Posted on 01/21/2004 9:58:18 PM PST by kattracks
Edited on 07/12/2004 4:12:49 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
ORLANDO, Fla.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
None of the major studios wanted to distribute "The Passion"? I wonder what they're afraid of. That it's too true to the Gospels?
To be Christian is to be vigil against vanity projects that cloak themselves as authentic.
This movie is not based on the Gospels alone.
In fact the scenes were Christ is scourged is not even accurate. The Romans who did such scourging were not sadists per say. The number of whippings dealt was prescribed by the Roman authorities - so many whippings for this offense-so many whippings for that. The Romans who had to do such things probably found them mundane and trying tasks that they wanted ended as soon as possible.
The scourging of Jesus to excess in Mel's movie is done to push a Roman Catholic extasy dogma rather than history. As is the selection of Latin as the primary language of the day rather then the actual but not Catholic dogma chic Greek language.
This is based on previews of the film I have seen and read about.
My approach is via historical analysis and not in support of any creed per say.
Take it up with the Pope....
The Romans spoke Greek in Jerusalem? Now that's news....
I’m a bit confused.< The movie is in the “original” languages, Aramaic and Latin, but the Mediterranean world of the first century spoke Greek as a result of Hellenization, later adopted by the Roman Empire (though they still spoke Latin in Rome). All of the books in the New Testament—including Romans—were written in the Hellenistic Greek of this period, as was the most popular translation of the Hebrew Scriptures of that day, the Septuagint.
Shouldn’t Jesus and Pilate be speaking Greek in the movie? Naturally the Roman rulers spoke Latin, but Greek was the lingua franca of the Empire. The Jewish leaders would have spoken Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, and certainly Jesus and the disciples, being from “Galilee of the Gentiles,” would have known Greek but nary a word of Latin. Still, if you insist on Pilate speaking Latin, why use the ecclesiastical pronunciation (rather than the classical) when “church” Latin obviously did not exist at the time!
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Greek was the first language for most educated Romans and for Romans stationed in the East. Most Romans spoke beter Greek then they did Latin.
Even in Rome the Christians did not speak in Latin. From http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/cripta.html
THE CRYPT OF THE POPES
It is the most sacred and important place in these catacombs, discovered by the great archaeologist de Rossi in 1854, and labelled by him as " the little Vatican, the central monument of all Christian cemeteries". It originated towards the 2nd C. as a private crypt. When the "First Area" came under the direct dipendence of the Church of Rome, it was thought suitable to transform that burial chamber into the cemetery of the Popes.
The sepulchres, now empty, once contained the remains of 9 Popes and of 8 Bishops of the 3rd century. You can still see the original inscriptions on the wall, though broken and incomplete, regarding five of the Popes. Their names are written in Greek, following the official usage of the Church in that time.
On four tombstones, next to the name of the Pontiff, there is the title of epì(scopos), which means "bishop", because he was the head of the Church of Rome. The title papa (pope - father), became exclusive to the bishop of Rome during the 4th century. On two slabs some years later was added the abbreviation MRT ("martyr", which means "witness").This title was given to the Christians who had witnessed their faith in Christ, by shedding their blood.
Among the names of the Popes, written on the tombstones in Greek, are:
St. Fabian (236-250) was a Roman and was elected pope on the death of St. Antherus. His pastoral ministry of 14 years coincided with a period of religious peace. He was a great organiser of the Church of Rome. He divided the city into seven ecclesiastical regions, each with its tituli (parishes), clergy and catacombs He died by decapitation during the persecution of emperor Decius.
This is St. Fabian's name written in Greek: 
And to answer Benjo. The Passion is not based per say on the New Testament Gospel's but on the visions of a 19th-century German stigmatic mystic nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Revelations Of Mystic Behind New Gibson Movie Led To Discovery Of Mary's House
By Michael H. Brown
A recent book details how dramatic revelations from famed mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, the 19th-century German stigmatic who is currently on the road to beatification, led priests to "Mary's House" -- ruins of the place now recognized as where the Blessed Virgin spent her last years.
Emmerich, who has been declared "venerable" and whose revelations on Christ's Passion have influenced a major new Mel Gibson movie (entitled just that, The Passion), was a nun just southwest of Munster when she received visions of the home -- legendary until its rediscovery -- that John had built for the Blessed Mother after leaving the Holy Land.
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The miracle, attributed to this Augustinian religious, occurred in Germany in 1880; it was officially recognized by the Holy See on July 7, 2003. Although disabled, she developed a fruitful apostolate by writing about her personal experiences of the life of Christ.
Anna Katharina Emmerick, expelled from her cloister by the Napoleonic invasion, and confined to bed, tried to write in her low German dialect the daily visions of the supernatural which she herself felt were indescribable.
When learning this, a noted German writer, Clemens Brentano, made her acquaintance, was converted, and remained at the of the stigmatist's bed copying her accounts from 1818 to 1824.
Twice a day, the writer went to visit Anna Katharina Emmerick to copy the notes in her journal. He then returned to read what he had written, to be sure he had faithfully transcribed what the invalid dictated.
When the religious died, the writer ordered the material in the journal. He prepared an index of the visions and the edition entitled "The Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ." The book became a world event.
I did not see in her physiognomy or her person the least trace of tension or exaltation," Brentano said after making the nun's acquaintance. "Everything she says is brief, simple, consistent, and at the same time full of profundity, love, and life."
The script of the film "The Passion," to be released in the United States at the beginning of next year, is inspired in the visions of this religious, just as the film's director, Mel Gibson, has revealed.
Jesus and his disciples preached in Aramaic. Would he have spoken to Pilate in Greek? I tend to think he would have spoken in Aramaic and his terse responses to Pilate were translated for Pilate's benefit.
Pilate may have spoken Greek to the educated Jews of the day, but I tend to think that the average Roman soldier growled his way through the streets in a vulgar blend of Latin, Greek, and Aramaic.
The problem is that the Gospels come to us long after the death of Christ, and the particulars of language are omitted in the telling.
I'll settle for Aramaic and Latin. I don't think the movie will gain in power by having Pilate and Caiaphas conversing in koine Greek....
I am glad that you modified your earlier statement which was way incorrect.
In any case, the subject was the film and history. If Latin dominates more than Greek, even to the exclusion of Greek then it is an inaccurate statement on the part of Gibson the movie maker.
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