I came across yet another review of Mel Gibson’s movie, this time from AKM Adam, a clergyman with some nice credentials.

I haven’t had a chance to really dig into this article, but one bit really struck me:

Judaism serves only as a (negative) backdrop for Jesus? suffering ? and when Gibson exaggerates the extraordinary events at Jesus? death by ruining the Temple (instead of simply tearing the veil), it takes no great stretch of the imagination to read the event as the destruction of Judaism.

I wasn’t struck so much by his conclusion about the destruction of Judaism, but I was struck by Gibson’s artistic license in the “destruction” of the Temple. The gospels are pretty clear about what happened when Christ finally died — the temple curtain (sectioning off the Holy of Holies) was torn in two.

Posted on 8 March 2004