Clergy and Educators

Passionate Feelings by Rabbi Charles L. Arian

Reprinted with permission from the Baltimore Jewish Times, February 13, 2004.

The release of Mel Gibson's self-financed film "The Passion of the Christ" on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, presents both challenges and opportunities.

While some religious leaders fear that the movie could set back Christian-Jewish relations 30 years or more, it also presents an opportunity to learn more about what both unites and divides us. With the massive contro-versy and attention already generated, rabbis and Jewish educators must deal with the film in preaching and teaching.

The most basic fear is that the film will contribute to anti-Semitism by portraying the Jews as responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Some scholars who have seen rough cuts believe it does just that. In one of the two preview versions shown, the Jewish High Priest says of Jesus, "His blood be upon us and our children" -- the source of the belief in Jewish collective guilt for Jesus' death -- while one version omits it.

Both, however, reportedly contain unflattering stereo-types of Jews and portray Pilate, the Roman governor under whom Jesus was crucified, as a puppet of the High Priest Caiaphas. Neither makes it clear that the Roman governor appointed the High Priest, could depose him
at will and often did. Though the film portrays Roman soldiers as carrying out the actual crucifixion, neither version apparently informs viewers that this was a punishment imposed exclusively by the Romans for sedition, and that thousands of Jews were crucified during Pilate's reign.

Mr. Gibson is a "traditionalist Catholic," one who rejects the Roman Catholic Church's reforms and has said that all non-Catholics, including his own wife, are going to hell. Yet his film has become a cause celebre among conservative evangelicals. He has responded to criticism by stating that he is simply portraying the truth as presented in Christian Holy Scriptures. Those who object, he says, are in essence objecting to the Gospels.

A good Jewish response to any challenge is "Let's pull the books down off the shelf, and sit and learn." Mr. Gibson claims that his movie is an interpretation-free dramatization. Is that possible with sacred text? Judaism says "no"; we read our own texts through the eyes of centuries of rabbinic interpreters.

Do Christians have a similar process? Can we learn from each other about different ways to read texts? We at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies believe we can, and our educational programming around this film will explore such questions.

A good deal of the past 40 years of progress in Christian-Jewish relations was facilitated by Chris-
tian re-examination of the historicity and theological significance of the Passion narratives. The Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations have repudiated Jewish collective guilt. The 1965 Vatican declaration Nostra Aetate says responsibility
for Jesus' death "cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today."

Many scholars of Christianity have pointed out that the Gospel narratives are not mere transcripts of the actual events. But even Christians committed to viewing the Gospels as entirely factual have reminded those drama-tizing them to underscore the Jewishness of Jesus and his followers, to emphasize that Rome held political authority, and to place the anti-Jewish polemics in the context of the era's Hellenistic rhetorical conventions.

If Mr. Gibson failed to do these things, his film may technically be faithful to the Gospel text, but will be unfaithful to the teachings of the Roman Catholic and many Protestant churches.

Rabbi Michael Cook, a professor of New Testament at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, has written that Jews and Christians who view "Passion" will, in essence, see two very different movies. Jews, understandably, will be primarily concerned by the portrayal of Jews
and its impact on Jewish-Christian relations. Though many Christians share these concerns, most have a
very different agenda; the portrayal of Jews and Juda-ism could be minor compared to what the film teaches about one of the central events in Christian religious history.

Perhaps because Passion Plays and Gospel readings on Good Friday have for centuries led to suffering and death for Jews, we tend to consider pondering the religious meaning of the Passion bizarre, making Chris-tianity a religion not to be taken seriously. In an era where Jews and Christians have made important strides in combating mutual misunderstandings, we must at least try to understand why this story has such power for Christian friends and neighbors.

It is entirely appropriate to express concern about the portrayal of Jews and Judaism in Passion dramatizations, but we should not seem to oppose any and all attempts by Christians to tell this story so important to their faith.

We should attempt to understand the tremendous diversity within Christianity as to this narrative and
how Christians are called to respond to it. There is no unanimity on this score. For example, by focusing only on the crucifixion, Archbishop Stefan Soroka wrote, the movie leaves the viewers with a distorted view of what Christianity is all about. "Without the hype, this movie will not interest many viewers because it fails to offer hope," he says. Can Jews and Christians learn from each other about hope? About constructive responses to pain and suffering? About how God acts in the world?

Finally, many Christians will be as disturbed by Mr. Gib-son's movie as Jews are. They are eager to combat anti-Jewish interpretations first and foremost because they tarnish the integrity of their own faith.

If Jews and Christians use "The Passion" as a spring-board for deepening our conversations, this controversy in the end can help us to provide "good news" for both communities.

Rabbi Charles L. Arian is the Jewish scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

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