Saturday, April 04, 2015

Easter Fare

 



cinema à la carte                                 





Easter Cinema

AUDIO BOOK

Yesterday I watched Mel Gibson's The  Passion of the Christ on my iPad; the first time since seeing it at the cinema in 2004 (even though we've owned the DVD).  It is unparalleled film making, IMO.  Because of it, Gibson was targeted by Hollywood for neutering.  Upstairs, I learned, MoSup had been watching the movie version of Bill O'Reilly's book "Killing Jesus."  I Googled it up on the iPad, but of course Apple does not accept Flash, or whatever the hell format the civilized world use, but I found something better on YouTube.  The full 6 hour+ Audio Book read by O'Reilly.  Just finished the first two chapters, and what a treat.  In that time the book has covered an introductory birth of Jesus replete with a short political history of the area and then into a broaderand captivatinghistory of Caesar's Rome itself.  What an unexpected treat.  I've paused now (at 1:09), after the account of Casca shoving his shiv into Caesar's sack left me ... queasy.


ASIDE: I can appreciate that Jews were fearful that The  Passion of the Christ might have the power to rekindle old hatreds.  It did not.  But the Sanhedrin, led by high priest Caiaphas, which demanded his crucification was the earlier equivalent of General  Pétain's lackey Vichy government under the Nazis.  Rome controlled the Temple, and who ran it.  Hell, they erected a statue of Caesar inside of the Temple!   Many  learned and pious Jews of the time reacted to this  abomination by forming splinter groups having nothing to do with that ilk.  Of course Jesus, his apostles, and most early converts were Jews.  As a Roman Catholic I have come to view the church as a Jewish sect, and myself a member.  For me, this is riveting history. 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our coddled selves can scarcely grasp living in times like those. That's prolly why I have so little patience for people demanding so much of others and doing so little for themselves while whining about how rough their lives are. Thank you Lord for ALL of my countless blessings!
Tim

SoylentGreen said...

Whaaat? We LIVE in times like these. Our Senate and House of Representatives is the equivalent of Petain's lackey Vichy government under the Obamas. Many learned conservatives of our time react to this abomination by forming splinter groups having nothing to do with that ilk.

DougM said...

Theology aside,
I'd say that parts of the Middle East haven't changed all that much.
Wait … okay, including theology.

Anonymous said...

Just sitting back watching your men hit nails on the head...
RAK

Anonymous said...

Ceasar's pride killed him, not I.

Casca

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that...best time spent on a Holy Saturday ever.

Anonymous said...

Imagine that the consolidation of the Germanic states, the Spanish American War, WWI and WWII had all happened in one unending war in the same time period. That would give you a good idea about what it was like to live in the time of Jesus. It was world war, the likes the average person could not comprehend.

My favorite historical author, Elaine Pagels, does a wonderful job of giving perspective to just what these times were like. Her most recent book "Revelations" is superb and "The Origin of Satin" really depicts the struggle against the Romans.

It's important to think here, Jesus really had no beef with Rome; "Render unto Caesar, what is Caesars'." He is pissed off that his religion/culture had degenerated away from the values of their founding fathers. Now where have I heard that before? -Anymouse

Wabano said...

One fascinating biography is that of hellenized Jew Flavius Josephus,
the only commentator on someone called "Jesus"(a hundred years later)
As for Mohamed, according to historian Ibn Warraq, not only he never existed,
but was an invention of the diseased mind
of Caliph Omar, who then burned the library of Alexandria, just to tie up loose ends.

Anonymous said...

Wabano, it's worth noting that the passage in Josephus that references "Jesus" was not written by him and was likely added much later by Christian authors.

Outside of the Bible there are no contemporary accounts of Jesus' "godhood" (or whatever you want to call it).
.

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