In light of the tremendous interest shown in the previous post about resources for thinking about Mel Gibson’s film readers may be interested in an article by Philip Cunningham of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. He has compiled a list of elements that are unbliblical, what violates catholic teaching about depictions of the passion, historical errors and theological concerns.”It is not sufficient for the producers of passion dramatizations to respond to responsible criticism simply by appealing to the notion that “it’s in the Bible.” One must account for one’s selections. ”
U.S. Bishops, Criteria for the Evaluation of
Dramatizations of the Passion (1988), C,1,
From the conclusion…
“For Gibson’s fans to polemicize that the film cannot be critiqued without rejecting the New Testament is to ignore history and to trivialize decades of official Catholic teaching on biblical interpretation. In some ways the movie is a direct challenge to that teaching.”
http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/reviews/gibson cunningham.htm
