A Passion That Offends (by a pundit-political hack who offends)

WALL STREET JOURNAL COMMENTARY ^ | March 25, 2004 | ALBERT R. HUNT

[OESY]

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Five deeply spiritual, religiously knowledgeable men and women bring different perspectives but all agree that the most popular religious movie in years, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," is too violent, unfaithful to history and incendiary.

[Elsie]

Acts 3
17. "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
18. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.

---

"Go; and SIN no more!"

[ottothedog]

This is just Al Hunt's normal bilge, it is not really WSJ's fault, other than allowing a liberal on their opinion page. I find him absolutely infuriating, but other than Hunt the editorial page of the WSJ is one of the best things going for conservatives. You can thank Bob Bartley for that (although he turned over the editoship to Paul Gigot).

[EternalHope]

Hmm... Al Hunt, famous Dem insider, doesn't like this movie. Imagine that.

[maica]

"...who appears to be a big gay rights supporter."

My first thought when I read his credentials in this op-ed. I thave seen other discussions by panels of 'religious' experts who pan the movie, and they are always wildly left-wing.

I think a litmus test for 'religious' spokesmen in today's world is how far do they support the gay agenda.

There is the faultline, not the difference in Catholic or Protestant perspectives.

[formercalifornian]

You don't expect seminary professors to read the Bible do you? They are too busy reading each other's articles on the priviligizing of marginalized voices in a male-dominated milieu and other such urgent topics. No time for something as archaic and irrelevent as the Bible.

[Sloth]

In one Judas, after betraying Christ, is jesting with some Jewish children

I wonder if these people even SAW the movie. Judas was "jesting" with no one. He was in pain and the children were mocking him.

[Fishface]

This is the problem with Academics...too much time sitting around trying to think of profound things to say to each other.

They end up rationalizing every point of view and by extension excuse the fundamental order of logic and common sense.

[hellinahandcart]

Whenever these reviews trot out the "religious scholars" to tell me why "The Passion" is such a bad movie, I am always reminded of those "400 Constitutional scholars" of impeachment fame, who were unanimous in their support of Clinton.

If I no longer defer to (gasp)*scholars* as automatically smarter than poor only-have-one-degree-and-it's-a-BFA me, you can blame Clinton for that too.

[Sloth]

I'm sorry to anyone that is a "biblical scholar" -- but these two statements conflict. Its by my experience that "biblical scholars" are about the most unreligious and most blasphemous people in our society. Whenever the God-hating media needs an "expert" opinion they find a "biblical scholar" which then proceeds to assault the Bible with their "expert" knowledge.

Such people are 'biblical scholars' to about the same degree that Farrakhan is an 'expert on Judaism.'

[hellinahandcart]

'Cause nobody's listening to them, and they can't believe it.

I think they listened in Germany, the movie's a bomb there so far.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Leonard has put together a bunch of practicing gnostics, wearing the disguise of Christian scholars. OF COURSE they will be offended by this film - - - as gnostics typically are by the notion that their personal guilt before a transcendent God makes them worthy of the punishment messiah received in their place.

For more details of where these scholars come from, see:

The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation by Harold Bloom


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671867377/qid=1080226737/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7997361-5051954?v=glance&s=books

