Posted on 10/23/2003 2:27:37 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The left-wing thought police fought him every step of the way. The major studios refused to touch his new project even though he has made Tinseltown hundreds of millions of dollars. But Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" will open in America on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday. The Oscar-winning director and Newmarket Films announced a deal today to distribute the movie, about the last hours of the life of Jesus Christ. "The Passion of Christ" stars James Caviezel as Jesus and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene. The dialogue is in Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic with English subtitles. Newmarket, an independent distribution company, specializes in publicizing and securing theaters for such excellent movies as "Memento," "Real Women Have Curves" and "Whale Rider." Gibson will distribute the film himself through his Icon Productions in the United Kingdom and Australia, the Associated Press reported. And that high-pitched shriek you hear is the New York Times' Frank Rich tossing his latest temper tantrum.
Wonder what Jesus would've done with a web site pitching his custom-made Cedars of Lebanon tables and chairs?
So Jesus' words in the original gospels are not direct quotes but translations?
Are you genuinely confused are you being obtuse? Just because someone RECORDS a direct quote in a certain language does not mean that is the language the quote was actually spoken in.
Yes, Jesus spoke mostly Aramaic. The Gospel writers later wrote them in Greek for the widest audience.
I will certainly go see this film, and hope all other Christians do as well.
I'm still on the fence, currently leaning towards missing it. (Who knows if it'll even show up in Iowa?) For now, I'm thinking if the Lord wanted us to see all the 'realism' Gibson has been promising, He would have timed everything such that the events would have been at least photographed for posterity.
Instead, I'm satisfied He intended that each one of us meditate on the Scriptural accounts, and see it in our mind's eye under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
Thought there were going to be no subtiles..typo? Either way I will be in line (there will be a line) to see this movie.
So Jesus' words in the original gospels are not direct quotes but translations?
It's impossible for all the translations to be correct, especially if they contradict each other.
That's why Christian ministers go back to the original Greek to understand those translations fully.
That's why so many Christian ministers take Greek [classical and koine] as part of their training. That's also the reason so many Christians, both ministers and laymen, use Greek interlinears, lexicons and dictionaries.
Translations are not 100% accurate representations of the original statements. For instance, I frequently see the common mistake of translation the English word "cult" as "sect" and viceversa.
The English expression: Scientology is a cult, is frequently translation into French as: Scientologie est une sect.
The opposite is also true. The French expression: La religion baptiste est une sect, is often translated as: The Baptist religion is a cult.
I'm sorry if my post gave you the wrong impression.
I'm not carping about the use of Latin. I'm just raising the question of why Greek is being avoided in this movie.
The Bible tells us that the INRI inscription was written in Latin, Aramaic and Greek (St John 19:20) Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Greek was spoken by many members of the crowd, otherwise, why would the occupying power post a sign in Greek or Aramaic instead of solely the official Roman Empire language?
Furthermore, many new Testament writers had humble beginnings such as fishermen; nevertheless, they wrote in Greek their recollections of Jesus deeds and words. Their readership was not the proud and educated, but other humble people like them.
It seems rather obvious that Greek was the lingua franca of the time.
Finally, the Bible also states that the Greeks conquered Palestine after Alexander the Great defeated the Medo-Persians, and that the Greeks imposed their culture upon the Jews in Israel for several centuries. The Bible mentions that the strong Hellenization created a strong resentment among Jews, cultiminating in the Maccabee rebelion after the temple desecration. (I Maccabees 1).
By Jesus time, the Romans were a relatively new occupying power over Palestine, and the Roman language had not taken deep roots in the region. Therefore, Greek was commonly spoken by Jews of all backgrounds, even fisherment and peasants.
My question is: Why is it that no Greek at all is spoken in this film?
If there is an historical reason for it, I'm happy to know.
I was hoping that someone who has read about this film background knew the answer; I'm might be overlooking some historical fact.
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