First Presbyterian Church
A Prejudiced Presbyterian Pastor's Response to Mel Gibson's Passion
Sermon for March 7,2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 5: 43-48.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Anthem “Face the Cross”

I saw The Passion of Jesus Christ on Monday night. The message that I got from some moviegoers is that as a Christian, I must see it. It was as deeply moving spiritual experience for them, and would definitely be for me. I knew that it wouldn't be.

I knew a little about the movie before I went in. I knew Mel Gibson was a Catholic, and that Roman Catholics have a tradition of revering the blood of Christ in a way that I find repellent. Does that make Roman Catholics my enemies? I don't think so. It does make me prejudiced.

The movie brought out every prejudice I have against Catholics, and I would just as soon not know I held all these prejudices with such passion. I shared some of my concerns with Father Rob (1), and he was kind and gracious, and explained a few things I didn't understand. His grace did not make holding my prejudices any easier. I thought releasing The Passion of Jesus the Christ on Ash Wednesday was appalling; he thought going to the movie after Mass was the perfect way to begin Lent.

The other pastors in town I talked to loved the movie; they were genuinely surprised I was horrified. I am especially indebted to Monte Loyd, pastor of the Harvest Church , formerly the Assembly of God church, for his kind conversation with me, reminding me that some of what I was complaining about was indeed in the Bible. Roger Scovil, pastor the Baker City Christian Church, heard my discomfort with the movie, and forwarded a review that he knew I would find helpful. Jonathan Privett, from the Nazarene Church , also had a helpful conversation with me, even though I did not recognize who he was when our conversation began.

So it is these men, all from churches who do not ordain woman that I found spiritual support and pastoral help, the day after I saw the movie. These men have prayed for me and my ministry at the Baker Ministerial Association.

I heard a pastor say once, “I can only be responsible for what I say. I cannot be responsible for what you hear.” I really appreciate that. I trust you will also.

So please understand that I am not proud of the prejudices I reveal today. I am not telling you to be this way; I am telling you because it's part of my reaction. Enough people have asked me what I thought that I knew I had to tell you.

I hope that as a result of my sermon, you will understand the movie a little more, and think about your own faith: what is salvation to you and why do you think Christ died. A few of you have told me you saw the movie, and it was great, and moved you. I am glad for you.

I would caution anyone using it as an evangelism tool, because those unfamiliar with the Christian faith will more likely be appalled than uplifted.

I was so grateful for the Lenten Soup Supper, when we sat around the table and talked about Jesus.

Others of you asked me what I thought, and I think behind your question was “What can I say to my friends who think it's great, and I find the idea of it so appalling I can't bring myself to see it?”

Many evangelical Christians feel marginalized, as if the culture doesn't take their faith seriously enough. So they welcome this very seriously Christian film.

When I started this sermon, I was going to explain why so many Catholics like the film. I talked with two Catholic women while I was taking raffle tickets at North Baker. They were very helpful. One of them couldn't bring herself to see it. So here's why I think some Catholics like the film.

Catholic mystics historically have found a lot of mystery, meaning, and spiritual nourishment meditating on Christ's wounds. Here are some examples. This is from the Devotion in Honor of the Five Holy Wounds :

“ As I kneel before Thee on the Cross, most loving Savior of my soul, my conscience tells me it is I who have nailed Thee to that Cross with these hands of mine

Holy Wound of the Left Foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee! I thank Thee for the love whereby Thou didst bleed amid the thorns and brambles of my sins. Holy Wound of the Right Foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee!   I thank Thee for the love which pierced Thee with such torture and shedding of blood in order to punish my wanderings and the guilty pleasures I have granted to my passions. Holy Wound of the Left Hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee!   I thank Thee for having, in Thy love, spared me the scourges and eternal damnation which my sins have merited.   Holy Wound of the Right Hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee! Holy Wound in the Side of my Jesus, I adore Thee!” (2)  

