3/05/2004 12:38:00 PM

Good questions from a civic perspective; questions without self-evident answers among religious people. What other questions might be posed?

Gibson's 'Passion' underscores how theologies differ

...In America today discussions regarding the place of religion in the public square most often concentrate on the separation of church and state. But it would also be worthwhile to ask other questions, questions such as how strongly we want to proclaim certain aspects of our theologies.

Would it be wise for Jews to publicly announce with fervor and conviction their belief that Jesus is not the messiah and that they still remain God's chosen people?

Should Christians loudly declare to their non-Christian friends that their souls are in peril if they do not accept Jesus and that they may very well burn in hell?

Should Muslims write articles for the Advance saying that their religious goal is an all-Muslim America?

...In my Temple's religious school we teach our children of the great and lofty teachings of their Pharisaic heritage. We teach about Yosei ben Yochanan who said: "Let your house be open wide, and let the poor be members of your household." (Pirke Avot 1.5)

And we teach about Hillel who said: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing it and loving your fellow creatures" (Pirke Avot 1.12) And we teach about Rabbi Eliezer who said: "Let your neighbor's honor be as dear to you as your own." (Pirke Avot 2.15)

I wanted more than anything to find in Mel Gibson's picture the figure of Jesus as teacher -- not victim. I wanted to hear his lessons of love and peace. It was Mr. Gibson's choice to focus almost entirely on cruelty and violence. That was his right. But Jews and Christians would have drawn closer together and our world would have been made more peaceful had he chosen otherwise.

___________________

Jesus as teacher is very much under emphasized in the Christian experience today and over much of Western Church history. Jesus as victim--whether of God or Satan or the Jews or the Romans--in the theologies of the various Churches and time periods has dominated since the decimation of Jerusalem and the ascendancy of Rome.

Nevertheless, it is true that Jesus was both teacher and victim, among many other things, and one cannot be traded for the other. It is our theological decisions that cast him in a passion play nearly exclusively. It will be our theological considerations that reconsider this state of things.