Posted on 03/03/2004 12:39:14 PM PST by Salem
Jews and Christians share, as Martin Buber so succinctly put it, "a book and an expectation." The interpretations of the Book and the details of the expectation vary widely, but there is a common source code for both communities. In our generation, many Christians have been rediscovering the Jewish roots of their family tree and finding in that root system a sense of reconnection to the land and people of Israel. This rediscovery effort has caused many, particularly within the Evangelical churches, to take a fresh look at the very Jewish world of Jesus and the early church.
In this flight back through history, some have flown too quickly over the intervening time span between the twentieth century and the first. As we in the Evangelical world search for our Jewish roots in ancient Israel, we should fly low over medieval Europe and consider the cesspool of anti-Semitism, which prevailed in the world of our Christian forebears.
One of the classic vehicles for the transmission of Jew-hatred in the Middle Ages was the Passion Play. Taking the text of the Gospels out of its original Jewish world, where nearly all of Jesus' early disciples were Jewish, and into the milieu of Gentile Europe guaranteed the canard that "the Jews killed Christ" would create within the minds of the local viewers an unsympathetic view of their Jewish neighbors.
Customs of observing Christian feast days by tormenting and terrifying local Jews became common in Europe. Myths about Jews killing Christian children in order to get blood for ritual sacrifices abounded. Enforced ghettoization, occasional burning of towns and synagogues, crusades, inquisitions, expulsions, pogroms, and ultimately the Nazi Holocaust, characterized the Christian relationship with the Jews for centuries in Europe.
Fast-forward to 2003 and enter Mel Gibson and his soon-to-be released movie, "The Passion." A feud is already beginning to brew over this controversial portrayal of the last days in the life of Jesus Christ. Elements of the script have apparently been leaked and a few scholars and film critics have previewed it. Conflicting reports are bouncing around on the internet and in the press. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, both traditional watch-dog agencies in the field of anti-Semitism, are worrying aloud about the impact of the film on the Jewish community.
Christian theologian, Paula Fredriksen, says in an August 4 New Republic article that, "when the film appears with translated subtitles in countries like Poland, Spain, France and Russia, savagery will erupt."
On the other hand, Jewish commentators such as Michael Medved and David Klinghoffer are defending the rights of Christians to tell their own story from their own point of view. Both of these writers are encouraging the Jewish community to, in effect, take a deep breath before over-reacting to the film.
However, knowing the history of two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism, we would like to weigh in with a cautionary note. As we gaze back over 2000 years of church history, we feel ill-equipped to instruct the Jewish community as to what might be their appropriate reaction to perceived signs of ongoing anti-Semitism. In our effort to light a candle rather than curse the darkness, our organization has been in the forefront of the battle to educate the church about its own dreadful history. Christians need to know that, even in America, there are few of our modern Jewish neighbors who have been spared some form of anti-Semitic experience.
As Christians we rejoice when the Gospel story is well told, and while really sound dramatizations of Bible stories are few and far between, we hope that Mel Gibson's new effort will be the faith-building inspiration that its makers apparently intended.
However, we would like to encourage our fellow Christians to take a sober view of Medieval Christian history before getting into a feud that could seriously damage newly developing relationships with our Jewish friends and neighbors. There are reasons why we make our Jewish neighbors nervous. We advise Christians to learn the history before joining the chorus in defense of a new Christian film.
JoAnn Magnuson, Bridges For Peace, U.S. Community Relations Director
Editor’s note: We in “Christians for Israel” share the commitment to combat anti-Semitism in the church and to educate and inform about God’s purposes for Israel. We also agree with the cautionary note expressed by our sister organization about prejudging the film. However, while not “joining the chorus in defense,” we have seen the film at a closed showing and are convinced that it depicts those guilty of Christ’s death as the scriptures do: “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will foreordained should happen” (Acts 4:27-28). We urge all concerned to see the film for themselves when it opens in February, 2004, and draw your own conclusions.
Found this one recently at Christians for Israel and it had not been posted at FR.
If they are Christians offering this service they must be acting as "watchmen" right? Not!
I have 9 and 6 year old boys and I've long wished to read some good Christian reviews to more thoroughly explain why not only Harry Potter but any film with magic or questionable ethics is not good for us, dishonors our Lord, leads to something worse, dilutes our character and weaponry, etc.
This so-called Christian film reviewer gave no such mention against the Disney pro-pedofilia allegations or their long standing pro-queer stance and it's manifestation in the casting of Ellen Degeneres in Nemo, who they simply praised as 'hilarious.'
The reviewer had no questionable ethics to warn of in any movie, not the magic in "lord of the Rings," nothing ungodly in any film to warn or instruct, certainly no exhortations as Christians to employ our best judgement in choosing what we expose our minds or the minds of our children to.
However the reviewer slammed the Passion of the Christ for Mel Gibson's past of making violent movies and several ticky-tack Biblical errors or ad libs.
You couldn't find yourself a recent article?
Funny the movie has now been seen by millions and the only ones afraid are the usual suspects who are afraid that Christians will start rediscovering their Lord and Savior.
It seems Jews had nothing to be afraid of whatsoever. No swastikas, no hate crimes just crickets and a lot of introspection.
This article is sophomoric garbage anyway. Anyone with contextual knowledge of history and the ability to think critically knows that while the church has not always been perfect, the "dreadful history" this author speaks of is nothing but a giant stinking lie that Christ haters and leftists like to throw around as often as they can.
Simpleton uneducated morons believe that nonsense, but some of us actually know how to discern what we read.
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