Mystic Saint Bernard of Clairvaux records an answer the Lord gave her: "I had on My Shoulder while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grevious (sic) Wound which was more painful than the others…Honor this Wound with thy devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou does ask….   to all those who shall venerate this wound, I will [forgive] (3) them all their venial sins, and will no longer remember their mortal sins. " (4)

Here are some statements Jesus is said to have made to Sr. Mary Martha Chambon about this devotion: "Come to My Wounds with hearts burning with love, …that you may obtain the graces you desire... At each word … I will let a drop of My Blood fall upon the soul of a sinner." (5)

Here is a line from a prayer in a similar vein. “May the sight of your Wounds, O amiable Jesus, rekindle a simple feeling of compassion in the most hardened hearts.” (6) I can understand that last one.

Here is an excerpt from the “Promises of Our Lord for those who are Devoted to His Wounds.”

“I will grant all that is asked of Me through the invocation of My Holy Wounds.  You will obtain everything, because it is through the merit of My Blood, My Wounds will repair yours. My Wounds will cover all your faults. Plunge your actions into My Wounds and they will be of value. All your actions, even the least, soaked in My Blood, will acquire by this alone an infinite merit…When you have some trouble, something to suffer, quickly place it in My Wounds, and the pain will be alleviated.” (7)

It is within that mystical tradition that an eighteenth century nun saw her visions. Anne Catherine Emmerich reportedly could understand liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass. During the last 12 years of her life, she could eat no food except Holy Communion, nor take any drink except water, subsisting entirely on the Holy Eucharist. Here are some of her revelations from God.

"The Church is the only one, the Roman Catholic! All over the world I saw numberless infusions of the Spirit; sometimes, like a lightning-stroke (8), falling on a congregation in church, and I could tell who among them had received the grace…I can never grieve for a person who dies resignedly, nor for a child suffering patiently; for patient suffering is the most enviable state of man."

"Owing to the spirit of the world and tepidity, if the Savior returned to earth today to announce His doctrine in person, He would find as many opponents as He did among the Jews."

I quote from Emmerich because she wrote a book called The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mel Gibson read this book at a low time in his life, and he found great spiritual comfort in it. He based his movie on this book as well as the gospels. Emmerich had the vision of Pilate's wife bringing clean fabric to Mary, and Mary and Mary Magdalene used it to wipe's Christ blood, a scene that confused many who saw the movie and wondered where that was in the Bible.

Mel Gibson also drew from the Catholic tradition the Stations of the Cross. The Stations are pictures or sculptures of Christ's route to Golgotha , the place of the Crucifixion, called in Latin the Via Dolorosa or the ‘Way of Sorrow.' Praying the stations helps believers obey Christ's injunction to take up our cross and follow Him. In addition to forgiveness, the person praying will have abundant spiritual graces. There are fourteen stations:

1. Christ is condemned to death
2. the cross is laid upon him
3. His first fall
4. He meets His Blessed Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross
6. Christ's face is wiped by Veronica
7. His second fall
8. He meets the women of Jerusalem
9. His third fall
10. He is stripped of His garments
11. His crucifixion
12. His death on the cross
13. His body is taken down from the cross
14. He is laid in the tomb.

Each station has prayers or songs. Here are some excerpts, translated from Latin into English. O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you. Holy Mother, grant this of yours, that the wounds of the Crucified be well-formed in my heart. Grant that the punishment of your wounded Son, so worthily suffered for me,  may be shared with me. Grant that I may bear the death of Christ, grant me the fate of his passion and the remembrance of his wounds. Let me be wounded with distress, inebriated in this way by the cross and the blood of your Son. Let me be guarded by the cross, fortified by the death of Christ, and cherished by grace.” (9)

The stations are devotions on scripture, but some of the events are not in the Bible. He doesn't fall, meet his mother, meet Veronica, or the women of Jerusalem . I find doing the Stations of the Cross with any sort of reverence impossible; the reformer in me finds it all ludicrous. It's not easy for me to respect people who do, but I do, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

A Presbyterian Colleague of mine saw the movie a week before I did. She was horrified. She wrote , “ During the endless beatings which in the movie start in the garden and continue until the cross is flipped on its face (more Hollywood) I used the time to pray for those in our world today who face torture daily. I hope instead of being spectators of horrific violence, we become active in bringing about the redemptive purposes of God, part of which is ending violence in our times.” (10)

I am persuaded that Christ's death on the cross was the result of human evil, of the belief in the false god of redemptive violence. I do not believe in the myth of redemptive violence. I do not believe salvation lies in violence. Mel Gibson does; his movies are about heroes acting violently to save some people while killing others. I believe God can redeem suffering. I believe God has the power of life over death.

