Mel Gibson’s Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controverssy

The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s spectacular film about the death of Jesus, has quickly become one of the most widely-viewed movies of all time and one of the most fiercely vilified. It is more loved and simultaneously more loathed than any previous work of cinematographic art. Some maintain that this film has brought them to a new faith in Christ or a deeper understanding of the faith they already had. Others criticize the work for its supposedly gratuitous gore, alleged historical inaccuracy, or its debatable theological assumptions. In Mel Gibson’s Passion and Philosophy, twenty philosophers with widely varying religious and philosophical backgrounds examine all the most important issues raised by the movie, without ridicule or rancor. How can we decide what God intended to tell us? Why do Christians and Jews apparently report seeing two very different Mel Gibson movies? Was Christ a pacifist? Does the film truly follow the gospels? How can we blame Judas for doing what God wanted him to do? Did George Hegel answer Mel Gibson 200 years ahead of time?