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by Danielle Walford on September 10th, 2004

Danielle Walford

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I've heard that the movie "The Passion of the Christ" is based on a play from the middle-ages that was written to promote anti-semitism in Europe. Is this true?

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  • by Too Much Time On My Hands on September 14th, 2004

    Too Much Time On My Hands

    I don't believe that "The Passion of the Christ" is based on anything except Mel Gibson's (controversial) personal interpretation of the New Testament. From the interviews I recall, he seems pretty open about the fact that he's presenting his personal take on the matter.

    Many people who were offended by the movie and considered it anti-Semitic have noted similarities to medieval Passion plays. These plays (it was a long and widespread tradition, not just one play) tended to caricature the Jews and vilify them for being the killers of Christ. Medieval literature tended towards allegory and caricature anyway. They are one example of a long and unfortunate tradition of anti-Semitism in Europe. But the anti-Semitism is a by-product, not the main agenda of the plays. The purpose of Passion plays was to commemorate the most important event in Christian history. Denouncing the Jews became a fairly constant part of the tradition, but it wasn't the main purpose.

    The medieval Passion plays are pretty widely regarded as anti-Semitic. Mel Gibson's movie about the same story has been labeled by many as anti-Semitic. And so people have compared the two things. But the Christian tradition includes many, many tellings of this one story, and I don't think that just because we see similarities means that Mel Gibson actually based his version on the medieval version.

    Comments

    • You perpetuate bigotry and the ignorance which cuts both ways. See my answer and do some research. Even some Jews in 2009 are as bigoted toward Christians as illiterate Baptists and other Evangelicals are toward the Catholic Church and some Islamists are toward everyone

      barjacob

      by barjacob on October 9th, 2009

    • Excellent answer, Too Much Time! I was gonna expostulate on medieval allegory and the mystery/miracle plays but you already did a great job.

      overeducated

      by overeducated on October 21st, 2009

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