The Passion of the Christ: A Case Study of Anti-Semitism Propogated by the Media

This week we will be discussing Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and Jewish fears of possible anti-Semitism. For some background information on the film, you con go to its official website http://thepassionofthechrist.com/splash.htm. When you watch the trailers, pay particular attention to how the Jews are portrayed.

The Anti-Defamation League promotes awareness of issues that affect Jews and works to decrease anti-Semitism. It has published many articles regarding The Passion of the Christ indicating just how important this issue is to them. The article “Gibson's 'Passion of Christ' A Potential Setback for Christian-Jewish Relations” discusses the Jewish reaction to the movie, and it can be found at http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/4455_12.htm. Examples of why The Passion of the Christ created such fear among Jews can be found in the article “Extremists Latch on to "The Passion of the Christ" through this link: http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/gibson_extremists.asp.

If you would like more information on passion plays in the past, “Passion Plays in History and Theology” discusses why passion plays in the past have caused problems. This article can be found at http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/passion_theology.asp.