From Publishers Weekly
Without knowing it, American worshipers have moved away from Christianity and now embrace pre-Christian Gnosticism, asserts Bloom ( The Book of J ). In his most controversial book to date, the Yale professor defines "the American Religion" as a Gnostic creed stressing knowledge of an inner self that leads to freedom from nature, time, history and other selves. Every American, he writes, assumes that God loves her or him in a personal, intimate way, and this trait is the bedrock of our national religion, a debased Gnosticism often tinged with selfishness. The core of this odd, ponderous book focuses on Pentecostals, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists and especially Mormons and Southern Baptists--the two denominations Bloom believes will dominate future American religious life. He argues that mainline Protestants, Jews, Roman Catholics and secularists are also much more Gnostic than they realize. He identifies African-American religion, mystical and emotionally immediate, as a key element in the birth of our home-grown Gnosticism around 1800. Bloom is not likely to win many converts to his viewpoint. First serial to Yale Reviewok ; BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Right, but not a new discovery, March 13, 2003
Reviewer: at3p from Charlottesville, VA USA
Bloom's argument, that virtually all Americans, from Southern Baptist to New Ager, are "gnostics," no matter what their denominational label, is right on the mark -- even if the tag "gnostic" offends some. What is his definition of a gnostic? 1) there is no higher religious authority than the private individual 2) every individual has the "soul sufficiency" to reach religious truth by themselves 3) external objective expressions of religion like churches, worship, or creeds are at best unnecessary but mostly a block to true spirituality 4) true religion does not need any external forms 5) so, no one can tell me what to believe, and anyone who does is potential threat to religious freedom. THE PROBLEM with Bloom is that this profound analysis of the essential American religious attitude was already made in the 1840s by the great Calvinist theologian John Williamson Nevin in his books "Anxious Bench" and "Antichrist" (available, published by Wiph and Stock). Both Bloom and Nevin are right, American-style Christianity is not Christian at all because it denies the objective presence of Christ in the World through Church, Sacrament, and Creed. In short, it makes the Incarnation irrelevent. What's left is a subjective worship of the self in place of God. We are all popes (but only for ourselves).

[AnAmericanMother]

I wonder if these people even SAW the movie. Judas was "jesting" with no one. He was in pain and the children were mocking him.

I think it's even more complicated than that. The children discover him leaning against a wall, moaning. The kids are asking him if he's all right - they actually seem sympathetic (if unduly interested in the fact that he's bleeding) until he responds to their inquiries by cursing them and calling them "demons!" Then, lo and behold, they ARE demons.

Probably the demonic aspect was all going on inside Judas's head.

[ottothedog]

I agree totally. Essentially mainline Catholics/Protestants are fighting a secular humanist takeover of Christianity. That is where the hostility to this film comes in. It is a reminder of what Christianity is about, and the secular humanists want to get back to the gay agenda. I don't recall Al Hunt panning "The Last Temptation of Christ"....

[roylene]

Three minutes of scourging - what? The gospels say He was beaten to the point he was unrecognizable as a human. Three minutes - the Roman must have been very good at their jobs.

[maica]

I don't recall Al Hunt panning "The Last Temptation of Christ"....
****

I am not going to take the time to find out, but I would bet that Mr Hunt did write a commentary about that film: --- why Christians should not be so sensitive and 'judgmental' about a work of art.

[kittymyrib]

To paraphrase Jesus a bit, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a university professor of religion to believe in Jesus's atoning death on the cross. The cross is THE sign of love to a sin-enslaved world, and these so-called "religious leaders" reveal their lack of faith.

[ottothedog]

"I'll die on this floor of non-discriminatory admissions," said Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest divinity school, defending the school's admission of a lesbian student in its inaugural class last fall. Leonard's statements came in response to a question asked during a meeting of so-called "mainstream" Baptists April 25 in Atlanta.

Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's annual meeting last fall began a process for ending constitutional ties to Wake Forest over its sale of alcohol on campus and its permission for a same-sex marriage-like ceremony on campus. The university's ties with the CBF, however, are not in jeopardy.

In an interview with Baptist Press May 8, Leonard expounded on his statements, likening the homosexual issue to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

---

During the 60's a lot of homosexuals were allowed into the Catholic priesthood. We have seen the results.

[TaxRelief]

Fred Horton, the archaeologist, says he was "very impressed with the attempts to create a Jerusalem that corresponds" to what probably existed then.

Ever the understating Fred, eh?

[redgolum]

Christianity is pretty much gone there to. I don't think the film will fair to well in Europe, as few really know anything about the subject.

[per loin]

Five deeply spiritual, religiously knowledgeable men and women bring different perspectives but all agree that the most popular religious movie in years, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," is too violent, unfaithful to history and incendiary.

Kinda reminds me of a group of knowledgeable studio execs sitting around dicscussing how Gibson's crazy project on Christ's passion will never get off the ground. The established "experts" are always the last to understand that revolutionary change is taking place.