Presbyterian and Ecumenical Resources on The Passion of Christ

NRSV Bible (1) The ecumenical NRSV Bible has received the widest acclaim and broadest support from academics and church leaders, including the endorsement of thirty-three Protestant churches, the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic bishops in the USA and the blessing of a leader of the Greek Orthodox Church. More Background on The NRSV Bible. The Message (2) by Eugene Peterson is a popular, contemporary version of the Bible. More Background on The Message

Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” Movie

The Passion of The Christ official site for the film directed by Mel Gibson 'Passion' may be savior for Pitman theater February 21st’s Gloucester County Times “Less than a month after restoring the phone lines at the bankrupt Broadway Theatre, owner Dan Munyon plans to premiere the controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" on Wednesday.”

The Passion of the Christ: A Guide for Presbyterian Viewers (from Presbyterians Today magazine’s web site): Introduction, Is the film anti-Semitic?, Too much graphic violence?, Filling in the gaps, Positive contributions, Questions for reflection/discussion, Suggestions for discussion leaders, Other recommended "Jesus" films, Actor James Caviezel, About the author This excellent resource was prepared by Edward McNulty, a Presbyterian minister, is editor of Visual Parables, a journal of film and theology (www.visualparables.net). 'Passion' is a missed opportunity: Movie review by Ron Salfen in The Presbyterian Outlook magazine: "The Passion of The Christ" is a sobering Lenten devotional, and appropriately released at the beginning of Lent. But the resurrection is rendered only as a fleeting suggestion. It's as if you were to introduce someone to Christianity by attending a Good Friday service. Reveling in the sorrow, without the peace and love and joy and hope, makes for a grim-faced faith, indeed.”

“The Passion of Christ”: What's Not in the Bible? “Because scripture is silent on certain details,Mel Gibson drew from extrabiblical sources to craft his 'Passion” by the Beliefnet Staff. Scene-by-Scene 'Passion' Reference Guide by Darrell Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Scholarly Smackdown: 'The Passion' by John Dominic Crossan and Ben Witherington III. A liberal professor and a conservative professor debate Mel Gibson's movie, the Bible, theology and more.

The Death of Jesus and Anti-Semitism: Seeking Interfaith Understanding by Raymond E. Brown: Holy Week has inspired many artists, musicians, poets and mystics. Ironically, however, such dramatic power makes sensitive Christians uneasy about anti-Jewish elements in the passion narratives. How can they be proclaimed without adding to the tragic history of their misuse against the Jewish people? The late Raymond E. Brown was the Auburn Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies (Union theological Seminary, NYC) and a member of the Roman Pontifical Biblical Commission. Brown lectured at many Presbyterian seminaries, including presenting the Sprunt Lectures at Union/VA Seminary that were later punished as The Churches the Apostles Left Behind. Brown's 2-volume Death of the Messiah is the recognized classic work on the subject. The National Council of Churches has a bulletin insert (or handout) about Mel Gibson’s movie that addresses concerns about the role of Jews and others in Jesus’ death. The Passion: Christians and Jews by Father John T. Pawlikowski is Professor of Ethics and Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union and Rabbi David Sandmel is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union write about their interfaith concerns about the movie. Gibson's The Passion: A plea to Christians to Respond with a Gospel of Love and Hope in place of this new fundamentalism by Rabbi Michael Lerner. A Theological Understanding of the Relationship Between Christians and Jews is a helpful study by the PCUSA General Assembly.

