Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" won't be released in theaters until Wednesday, but religious leaders are already buzzing.
The Anti-Defamation League says the film is anti-Semitic, and Christian and Jewish scholars have publicly said they share that concern.
Gibson is a traditionalist Catholic who rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the authority of all Popes since. The council declared, among many other things, that Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus, nor are they rejected or accursed by God.
However, Gibson has based the film on his own reading of the Gospels, not those of mainline Catholics and Protestants.
Father John Pawlikowski, a professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, was part of a nine-person panel of religious scholars that critiqued the script last spring.
"We concluded it was one of the worst things we'd seen in 25 years," Pawlikowski told the Chicago Tribune. "It went to all the classical accusations about primary Jewish responsibility for the death of Christ, which, of course, was the source of a great deal of anti-Semitism from the Christian side over the centuries."
The filmmaker has responded to such criticism, well, passionately. When the panel sent a letter to Gibson outlining their concerns, his company threatened to sue the scholars for using a "stolen" script.
None of this, one might think, makes the film sound very appealing. Certainly, none of it sounds good to me.
I'm Catholic, but I accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
My father studied under Father Pawlikowski and has a great deal of respect for the man.
I believe the history of central Europe shows that "passion plays" actually can lead to violence against Jews, unless great sensitivity is used -- Gibson is not famous for his sensitivity.
Nevertheless, I don't plan to boycott this movie, if only because it is unfair to pass judgment on it until I've seen it myself.
After all, "The Ten Commandments" isn't necessarily a religiously accurate re-telling of the Old Testament. "The Robe" and "The Last Temptation of Christ" aren't gospel truth, but they're still entertaining movies.
Similarly, when taken with an appropriately large grain of salt, I expect I won't regret spending a couple of hours on "The Passion."
It may show Jews in a role that mainline scholars say they never held. For that matter, it may show a Jesus who looks a little less Semitic than he should, and it may be a bit too gory for the tastes of some viewers.
But, it will get people talking. The movie is going to tell one version of the story, but it's going to boost discussion of other versions in the public sphere, too. It's going to get people talking on television shows and writing in magazines about the origins of anti-Semitism. It's going to start a discussion; it's the opening salvo of a debate.
Open discussions and debates about religion and prejudice aren't always easy to find, and it's hard to see how they wouldn't do more good than harm.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
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