I know Mel Gibson sees the world in a huge struggle of good against evil. I believe the evil we struggle against is violence. I believe Christ resisted evil non-violently. I believe he showed us peace is possible, and, is indeed the only godly way.

But violence is satisfying only in the short term. Winning a war makes you feel victorious and righteous, especially if you are on the side that wins but not on the actual battlefield.

Gibson knows that evil disguises itself as beauty; it's very tempting. And so he chose a beautiful woman, Rosalinda Celentano to be Satan. She confronts him in the Garden of Gethsemane , and wanders behind the priests as Jesus is scourged. I agree that evil is tempting, but to show Satan present during the Passion is artistic interpretation.

I expect artistic interpretaion in movies, but I am very annoyed when the movie is billed as “A true account of the last 12 hours leading up to Jesus' Christ's crucifixion, directed by Mel Gibson.” Mel Gibson's meticulous attention to detail of costume and sets makes it seem authentic, as does his repeated concern for telling the truth.

Last Friday, I was relieved to see it billed as “Jesus Christ's crucifixion, directed by Mel Gibson.” I thought, Ahh, someone gets it that its just Mel's interpretation. But no, I found out from a theater employee they had to make that line smaller because they needed the space to list extra show times for new movies.

In the forward to The Passion, Mel writes that the “film is not meant as a historical documentary…I think of it as contemplative in the sense that one is compelled to remember… in a spiritual way, which cannot be articulated, only experienced.”

Blood and torture does not inspire my contemplation.

So much of the movie is based on medieval theology, and that is what the reformers acted against in the sixteenth century. So it is no wonder that I, as a Presbyterian, heir to their theology, have a great deal of trouble with a movie based on medieval Catholic theology. Protestants have empty crosses in their churches, while Roman Catholics have a crucifix, with a suffering crucified Christ on the cross.

Mel Gibson belongs to a Catholic church that does not adhere to the reforms of Vatican II. (11) Those reforms included holding Mass in the language of the worshippers, rather than always in Latin. Also, the church officially no longer condemned all Jews for killing Christ. Mel's church is not officially recognized by the Holy See. The visions of the nun Anne Katherine Emmerich are not officially approved of by the Holy See either.

One of the best parts of the movie is when Christ is on the cross, and we see a flashback to when Jesus quotes the scriptures Kay read. “Forgive your enemies.” I was disturbed to learn Mel put that in as a way of reminding himself to forgive his enemies who thought the film was anti-Semitic. He was surprised at their vehemence. He didn't really think about it.

Gibson was asked whether his account might particularly upset Jews. '”It may…it's not meant to. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible. But when you look at the reasons why Christ came, why he was crucified -- he died for all mankind and he suffered for all mankind. So that, really, anyone who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability.'' (12)

It's fine to say we're all guilty, we're all sinners. But when particular sinners are singled out and expelled, forcibly converted, vilified, and massacred, as the Jews were, a little more care is called for.

I am pretty sure Mel did not know that Christians throughout the ages, Catholics and Protestants, have used the stories of the Passion to justify killing Jews, calling them Christ-killers.

I'm pretty sure he didn't know laws from thirteenth century Portugal said “in the minds of men … [Jews] were descended from those who crucified Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have heard it said that … Jews … still celebrate Good Friday … by … stealing [Christian] children and fastening them to crosses, and making images of wax and crucifying them, when they cannot obtain children; we order that, … if in any …thing like this is done, … all persons who were present when the act was committed shall be seized, arrested and brought before the king; and after the king ascertains that they are guilty, he shall cause them to be put to death in a disgraceful manner.