“Not My Passion” is a brief essay by Martin Marty, long-time church historian at the University of Chicago, who raised half a dozen issues about the movie (like “I don't take to depictions of gratuitous violence. It puzzles me that conservative Catholics and Evangelicals who oppose violence in films find it fine if Jesus is in one…If you get your kicks from the sight of blood and gore, this is a way to get them "sacredly."). An Obscene Portrayal of Christ's Passion, by James Carroll, is concerned with movie’s misrepresentation of Jews and Romans as well as its graphic violence. Do You Recognize This Jesus? by Kenneth Woodward observes in The New York Times that “the evangelical Christians who will flock to "The Passion of the Christ" are in for a shocking refresher in the forgotten basics of Christianity….More than 60 years ago, H. Richard Neibuhr summarized the creed of an easygoing American Christianity that has in our time triumphantly come to pass: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment though the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Despite its muscular excess, Mr. Gibson's symbol-laden film is a welcome repudiation of all that.” Movie Misgivings, the title of this week’s religion column in The New York Times had a good insight: “The Gospels do not dwell on the details of Jesus' suffering; nor did the first centuries or even the later mainstream of Christian art. There was usually a careful balance between Christ suffering and Christ reigning, between the sacrificial victim and the triumphant ruler. In Christian doctrine, after all, Jesus was redeemer because he was God's beloved son and not because of an extraordinary capacity to absorb pain. The question is whether a depiction like Mr. Gibson's successfully points to these truths of Christian faith, or obscures them. Pain, personal or empathetic, notoriously blocks thought and concentrates the mind rather than expanding it. That Mr. Gibson's company is called Icon Productions is ironic, since the icons of Eastern Christianity have hewed to stylized, symbol-laden and restrained forms that work to lead the worshiper from the seen to the unseen.”

Christianity Today, a conservative Christian magazine, has a special section of many positive articles about the movie. The New York Times has a special section of articles on the movie.

Hymns about the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded Were You There? Go to Dark Gethsemane

Throned Upon the Awful Tree O Lamb of God Most Holy! When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

In the Cross of Christ I Glory What Wondrous Love Is This I Danced in the Morning

Jesus, Remember Me (Taize) I Believe (Paraphrase of The Apostles’ Creed)

Theological Perspectives on the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ

The Confession of 1967 (Inclusive Language Text) of the Presbyterian Church (USA):

In Jesus of Nazareth true humanity was realized once for all. Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, lived among his own people and shared their needs, temptations, joys, and sorrows. He expressed the love of God in word and deed and became a brother to all kinds of sinful men and women. But his complete obedience led him into conflict with his people. His life and teaching judged their goodness, religious aspirations, and national hopes. Many rejected him and demanded his death. In giving himself freely for them he took upon himself the judgment under which everyone stands convicted. God raised him from the dead, vindicating him as Messiah and Lord. The victim of sin became victor, and won the victory over sin and death for all.

God's reconciling act in Jesus Christ is a mystery which the Scriptures describe in various ways. It is called the sacrifice of a lamb, a shepherd's life given for his sheep, atonement by a priest; again it is ransom of a slave, payment of a debt, vicarious satisfaction of a legal penalty, and victory over the powers of evil. These are expressions of a truth which remains beyond the reach of all theory in the depths of God's love for humankind. They reveal the gravity, cost, and sure achievement of God's reconciling work.

The Apostles’ Creed explained by the Study Catechism of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Question 42. What do you affirm when you say that he "suffered under Pontius Pilate"?

First, that our Lord was humiliated, rejected and abused by the temporal authorities of his day, both religious and political. Christ thus aligned himself with all human beings who are oppressed, tortured, or otherwise shamefully treated by those with worldly power. Second, and even more importantly, that our Lord, though innocent, submitted himself to condemnation by an earthly judge so that through him we ourselves, though guilty, might be acquitted before our heavenly Judge.

Question 43. What do you affirm when you say that he was "crucified, dead and buried"?

That when our Lord passed through the door of real human death, he showed us that there is no sorrow he has not known, no grief he has not borne, and no price he was unwilling to pay in order to reconcile us to God.

Question 44. What do you affirm when you say that he "descended into hell"?

That our Lord took upon himself the full consequences of our sinfulness, even the agony of abandonment by God, in order that we might be spared.

Question 45. Why did Jesus have to suffer as he did?

Because grace is more abundant -- and sin more serious -- than we suppose. However cruelly we may treat one another, all sin is primarily against God. God condemns sin, yet never judges apart from grace. In giving Jesus Christ to die for us, God took the burden of our sin into God's own self to remove it once and for all. The cross in all its severity reveals an abyss of sin swallowed up by the suffering of divine love.

