Krauthammer: "Gibson's Blood Libel"

Washington Post ^ | Mar. 5, 04 | Charles Krauthammer

[churchillbuff]

Gibson's Blood Libel

By Charles Krauthammer Friday, March 5, 2004; Page A23

Every people has its story. Every people has the right to its story. And every people has a responsibility for its story. ...[snip]

Christians have their story too: the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Why is this story different from other stories? Because it is not a family affair of coreligionists. If it were, few people outside the circle of believers would be concerned about it. This particular story involves other people. With the notable exception of a few Romans, these people are Jews. And in the story, they come off rather badly.

Because of that peculiarity, the crucifixion is not just a story; it is a story with its own story -- a history of centuries of relentless, and at times savage, persecution of Jews in Christian lands. This history is what moved Vatican II, in a noble act of theological reflection, to decree in 1965 that the Passion of Christ should henceforth be understood with great care so as to unteach the lesson that had been taught for almost two millennia: that the Jews were Christ killers.

[PISANO]

What is so difficult to understand?? The WHOLE idea was for CHRIST to DIE for the SINS OF ALL MANKIND (past, present and future) and because it was at the hands of HIS OWN CHOSEN people does NOT MASK the REASON for HIS DEATH and RESURRECTION. CHRIST WAS A JEW and IMHO no matter who directly killed him WE ALL BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY for it is OUR SIN that he died for.

Any Christian, who BLAMES the JEWS for the DEATH of CHRIST, doesn't understand WHY CHRIST was sent on earth in the first place. It amazes me how something so simple is so difficult for people on both sides to accept.

[ought-six]

"Has Chuck not gone on record being in favor of gun control in the past?"

Yes, he has. He has stated on more than one occasion that in his opinion there is no individual right to keep and bear firearms. He is of the "collectivist" bent.

[churchillbuff]

Throwing conservative writers overboard because you disagree with them about a movie is just silly.

Throwing a conervative film-maker overboard - - no, worse, implying that he's a hateful antisemite - - is not silly, it's vile. Krauthammer isn't just writing a "movie review," he's hurling vicious accusations about the character and motives of the filmmaker (and indirectly about the nature of the gospels and Christianity). So it's disengenuous of you to suggest this is merely about a movie review and opinions on the artistic merits of a movie.

[junta]

Well reading this settles the controversey for me. I now hate Jesus and Mel Gibson and instead will come to worship liberalism instead as the savior of mankind.

[Mamzelle]

Hey, NRO has a good one--went over there to see if Kraut got glorified today and found--

http://nationalreview.com/comment/gorin200403050933.asp

Might make it as a separate thread...worth a read

Here's a great line, sums it up:

...It's certainly easier to point the finger at the Christian, if you want to keep that finger.

Ouch.

... One need only look at Elie Wiesel, the picture of timeless Jewish suffering, to understand the farce that is Jewish outrage today. When three genocide bombs went off in a single week in Israel last year, where was Elie? Elie was in Romania, giving a speech to a village to remind them that 60 years ago "Jews were killed here too." Understandably, Wiesel survived a horrific Holocaust experience, but he devotes his energies to past threats, choosing to remain a universally sympathetic figure rather than a useful one.

... Despite building careers on six million dead, the professional defenders have shied away from the harder fights. What I'd call "Shoah business"--

Wow--this article bites. Hey, Gorin should replace the out-of-date Kraut.

[duckln]

I do not hate today's Germans for what those Germans did 63 years ago.

How about today's Germans that, with Clinton, bombed Belgrade for 78 days.

I do not hate the Turks today for what the Ottomans did all those centuries ago.

Face it, Germany and Turkey were instrumental in the bombing of Yugoslavia in the 90's. Today Kosovo has been purged of Serbs, repopulated with Islamists and administrated by a German. I get the feeling, they, to this day, still don't like you.

The 'hierarchy' of Jews did not want Jesus around and today they don't want 'Christianity' around. They, the Krauthammers and Safires are deferring to Foxman. The Medveds are doing their own thinking.

[churchillbuff]

difficult for people on both sides to accept.

BOTH sides? I don't see any Christians who have posted on this thread who don't understand that we're all guilty. Show me a post that says "the Jews" are guilty of Christ's execution. No, the only "side" that refuses to accept that the Jews aren't being held guilty are the anti-christian bigots who are hurling slurs against Mel.

[ultima ratio]

What you've posted is a rabbi's analysis of a line in the New Testament. What you haven't done is prove that the Catholic Church has ever in two thousand years ever held the doctrine of collective guilt. That is a libel. The rabbi who wrote the article you posted is just as bigoted as you are to say so. Yet this is common received opinion among Jews apparently--all of it libelous, all of it fanning the flames of hostility between Christians and Jews. All this film has done is bring Jewish bigotry out into the open. It's been there all along--in Jewish- produced movies, in Jewish-run museum exhibits, in Jewish revisionist historians who slam the Catholic Church in book after book--but most of us never realized it was mainstream Jewish thinking. Now we see it is.

[dennisw]

These discussions have been a real eye-opener - - not just for me, I'm sure. Your FR homepage has a US flag and a lot of statements to imply "we're all in this together" against the Moslems. But now it comes out that you really resent - - may I say despise - - Christianity, the faith of most of the Americans who are fighting Islamic extremists.