We also forbid any Jew to dare to leave his house or his quarter on Good Friday, but they must all remain shut up until Saturday morning; and if they violate this regulation, we decree that they shall not be entitled to reparation for any injury or dishonor inflicted upon them by Christians. Where a Christian is so unfortunate as to become a Jew, we order that he shall be put to death just as if he had become a heretic. (13)

Many crimes … occur between Christians …because they live together in cities, and dress alike; …so we order that all Jews, male and female, … shall bear some distinguishing mark upon their heads so that people may plainly recognize a Jew. (14)

And I would like to blame the Catholic Church, but three hundred years later, the reformers were just as bad. Luther wrote “Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self-glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously …. First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians. (15)

And I'm sure Mel didn't know of Good Friday liturgies where people prayed
A destructive band of God-forsaken, wicked murderers of God,
the synagogue attacked You, O Christ, and dragged You away as an evil-doer --
Impious men, ignorant of the law and hearing the voice of the prophets to no avail,
dragged You away as a sheep to be unjustly slaughtered –
the Master of all, whom we magnify.
The priests and scribes caused the life that had been betrayed to the gentiles
to be destroyed, striking in their jealous wickedness Him who by nature
is the Giver of life, whom we magnify.
Like a pack of dogs they surrounded You, O King,
smiting You on the cheek with their hands.

One of the reasons anti-Semitism wasn't Mel Gibson's issue is his father, Hutton Gibson said this in a radio interview last month: “They claimed that there were 6.2 million in Poland before the war and after the war there were 200,000; therefore he (Hitler) must have killed six million of them. They simply got up and left! They were all over the Bronx and Brooklyn and Sydney and Los Angeles . They have to go where there is money. There is no way they would come to West Virginia . They have to have some place to go that has money. They didn't work in the mines, you can bet your boots.…..They're great pencil pushers, they are the superior people and therefore they are entitled to the top jobs, supervisory stuff and so on, because they hire each other. They have so much influence in the banks for instance. They all look out for one another you got to give them that.”

Is the Jew still actively anti-Christian? - He is, for by being a Jew, he is anti everyone else. (16)

Abraham Foxman, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League said .
"On the one hand, he's [Hutton Gibson] a classical anti-Semite who is full of conspiracy theories and hate and perversion.” But Foxman said it would be unfair to ascribe Hutton Gibson's views to his son. "There are examples of parents who are bigots and children who are not, and vice versa." “I've been saying all along that I don't believe [Mel Gibson]'s an anti-Semite. "I think he just doesn't get it. And this gives a partial explanation of why. If he was raised hearing all these things about Jews, it would be difficult for him to comprehend that which hurts us and pains us." (17)

I was please to see a theologian listed in the credits. I wish Mel Gibson had used him to do more than just the translating.

Gibson is widely known in traditionalist circles, and he has made no secret of his religious affiliation. ''I go to an all-pre-Vatican II Latin Mass,'' he told USA Today in an interview two years ago. ''There was a lot of talk, particularly in the 60's, of 'Wow, we've got to change with the times.' But the Creator instituted something very specific, and we can't just go change it.” (18) I found it very ironic that Mel Gibson thinks worshiping in English is changing what God instituted, but feels so free to change the story of Christ's passion and call it truth.

The founder of more than 30 Latin Mass churches and one of the most influential traditionalists in the country, Bishop Daniel Dolan said of Mel Gibson ''To put the weight of his Hollywood celebrity behind the truth that the whole modern church structure is rotten to the core is excellent. I welcome it.'' (19) I don't think that is the truth Mel Gibson tried to convey.

Prejudice is bad. I am not at all proud of mine. Christians and Jews, Catholics and Protestants have been fighting one another for centuries.

What did I like about the film? Roger Ebert said “Anyone raised as a Catholic will be familiar with the stops along the way; the screenplay is inspired not so much by the Gospels as by the 14 Stations of the Cross. As an altar boy, serving during the Stations on Friday nights in Lent, I was encouraged to meditate on Christ's suffering, and I remember the chants as the priest led the way from one station to another: For we altar boys, this was not necessarily a deep spiritual experience. Christ suffered, Christ died, Christ rose again, we were redeemed, and let's hope we can get home in time to watch the Illinois basketball game on TV.

