Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ Seen Through Jewish Eyes

Abstract

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has stirred up long simmering tensions between Christian, and Jews. This article, by someone of the Jewish faith who has for many years worked at a Presbyterian seminary, discusses Gibson’s morbid—almost pornographic—fascination with violence, Gibson’s theology of sin and atonement, and the dangers of Gibson’s disparaging and inflammatory portrayal of Jews through the use of despicable stereotypes. Gibson’s violence drenched Christianity is contrasted with a more tolerant Christianity rooted in love and justice.