Yes, More on Mel's Movie

I had promised myself I was done posting about Mel Gibson's 'The Passion
of the Christ,' but I ran across some good resources in my net travels
that I thought were worth sharing.


The Society for Biblical Literature's Website
currently has a few good articles about 'The Passion,' Jesus movies in
general and Hollywood's relationship with Religious films.

• Biblical Scholarship and the Passion Surrounding The Passion of the Christ by Frances Flannery-Dailey "What is really at issue is not the historicity of Gibson's depiction, but the theological verity some consider it to possess."


• Biblical Allusions, Biblical Illusions: Hollywood Blockbuster and Scripture by Nicola Denzey "Despite
  the claim of the majority of Americans that religion (by which most
  mean Christianity) is important, despite their claims to attend church
  services regularly, knowledge of the Bible is often confined to
  sound-bytes or pseudo-scripture. In this environment, Gibson must see
  The Passion of the Christ as vitally corrective."


• Filming Jesus: Between Authority and Heresy by Paul V. M. Flesher and Robert Torry "Jesus
  films are about the meaning of Jesus, not about the reality of Jesus.
  While the depiction of Scripture, as well as the appeal to history,
  tradition, and theology, help authorize the scenes added into the film,
  it is the additions that impose their meaning upon Scripture and not
  vice-versa."


• History, Hollywood, and the Bible: Some Thoughts on Gibson's Passion by Paula Fredriksen "For
  better and (probably) for worse, Christianity in America is mediated as
  much through popular media as through the traditions and institutions
  of our various churches."


• Judas the Film: Storytellers Then and Now by John Dart "Starkly
  different from Gibson's experiment with Aramaic and Latin dialogue,
  Judas has Jesus conversing in contemporary English."


• The Problem of the Cinematic Jesus by W. Barnes Tatum "In
  academic circles and within the SBL itself, there has been a surge of
  interest in cinema generally and in the Jesus-genre specifically. Not
  only are commercially produced Jesus-films used in classroom settings
  but entire semester courses are dedicated to them."


• Teaching Film and the Bible  by Melody Knowles and Allison Whitney "If
  biblical movies are 'common memories,' then leaving them unexamined
  means that their power can overwhelm and even replace the text itself."


• They also have a listing of Websites Focus on The Passion of the Christ

The  Boston College Center for Jewish-Christian Relations has an excellent study guide called Resources on the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ

Ok, I'm done. I promise to shut up about Mel for a while!


--
Shalom!
John W. Leys