The Passion of the Christ

Controversy about anti-Semitism

This movie is considered extremely controversial by some Jewish and Christian groups. The controversy is partially due to graphic violence portrayed in the film, as well as concern over the purported anti-semitic effects of the film. The film has also been criticized by several fundamentalist Protestant groups for its Catholic and ecumenical overtones.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Ecumenical

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Some prominent columnists, such as Frank Rich of the New York Times, who is Jewish, accused Gibson of "Jew-baiting." When no instances of anti-Semitism resulted from the movie, Rich did not retract his statements.

Related Topics:
Frank Rich - New York Times

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The movie has been criticized by some Protestant Christian spokesmen for departing from New Testament storylines. A significant number of scenes and details in the movie are ideas from traditional passion plays and Anne Catherine Emmerich's book The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ http://www.jesus-passion.com/DOLOROUS_PASSION_OF_OUR_LORD_JESUS_CHRIST.htm. Additionally, many scenes and dramatic events are symbolic by nature, serving as groundwork, or support, for the storyline, and reflect events found elsewhere in the Christian scriptures or in the Catholic tradition.

Related Topics:
Passion play - Anne Catherine Emmerich

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The Jewish community was concerned with the charge of deicide, which was responsible for many pogroms in history, and a number of other issues:

Related Topics:
Deicide - Pogroms

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• Many Jews, such as the High Priest, Caiaphas, are portrayed as physically ugly, perhaps drawing on stock anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews. However this is also true of the Roman soldiers. Also, there are many positive portrayals of Jews in the film, such as Simon (who helps Jesus carry the cross), Mary Magdelene, Mary, Peter, Veronica (the woman who gives the cloth to Jesus), and of course Jesus Himself.
• The High Priest is shown as if he a were a member in good-standing of the Jewish community; historians note that the High Priest at the time was in the service of the Roman government, having been appointed by the Roman-client King Herod.
• Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a thoughtful, temperate man who ultimately agrees to crucify Jesus because he does not want to risk a Jewish rebellion on the one hand, and a Christian rebellion on the other. However, historians hold that Pilate was known by his rough treatment of Jews in general, and was responsible for crucifying hundreds of Jews during his reign.

The filmmakers defend that this depiction reflects the spirit and letter of the Christian New Testament Scriptures, though others disagree with that characterization. For example, a scene where Jews cruelly push Jesus off of a bridge is in Emmerich's work, but not in the Gospels. However, the intense Roman scourging is also not in the Gospels, but did not receive the same criticism. Some Orthodox Jews, such as Rabbi Daniel Lapin and Michael Medved disagree that the movie was anti-semitic and have spoken out in support of it.

Related Topics:
Orthodox Jew - Rabbi Daniel Lapin - Michael Medved

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When asked himself whether or not his movie would be offensive to Jews today, Gibson replied, ?It?s not meant to. I think it?s meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible. But when you look at the reasons Christ came, he was crucified ? he died for all mankind and he suffered for all mankind. So that, really, anyone who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability.? This only added to the controversy. Some were also skeptical of Gibson's intentions because of his ambiguous statements regarding the Holocaust and his father's denial of it.http://volokh.com/2004_01_25_volokh_archive.html#107547499488174255 http://slate.msn.com/id/2096323/ The film did not inspire any anti-semitism anywhere in the world.

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Some argue that the idea of universal culpability of the death of Jesus Christ is one of the principal underlying doctrines of Christianity, and has been fundamental to Catholic teaching since the 1st century. As expressed in the 1570 Catholic handbook Catechism of the Council of Trent:

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In this guilt are involved all those who fall frequently into sin; for, as our sins consigned Christ the Lord to the death of the Cross, most certainly those who wallow in sin and iniquity crucify to themselves again the Son of God, as far as in them lies, and make a mockery of Him. This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; while we, on the contrary, professing to know Him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on Him.

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However, others note that the Church did not explicitly repudiate the deicide charge and anti-Semitism until the Second Vatican Council in 1965, and that Gibson's father has spoken out against Vatican II.

Related Topics:
Second Vatican Council - 1965

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Another controversy concerns the line "His blood be on us and our children!" (Matthew 27:25), which has been historically interpreted by some anti-Semites as a curse on the Jewish people. For this reason, various Jewish groups requested that this be removed from the film, but in fact, the Aramaic words are there; only the subtitle was removed. http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1157381,00.html

Related Topics:
Historically interpreted - Jewish - Aramaic - Subtitle

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Supporters of Gibson?s interpretation of the Passion claimed that Pope John Paul II, who, as reported by CNN, had a private viewing of the film shortly before its release. The aging Pope allegedly remarked to his good friend, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, "It is as it was." Dziwisz denied that this ever happened.

Related Topics:
Pope John Paul II - Stanislaw Dziwisz

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