Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy

In preparation for Holy Week I have pulled out a couple of books. The first book on my pile is Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia. The book is divided into five main sections, with three to six wonderful essays each. Each section centers on a major question (Did Christ have to suffer violently? Is The Passion anti-Semitic? What is Truth? Why was Christ killed? Who is morally responsible?). All of the essays are designed to bring you to some final questions specific to the topic at hand (which may end up being nice little blog ideas!). The tone and depth was sufficient to the task, neither burying the reader in jargon or belaboring concepts to the point of obfuscation.

Don't expect to have this book resolve the issues for you though. In a fairly balanced and open presentation, this book merely explores the surface of the issues. Most of the authors point out biblical inconsistencies and attempt to show why Gibson made some of the choices he made.

For some people, the movie was nothing more than pornographic. It perpetuated stereotypes, gloried in violence and showed an easy way toward atonement (by having Christ work at being the scapegoat and allowing us to behave any way we want because "Jesus died for me"). Others felt that is was a moving experience that changed lives; witness the restored marriages, confession of crimes, forgiveness chronicled by Jody Eldred. I found myself sort of on the fence concerning the movie, so this book allowed me more time to reflect and think about certain issues.

Obviously, the "pornographic" depictions of violence played a part in my understanding of the film, as did the occasional extra-biblical scenes and lines in the movie. Frankly, I was concerned about possible anti-Semitic reactions from the film (I honestly thought Gibson could have done better at getting inside the heads of the Jewish leaders). But all in all the movie was very moving for me.

For my part, Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy did help to clarify some perspectives on the meaning of Christ's death (not so much the meaning of the movie). Most importantly, I re-evaluated the meaning of Christ's death. What exactly was accomplished by His death and how does that effect me, personally, some 2000 years later? Why did have to be such a gruesome death? With most of next week "off" from work, I suppose I'll have more time to write about these things.