Question 46. What do you affirm when you say that "on the third day he rose again from the dead"?

That our Lord could not be held by the power of death. Having died on the cross, he appeared to his followers, triumphant from the grave, in a new, exalted kind of life. In showing them his hands and his feet, the one who was crucified revealed himself to them as the Lord and Savior of the world.

What Presbyterians Believe: The Atonement by Isabel Rogers, Moderator of the 1987 PCUSA General Assembly and Professor of Applied Christianity at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA.

Were You There? by Shirley C. Guthrie

The cross convicts us of our sinfulness. “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Yes, we were there. What they did then, we still do. The cross of two thousand years ago exposes the kind of people we are.

We were there with Judas who sold out, probably because Jesus refused to serve Judas’s military and political goals for his nation. If it comes to a choice between the justice of the kingdom of God for all people and the self-interest of our own people, it is clear which we must choose.

We were there with the disciples who deserted him and fled when they discovered that loyalty to him meant being rejected by both the political and religious authorities, thrown in jail, and perhaps killed. Why be a Christian if it does not pay off? Who wants to follow a loser—especially one who gets us into trouble with the authorities?

We were there with the pious leaders of the religious establishment who were out to get him because he did not act as they thought one sent from God ought to act. He criticized good law-abiding people and made friends with guilty sinful people. He thought human beings were more important than moral and religious rules and conventions. Who can tolerate such a threat to the moral and religious foundations of our society?

We were there with Peter when he denied him. When it is safe and words are cheap, we too confess, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” But when we are among outsiders, we too are afraid to be different. It is better to be silent, and if necessary deny him, than to get into trouble by having convictions and attitudes that only make people mad and then turn against you.

We were there with Pilate when he made the decision to let the mob have Jesus, although he knew the defendant was innocent. It is better to sacrifice Jesus than to go against the will of the majority of the people. What can you do when the choice is between justice that threatens and injustice that preserves your own comfort, power, and wealth?

We were there with the soldiers who played games while he died. While many of us enjoy all the pleasures of American affluence, within a few blocks of where we live (not to mention across the world) children go to bed hungry at night, “Strangers” are excluded not only from the benefits of our civil society but also from our churches, sick people are untended, lonely elderly people are forgotten or ignored, prisoners sit alone in darkness. According to Jesus himself, when they suffer he suffers too. What we do or leave undone with them, we do or leave undone with him.

We were there. The cross of Jesus exposes not just “their” sin back then and there but our sin here and now. When we read about them, we read about ourselves. Those of us who are willing to let ourselves be told this will not even think of going on with defensive questions and arguments about whether we are as bad as some other people or so bad that the atoning death of Christ was really necessary. We can only ask how we can be changed from the kind of people we are to become new and different people. Is it possible that only the death of what we are can make a new life possible?”

Copied from Christian Doctrine by Shirley C. Guthrie, rev. ed., Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994, pages 262-263.

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Parenting Resources for Parents and Churches: http://www.activeparenting.com/FaithResources.htm

New Hymns for Today’s Worship: http://www.firstpresby.org/hymnlist.htm

Join us for the Lenten Season at First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ

We begin the Lenten season, a time of remembering the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the Ash Wednesday worship service on February 25th at 7:30 PM. A new daily Lenten Devotional by Henri Nouwen, the gifted writer on spirituality, is available. Our church will have a prayer labyrinth for the First Weekend in Lent (February 28-29, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM) for the public to do “walking prayers.” Our Sunday worship services are at 8:45 AM (including weekly communion) and 11:00 AM (including weekly special choral music). On February 29th, our church will have a Dixeland Jazz Vespers Service at 5:00 PM. Our church will offer an intergenerational Lenten Supper and Study on Tuesdays, starting March 2nd. A special Bible Study on Jesus’ Passion will be offered for five Sunday mornings, 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM, starting on March 7th. Church members and friends are invited to support the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to help the hungry, poor and refugees in the USA and overseas. Additional information about our Lenten times of worship, study and service can be found at http://firstpresby.org/Lent.htm

This web page was prepared by Bruce P. Gillette, Co-Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ.

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