Point your finger at me and you have three more fingers pointing back at you. You are reckless and vile with your accusations when it comes to Mel Gibson's PASSION. You are a loose cannon. Over the top self righteous.

[claudiustg]

Here's another Christian take on The Passion:

THERE’S MORE TO THE STORY

Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the
Christ” is a horrific depiction
of the ferocious violence of which
humans are capable.
Reminders of the human capacity
for inhumanity are valuable, because
we humans so often forget how near
we live to the edge of cruelty to one
another. But compared with the
Scriptural account, the movie dwells
disproportionately on the violence
and the inhumane behavior of men
who become accustomed to gross
abuse of fellow humans and on the
horrors of mob psychology.
The Gospels proclaim that Christ’s
passion is not simply an example of
the oft-repeated story of man’s inhumanity
to man. Rather, this is the central
act in God’s remedy for all human
evil and sin. “There is no difference,
for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, and are justified freely
by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus. God presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement,
through faith in his blood”
(Rom. 3:22–25). Therefore, we must
resist the temptation to identify with
the “good people” in the movie (Mary,
the beloved disciple, Simon), and we
dare not divide humanity into evil
people and good people. Christ died
also for Mary, Simon, you and me.
Just as we are to identify ourselves
as sinners, so we are invited also to
identify ourselves with Christ’s own
death. St. Paul teaches us that the
sinful self in each of us is to die with
Christ: “Or don’t you know that all of
us who were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too may live a new life”
(Rom. 6:3–4).
In the Small Catechism, Luther
vividly applies this teaching. He asks,
What does Baptism mean for daily
living? Answer: It signifies that the
old person in us, with all sins and evil
desires, is to be drowned through
daily sorrow for sin and repentance,
and that daily a new person is to
come forth and rise up to live before
God in righteousness and purity forever.
— Dr. James Bachman
Dean, School of Theology
Concordia University
Irvine, Calif.

[1Old Pro]

He openly rejects the Vatican II teaching

Along with millions of others I might add. Also, Krauthammer's argument is weak when he feels it necessary to mention the Devil being in the mivie 4 times when the devil is only mentioned once in the bible. Gibson admits this but says he wants the "vision" of Satan to reflect that evil is around us all the time, not just once. Perfectly acceptable literary license IMHO.

Then to go on to say that the devil walked behind the Jews in one scene to equate Jews with the devil is hillarious. Krauthammer when down 6 notches in my eyes. He doesn't have a leg to stand on with these ridiculous allegations.

[ultima ratio]

Krauthammer attacked both Gibson and Christianity. He made a linkage between Christianity and the Holocaust. That is libelous and bigoted and should be condemned.

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[katana]

Well, the film is in fact "about Jews" but that is like saying High Noon is about 19th century westerners. The lead character, most of the bad guys, and most of the GOOD GUYS in both New Testament scripture (and therfore) The Passion are of course Jews.

I have a lot of respect for Charles Krauthammer but on this one he has completely missed the boat. He and others are completely ignoring what scripture actually says happened (and ignoring what is in plain sight just about defines liberal thought) which is that some Judean religious and political (this is where the Romans come in) authorities sought to eliminate the threat the Jesus of Nazareth posed to their own narrow interests. This also happens to be what is brilliantly portrayed in The Passion. Beyond that, (most) Christans understand that what happened was not only necessary but was prophesied hundreds of years before the fact and that hating the Jews for their part in it is absurd.

If the story as clearly described in the New Testament itself (and that is what we are talking about) is "antisemitic" (in the sense that trash like the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is) then what can one say about Jews like Mary, Peter, all the other disciples, Nicodemus, Joseph of Aramithea, much less Jesus Himself? This kind of reaction from the Jewish community will do a thousand times more harm to relations between Christians and Jews than The Passion ever could.

[MissAmericanPie]

Amen

[dennisw]

What you've posted is a rabbi's analysis of a line in the New Testament. 

That Rabbi is a Christian Jew.

What you haven't done is prove that the Catholic Church has ever in two thousand years ever held the doctrine of collective guilt. 

Then how come Jews were called Christ killers for centuries? Who was promoting this? The butchers and bakers? The cooks and candle stick makers?

That is a libel. The rabbi who wrote the article you posted is just as bigoted as you are to say so.

That Rabbi is a Christian Messianic Jew. Figured I would snag you there. Zola Levitt.

[eddiespaghetti]

It wasn't Washington, or Hamilton, or Madison who came to mind when I read the following from his post:


He's all for christians when they're dying on the battlefields of Iraq.


It was what Buchanan said in August '91 when Bush planned to drive Saddam out of Kuwait (NOT to oust him power, by the way, or re-make Iraq, or anything like that).

[Sabertooth]

I don't consider what Krauthammer wrote "senseless babble." It's his opinion, and the opinion of many other well-meaning people.

Is it true that you haven't seen the film?

If so, how can you formulate an opinion about Krauthammer's opinion of that film?

It's just a movie, GSC. Throwing conservative writers overboard because you disagree with them about a movie is just silly.

Some movies are more than just movies, they are cultural events.

I'm not ready to throw Krauthammer overboard, but this bigoted rant of his will color my view of his columns indefinitely.