in Christian-Jewish
relations, an arena in which our community prides
itself. (Already, the film has polarized some who
otherwise used to engage in friendly and relaxed discourse
with one another.)
[4]
Mr. Gibson refuses to take seriously enough the historical
cause-and-effect relationship between European Passion
plays and ensuing trauma, even death, literally to
countless Jews. Hitler himself used the Oberammergau
Passion Play (in Bavaria) to indoctrinate Nazis as
to why Jews as a people had to be exterminated. The
Holocaust alone (whose Jewish dimensions Mr. Gibson
has seemed reluctant fully to accept) explains why
Passion plays are so "radioactive" for the
Jewish psyche.
[5]
The movie radiates the potential of jeopardizing the
welfare of Jews abroad, where images consistent with,
even duplicative of, some of those in Mr. Gibson's
film have been customarily appropriated and readily
employed as vehicles for conveying anti-Semitism.
[6]
DVDs of the film, in video chains, libraries, as well
as Christian religious school curricula, could poison
the minds of some Christians (especially children)
toward Jews of Jesus' time, if not also toward Jews
of today and tomorrow.
[7]
Mr. Gibson's "over-the-top" fascination
with torture (also aided by ideas drawn from Emmerich)
likewise reinforces the very "unchristian"
values and vile violence pervading our secular culture
-- by which so many Christians claim to feel assaulted
today (which aversion many Jews likewise share).
[8]
The rage and name-calling already generated by the
film are inconsistent with the dawning of the Jewish
Kingdom of God so ardently anticipated by Jesus through
his own (Pharisaic) parables.
Nonetheless,
the Jewish community remains committed to the pursuit
of wholesome interfaith relations, and hopes that
heartfelt dialogue over this film may somehow yet
engender new progress toward mutual understanding
and toward the Messianic Age conceptualized and bequeathed
to the world by Jewish tradition.
This
statement is prepared by Michael J. Cook, Ph.D., Sol
& Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian
Studies, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati. It reflects his sense of the
stance of most Jews in communities he has addressed,
but does not necessarily bear the official approval
of Jewish communities where it is distributed.
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