A Rabbi, a Priest, a Christianity Prof, & Post Reader See "Passion"

[Khephra]

snip........

"The Passion" has been denounced by some Jewish leaders as anti-Semitic and likely to incite violence. They claim it portrays the Jewish people as culpable for Christ's death - contrary to Vatican II's declaration that "what happened in Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today."

The film has been lauded by most conservative Catholics as a powerful and biblically accurate depiction of the last 12 hours of Christ's life. And they contend that most of those who condemn it haven't even seen it.

Gibson, an ultraconservative Catholic who rejects the reforms of Vatican II, insists he made the film "to inspire, not offend."

To find out how viewers of wide-ranging backgrounds would react to the film, The Post held a private screening for a small panel: a rabbi, a priest, a professor of early Christianity, and a Post reader - a Baptist - picked at random.

Here's what they had to say about the rough-cut version of the film that we screened - with temporary English subtitles, no credits and further editing changes likely.

MORE.............

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/10963.htm

[La_Serpiente]

1. Whoa

they must be really radical Catholics of they reject Vatican II.

Vatican II was a decree set forth by the Vatican, I think during the 1950s, that stated the Jews should not be persecuted for what happened to Christ 2000 years ago.

[Paschall]

3. 1965

Beyond doctrinal matters, Vatican II included many things to modernize the church, notably it eliminated Latin as the mandatory language for the liturgy.

You can get the whole scoop here:
http://www.rc.net/rcchurch/vatican2/

[Terwilliger]

4. isn't that funny?

there's always some excuse or another

[supernova]

2. He's a reactionary Catholic

Is it really so surprising that he made a theologically reactionary film?

[Terwilliger]

5. I'd rather see the Kevin Smith version

:D

Dogma was probably more inspirational than The Passion will be

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Hm...

I just watched the trailer for the film (at www.ifilm.com ), and, while I necessarily can't make any judgement of the film yet, not having seen it in its entirety, I mst say that there's at least one thing that glaringly atands out as an error (despite Gibson's claims that this is "a historically accurate depiction"); the film shows nails being driven through Jesus' palms. Physically impossible. Weight wouldn't be supported. The nails go through the wrists in crucifixion.

[Kinkistyle]

7. They all felt it unfairly portrayed jews...except for "NYPost Reader"

Unsurprising. All the "pros" felt that it Jews in a very unfair and unjustified light. But the NY Post (a paper owned and manipulated by Rupert Murdoch and mouthpiece for the Right) reader thought it was a amazing and called it a "must-see movie"

[Khephra]

8. I thought that was the most interesting aspect of the entire article

I wonder what kind of a Baptist the reader is? I'm have to guess Southern Baptist from that piece.

[supernova]

9. Not surprising

Current theological thought rarely works it way into the congregations. Ministers in some denoms and congregations are better served by their careers if they repeat the standard verbage. They conveniently forget everything they learned in seminary (if they did). Don't try to really educate your congration or move people to change their perceptions, just repeat the same old lies because that's what everybody is comfortable with. :P

Baah! It's enough to drive this xtain batty. When we went on a women's retreat a month ago, someone asked why more people don't go to sunday school at our church? I said I don't because I don't find it intellectually stimulating. The curriculum bores me to tears. I'm better served by following my own eccentric educational inclinations.

edit: Spelling. and I need to mention that I'm in a mainline denom, not a fundie one. The curriculum is just boring and every year covers the same subjects, mostly hypotetical ethics. It's OK, but my specific beef is that we never get beyond that. It's like plowing the same field every year. Our theology is not reactionary. Our ministers are required to understand and study Koine Greek and Latin. So, there is some academic underpining there. That's not true with more fundamentalist denoms. And my theology is further deconstructed from that.