If it does nothing else, Gibson's film will break the tradition of turning Jesus and his disciples into neat, clean, well-barbered middle-class businessmen. They were poor men in a poor land. I debated Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" with commentator Michael Medved before an audience from a Christian college, and was told by an audience member that the characters were filthy and needed haircuts.” (20) I appreciated that the costumes and sets of this film were realistic.

I talked with my friend Gary, who used to do sound for movies. He said film is a visceral medium. And so it's much easier to do violence well in film than dialogue. We all know what it's like to talk to people. But we all haven't seen a whipping and a scourging. He also said that sounds are much scarier than sights. Hearing a sound without seeing where it's coming from is what makes movies scary. A long time ago Gary told me that when I find a movie too scary, I should plug my ears, not close my eyes. I did a lot of ear-plugging at The Passion . I also did a lot of looking down.

You can be a good Christian and appreciate the movie, and you can be a good Christian and not appreciate the movie.

Jesuit Father William J. Fulco (21) translated the script into Aramaic and Latin. About Gibson's preference for ultra-conservative Catholicism, he says: "The church is a large tree in which many colourful birds make their nest." (22) On my best days I can believe it. Thank you.

Gibson shows Jesus being tempted by a pale, hooded female figure, who whispers to him just such words, suggesting that bearing the sins of the world is too much for Jesus, that he should turn back. And from under the tempter's robe there slithers a snake. In a moment of metaphorical violence drawn straight from Genesis 3:15 , Jesus crushes the serpent's head beneath his sandaled heel.

At the January pastors' screening at Willow Creek in Illinois , Gibson explained why he used this veiled female figure to portray evil. Evil "takes on the form of beauty," Gibson said. "It is almost beautiful. It is the great aper of God. But the mask is askew; there is always something wrong. Evil masquerades, but if your antennae are up, you'll detect it."

At the Willow Creek event, Hybels asked Gibson why so many religious films are, by comparison, not very good. "I didn't try to make a religious film," Gibson said by way of response. "I tried to make something that was real to me."

And that's why it's powerful. It's true to his vision. And his vision was very focused. He wasn't thinking about anyone else. I wish he would have.

The art of the early Middle Ages, still heavily influenced by ancient Christian theology, tended to depict Jesus on the cross with open eyes and no trace of suffering, reflecting the theological emphasis on the Resurrection, and hence, Jesus' immunity to suffering and death. By the 13 th century, with the increasing theological importance of the Incarnation and the humanity of Jesus, the crucifix, now showing Jesus' body twisted and bleeding on the cross, became established as the altar centerpiece in most churches and cathedrals, and as the favored object of contemplation of the mystics. The medieval Catholic Church, now separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church (1054 B.C.E.), placed suffering at the center of its doctrine of salvation, such that through the imitation of the suffering of Jesus, who is both human and divine, human beings could "crucify" their human nature and become divine, immortal, and perfect—to the degree that humans are able. The crucifix served as a complex symbol of Christ's sacrifice for humanity, the fullness of his human nature, the depth of tragedy that is overcome by the Resurrection, and as a kind of model for imitation.

The Renaissance painters and sculptors of the 15 th century, in accordance with the prevailing spirit of the era, transform the image of Jesus yet again. As with medieval representation, Christ's arms are outstretched, his head bowed, his eyes closed, but his body is no longer wracked with pain. Instead, he is modeled on the Greek ideal of taut, sensuous muscularity, displaying serenity and repose rather than agony. The optimism of the Renaissance regarding human nature and the body stands in stark contrast with medieval views. In the imagination of the humanists, Jesus' figure on the cross represents the earthly perfection of the new Adam, his body made beautiful through measure and proportion.

With the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century, the crucifix, and, in the case of Calvin, the form of the cross as well, was banned in all newly formed Protestant churches as idolatry and "popishness." While the cross has reappeared in Protestant churches in the last centuries, the crucifix is almost exclusively associated with Catholic Christianity.

