Rabbi "Buz" Bogage Shares His Thoughts on The Passion of Christ in Colorado Newspaper

March 12, 2004

March 12, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, "represents a very conservative and fundamentalist interpretation that has gone on for time immemorial," writes Lewis E. "Buz" Bogage, University Rabbi and Director of Jewish Life at DePauw University, in today's edition of Colorado's Vail Trail. "This movie becomes a 'passion play' that stands to threaten Christian-Jewish relations, because it is a very narrow and personal view of an historical event which has affected all humankind. Gibson, et al., choose not to deal with the universal influences of the life of Jesus, but with the particulars, which are enshrouded in the mystery of history," Rabbi Bogage writes.

The movie, he fears, may lead to anti-Semitism, "feelings [that] will be expressed once again in a world that needs no additional religious hard feelings. Gibson has done us an expensive and unnecessary disservice in his new interpretation of an ancient and mysterious occurrence. The only virtue and positive influence of this fiasco ... is that hopefully people will talk to each other about this expression of history and we will come to a better understanding as thinking and loving human beings in the true way Jesus wanted it for all humankind. Then everyone will benefit: People will come together to talk about the great teachings of Jesus the person and preserve life for all peoples and Gibson et al. will make back the money they invested in making the film."

You can access the complete essay, and another written by the pastor of a Catholic church, by clicking here.

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