Hudson Valley Humanists

APassion of the Christ--
Fact of Fiction?

by Ed Poll

Mel Gibson s film The Passion of the Christ presents the tale of the death of Jesus of Nazareth. Is the story fictional or factual? There is no scholarly evidence showing that Jesus existed, no record of birth, life or death. The only sources of the Jesus story are the gospel legends.

A Dateline NBC television special program The Last Days of Jesus aired in February and again in April. It examined Mel Gibson s film The Passion of the Christ, and compared the film s content to the gospel writings, a presumed gauge of authenticity. The program s host, Stone Phillips, interviewed several biblical scholars. All of them worked inside Jewish and Christian traditions. No skeptics allowed!.

Phillips and his guest were careful in their phrasing. Even though they supported the bible story as a whole, the number of caveats prefacing their comments was astonishing. Here are some of them: it s impossible to know there is no evidence for we don t know for sure scholars believe this is guesswork this is inconsistent you have to sort through my guess it s impossible [the timing of Jesus trial] as it s depicted in the gospels no other historical records corroborate the incident at the temple piecing together what Jesus did is impossible when scholars try to use the books historically, problems emerge the scholars guess the only sources are the gospels Judas isn t mentioned outside the Bible some scholars have questioned whether Judas was a real figure or a dramatic fictional device.

Not letting proper academic skepticism stand in the way of their commentary, the guests forged on as if the biblical writings were well-established fact. And by simply prefacing their words with the Gospels say, Stone Philips, and the others, granted themselves the permission to speak in terms of certainty about the biblical legends.

The fact is, however: There are no facts. Virtually all of the comments made were about events that have not historic authenticity.

So, those who want us to believe in the life and divinity of Jesus must employ fiction. A movie like The Passion of the Christ is the ultimate way to make fantasy seem like reality. The projected image looks human, talks, and shows emotion. The audience is asked to watch and believe, even while they know its acting. But does drawing a picture of something make it real?

Supporters claim Mel Gibson s film is true because it follows the gospel legends of the passion. But are the gospels themselves true? Honest scholars tell us that the gospel authors lived well after Jesus death and were not eyewitnesses. Nor were they really apostles as their names suppose. The author called Mark wrote first, working from word of mouth tales. Matthew, Luke and John worked from Mark and other sources. Each writer had a separate agenda and audience. The number of inconsistencies and contradictions between the four gospels is great.

Yet, despite the problems with the gospels, many people take them for absolute truth. Some believers seem to be isolated in a box of their own design. The four walls of that box are the gospels. They cannot see beyond.

A broader view of ancient theology shows that the design of the Christ-character did not originate in the gospels but was borrowed from religions that preceded Christianity. There are several ancient god-characters that were half-human and half-divine, having a divine father and a mortal mother. The story of the wedding at Cana mimics the exploits of the Greek god Bacchus who changed an entire ocean of water into wine. The gods, Mithras (Persian) and Osiris (Egyptian), died and afterward were reborn. In fact, resurrection is a common mythological motif.

A strong clue that links events portrayed in The Passion of the Christ to larger and older mythic themes is the episode of the mocking of Jesus as a king by the Romans. Sacrificial victims were always choice members of society such as young virgins and warriors. The gods didn t want an old hag, someone sick or a worthless person as a gift. The gods demanded quality! Some societies actually killed the king himself. They ritually sacrificed their royal leaders on a regular basis. Other groups took a more sensible approach and substituted a regular Joe dressed in royal garb for the real king. Thus mock kings such as Jesus were one type of sacrificial victim in the ancient world.

These are just a few of many examples of how the biblical writers created their stories from previous legends. Jesus is really a character made of a mix of many Middle-Eastern gods. Perhaps the most important feature of the Christ-character is that it is a ritualistic blood sacrifice to atone for wrongs done to a larger god-character. Mel Gibson s film The Passion of the Christ succeeded in capturing the bloodletting needed to fulfill the sacrifice.

If we can rise above the box with the gospel walls, and look at the whole picture of the ancient world, we will see that the Christ character described in The Passion of the Christ is a hero with deep mythic roots. He is a sacrificial scapegoat that willingly spills his blood and gives his life. Why? To compensate a larger god for favors, or in this case, to atone for a wrong done (original sin).

Without a doubt the images of The Passion of the Christ will strengthen some believers faith. It employs the finest techniques of the modern cinematic craft. But so did the film Superman in which we saw a man fly, and Dracula in which we saw the dead return to life. Like the religious paintings of the medieval and renaissance periods The Passion of the

Christ is a man-made artwork portraying the ever-evolving Christ-character.