Religious Significance and Comparisons

The Crucifix is an image of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross, represented in painting, sculpture, metalwork, woodcarving, and other material art forms. While the form of the cross boasts a rich symbolic tradition in the ancient world (i.e., the ankh of Egypt , the swastika of India , and the Tau cross of the Greeks), the crucifix, as distinct from the cross, is unique to Christianity. As presented in the four gospels, the crucifixion of Jesus is the culminating drama of his Passion, the moment that, following his arrest, trial, and scourging, the Redeemer is killed by Pontius Pilate in the form of execution reserved for religious and political agitators and for slaves. The resolution of this tragic scenario is the Resurrection, where, according to the gospels, Jesus, still bearing the marks of crucifixion in his hands and feet, rises from the dead on the third day, thereby conquering death. (23)

(1) Priest at St. Frances de Sales Cathedral, Baker City .

(2) home.nyc.rr.com/mysticalrose/wounds.html , quoting from “Prayer to the Five Wounds," The Little Treasury of Leaflets, vol.IV (Dublin: Gill, 1914) 893-894.

(3) remit to, original words

(4) home.nyc.rr.com/mysticalrose/wounds.html , quoting from Pieta Prayer Book (Hickory Corners, MI:MLOR Corporation, 1995) 45-46.

(5) home.nyc.rr.com/mysticalrose/wounds.html , "Invocations in honor of the Holy Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ"; tract by the Marist Missionary Sisters League of Prayer. ( Nihil obstat: John A. Schulien, Censor Librorum; Milwaukee , WI , 2 May 1956 . Imprimatur: +Albertus G. Meyer, Archbishop of Milwaukee , 1 May 1956 .)

(6) http://www.holywoundsapostolate.com/html/hw_devotion.htm , quoting “My Week in Holy Wounds of Jesus with Mary,” by Marcel Gagne, FEC, Thursday prayer

(7) http://home.nyc.rr.com/mysticalrose/wounds.html , ( Nihil obstat: Rev. Terry Tekippe, Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: + Most Rev. Francis B. Shulte, Archbishop of New Orleans , 29 December 1989 .)

(8) I think Gibson appreciated this line especially because the actor playing Jesus, James Caviezel, was struck by lightning during one of the crucifixion scenes.

(9) Catholic Encyclopedia at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm

(10) Stampfli, Tammy, e-mail, 2-25-04

(11) Vatican II was the Roman Catholic council that met in 1963-65, producing documents on spiritual renewal, human rights, and liturgical reform.

(12) Noxon, Christopher, “Is the Pope Catholic ….Enough?” March 9, 2003

(13) the rest of the line is: “and we decree that his property shall be disposed of in the same way that we stated should be done with that of heretics.”

(14) This is an attempt to put into effect the 'Jew-Badge' law of Pope Innocent III, 1215. Medieval Sourcebook: Las Siete Partidas: Laws on Jews, 1265
http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/jews-sietepart.html

(15) Luther, Martin, “The Jews and Their Lies,” excerpted http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/luther-jews.html

(16) “The Gibson Family: Offspring of Hate?” “Speak Your Piece!” WSNR-620 AM, interview with Steve Feuerstein and Hutton Gibson. Transcript of interview at http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-interview0220,0,934833.story?coll=ny-entertainment-headlines

(17) Eisenberg, Carol. “Hutton Gibson's Passion,” February 20, 2004 . Newsday.

(18) Noxon, Christopher, “Is the Pope Catholic…Enough?” March 9, 2003 .

(19) Noxon, Christopher, “Is the Pope Catholic…Enough?” March 9, 2003 .

(20) Ebert, Roger, “Review, the Passion of the Christ,” Feb. 24, 2004 , Chicago Sun-Times.

(21) , National Endowment for the Humanities professor of ancient Mediterranean studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles

(22) Levine, Bettijane, “Critics Jittery over Mel's Passion, LA Times, March 10, 2003 .

(23) www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/symbols/crucifix.html