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The Passion of the Christ

"The Passion" of Jesus is the term for the suffering of Christ just prior to and during his trials and crucification.

Poster for "The Passion of the Christ"The 2004 film, "The Passion of the Christ" focused attention on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday like few films before it. It also generated much discussion and criticism as well as prompting many people to reread Biblical accounts of the events of Holy Week and also to seek information about Catholic traditions that are not in the Bible.

This page collects information and links surrounding Holy week, especially as pertains to the the Passion.

We have also recorded the comments of panel members on the interfaith panel on "The Passion of The Christ" that Avondale Pattillo sponsored in 2004 (use the links to the left).

On this page ...

Anti-Semitism in Passion Plays

Commentary by Gordon R. Monk, Purdue University

"The dramatic concept of the Weis-Daisenberger version of the play was melodrama. There was a clear contrast between good and evil. Those who were “good” were “the Christians” - Jesus and his disciples, Mary his mother, Mary Magdalene, and so forth. Those who were evil were “the Jews” - the high priests Caiaphas and Annas, Judas Iscariot, and the Jewish mob who called for Jesus’ crucifixion. No matter that in fact Jesus, his family, and his disciples were really Jews too. No matter that there were no “Christians” until after the death and resurrection of the Christ, i.e. after the passion of Jesus had already occurred. Jesus and his followers were portrayed, through text, costume and demeanor, to be both innocent and holy. The Jews who opposed Jesus were portrayed as corrupt and brutal. Pilate and the Romans were more or less above the fray, attempting to purvey impartial justice, but ultimately unable to do so because of the pressures from the wicked Jews”.  Read the full article ("Journal of Religion and Film, Special edition, Feb 2004")

Anti-Semitic non-Biblical influence

Effect of a Catholic sect

Some reviewers say that parts of "The Passion of the Christ" stray from the New Testament by including material based on reported visions by Mary of Agreda (a 17th century nun) as recorded in "The Mystical City of God", and also the writings of Anne Catherine Emmerich (a 19th century stigmatic).

"The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Meditations of Anne Catherine Emmerich" was published in 1833. These highly violent visions include grotesque anti-Semitic characterizations of Jews.

...although the movie depicts both Jews and Romans assaulting and battering Jesus, the vast majority of screen-time is devoted to depicting Jewish violence.

Second, many Jews, such as the High Priest, are portrayed as physically ugly, perhaps drawing on stock anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews.

For many Jews, the portrayal of Jews in the movie can only be understood relative to the portrayal of Pilate, and Gibson's account is a perversion of history. Historical sources make it clear that Pilate was a greedy, choleric, and cruel tyrant who readily executed any Jewish rebel. For many Jews, it is painful to see a portrayal of Roman-Jewish relations where Roman leaders bow to the interests of Jewish leaders, when the opposite was the case, and where the Romans, oppressors of Jews, are presented as more sympathetic than the Jews they oppressed." 

Oberammergau Passion Play Overhaul

Adolf Hitler called the 300th anniversary performance in 1934 "a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry."

After Christian and Jewish protests, the Oberammergau Passion Play was significantly changed in 2000. For example, Judas is now motivated by political considerations rather than greed. He is disappointed that Jesus is not leading a revolt against Rome. And Jesus' Jewish defenders during Holy Week have more lines and generate more enthusiasm. 

Vatican II changes

"The Nazi Holocaust (1933-1945), the murder of 6 million Jews, took place in the heart of “Christian Europe,” and the rebirth of a sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East in 1948 were unspoken, perhaps unwanted, guests at the Second Vatican Council and influenced the discussions. Both events, one horrific and one heroic, demanded a radical recasting of long-held Catholic theological, cultural, liturgical and pedagogical beliefs about Jews and Judaism."

..."The fourth century saint, John Chrysostom, called Jews “assassins of Christ,” and he considered the synagogue “worse than a brothel.” In 1543 Martin Luther taught that all Jews in Germany should be “put under one roof” and if they still proved too dangerous for society, the “poisonous bitter worms” should be driven out of Germany “for all time.” In 1871, Pope Pius IX, who was recently canonized, called members of the 2,200-year-old Jewish community of Rome “dogs barking in all the streets.”"

..."The [Vatican II document "Nostra Aetate"] declaration “decries hatred, persecution, displays of anti-Semitism directed against Jews at any time and by any one,” and calls for “mutual respect and knowledge” between Catholics and Jews. It also repudiated the infamous deicide charge that Jews then and now are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus, a cosmic “crime” deserving of both divine and human punishment. For some Christians, the deicide charge became a justification for committing violent acts against Jews."

Jump-starting Jew-Catholic conversation

National Catholic Reporter (NCR) online
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/100402/100402t.htm

Second Vatican Council

"For Catholics, the most visible results of various interpretations of the Council's sixteen documents were changes in how church sacraments were practiced, the use of vernacular languages for the Mass, and a revolutionary new attitude towards their relationship with Jews."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council

Pontius Pilate and his wife Claudia

"Philo (Ad Gaium, 38) speaks of [Pilate] as inflexible, merciless, and obstinate."

Yet, "... efforts of Pilate to acquit Christ, and thus pass as lenient a judgment as possible upon his crime, goes further in the apocryphal Gospels and led in later years to the claim that he actually became a Christian. The Abyssinian Church reckons him as a saint, and assigns 25 June to him and to Claudia Procula, his wife. The belief that she became a Christian goes back to the second century, and may be found in Origen (Hom., in Mat., xxxv). The Greek Church assigns her a feast on 27 October." (Catholic Encyclopedia)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/12083c.htm

Controversy

A cross with plaque at sunsetMel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of The Christ", stirred Christians like few movies had ever done.  It generated both excitement and controversy...

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