MetaCatholic

Tonight’s episode of The Passion was a short half-hour. (I fear that its start and end points seemed more dictated by the TV schedules than by any strong dramatic framing of the narrative.) Overall I don’t think I’ve significantly changed my views from yesterday’s opening reaction. I am beginning to appreciate some of the benefits of the way the script avoids traditional language: it does serve to really clarify things and make you think. It does have its drawbacks, however, and I think for me they became more obvious around comments on sacrifice, the Law and the sins of the world. The latter is not only hallowed by centuries of Christian tradition, but in the way in which it was used seemed to me to be historically implausible, and rather detached from any of the ways sacrifice, Law and sin might make sense in Second Temple Judaism.

One detail that I’d only half-noted yesterday, but seemed more obvious today, was the preference for referring to Judaeans rather than Jews. It’s particularly noticeable on Caiaphas’ lips. A number of social-scientific critics can be heard punching the air in glee.

What becomes far more obvious in this episode is Jesus’ determination and planning. Some will doubt that historically he saw things in this way. What comes over very strongly is not simply his embrace of the coming execution, but his careful orchestration in planning for it. Yesterday, his determination to fulfil prophecy by entering the city on a colt was very clear and rational. This clearly upset at least one blogger (HT Dave Walker) who seems to think it is unscriptural to suggest that Jesus intentionally fulfilled prophecy. Apparently it only counts if you don’t know you’re doing it.

For me, however, this is a considerable strength. It was further developed today by the way in which the story clearly hinted that Jesus had both planned the Upper Room as a secret venue well in advance, and was busy making sure Judas didn’t find out about it in time to abort it by an early betrayal. The very human characterisation of Jesus, and the very blatant political manoeuvrings of and constraints on Caiaphas and Pilate, might seem to lead one towards a sense of inevitability about the crucifixion. Jesus’ determined planning, and his apparent orchestration of events, prevents any sense of inescapable tragedy. The drama seems to be quite clear that crucifixion is not an inevitable accident of historical forces impacting on a naive man, but a very deliberate thing indeed. If at times Jesus’ teaching sounds naive (and the non-biblical language makes it seem perhaps more so than it should), this event planning is far from naive.

This is a fascinating balancing act in the script and action, and introduces a very satisfying, and I think broadly accurate three-dimensional portrayal of what has too often been interpreted as a one-dimensional drama (whether that dimension is social or theological). In that respect it is certainly growing on me.

written by doug

I spent a happy hour last week in my “local” (most accessible) Apple Store. It was really quiet, so I managed to snag a passing “Genius” to answer a long list of questions. This was a pleasant change from my previous visit to another nearby store, where they couldn’t answer some questions, and I ended up showing a sales person how to turn off the translucency in the menu bar. I must say I now have a much clearer picture of what I will need to do to handle the transition from Windows to OS X.

I’m pretty certain that I will be buying a Mac as my next computer, most probably an iMac. Which model depends a bit on the finances. I still need to save a few more pennies, however, so it’s still possible that second thoughts will steal over me in the dead of night. In fact, waiting a little while makes very good sense. There seems to be good reason to expect that the iMac range will be updated soon. While there’s never a right time to buy, buying just after an update is always more satisfying than buying just before one. I’ll use some of that time to seek advice and reflect on which of the virtualisation options to go for, Parallels or Fusion.

I must say that I hope I don’t become one of the Mac cultists who live within Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field. If I do, please hit me hard over the head, and remind me that I have always quite liked Windows, and genuinely enjoyed XP. Since I will find myself using a virtual machine on a regular basis for the first few months, and booting the Mac into Windows from time to time, there will definitely be room for active comparison. I may end up making a whole bunch of switching posts.

written by doug

It’s difficult to review something when you’ve only seen a third of it, so these can be no more than a few preliminary comments on The Passion, whose first episode aired tonight. (Well, technically, last night now). I must confess to finding it something of a mixed bag.

Things I liked included

• the sense of bustle, dirt and crowding around Jerusalem
• the actual portrayal of slaughter and blood being cleaned up (admittedly on a small scale) bringing home something of the reality of temple sacrifices
• the grounding in the political relationships of Roman Judaea
• the way in which Jesus was often lost in the crowd: plenty of things went on that disregarded his presence
• the confusion and mixed attitudes of the disciples
• the adherence to Mark’s account for the “cleansing of the temple” on the day following the entry to Jerusalem, resisting the dramatic temptation to which Matthew and Luke, together, I think, with every previous Jesus film, succumbed
• the grounding of Pilate and Caiaphas in relationships other than their dramatic one with Jesus
• the visual portent of the crosses / gibbets Jesus and the disciples pas on their way between Jerusalem and Bethany makes the cross loom less as prophecy and more as grim reality

What I wasn’t particularly impressed by

• the opposition of Law and compassion, which seemed to be Lutheran Paulinism filtered by late Romanticism
• the almost gnostic repeated emphasis on the kingdom of God being within sat oddly with the very human and political portrayals
• the very human (almost “mere man”) portrayal of Jesus jarred when set alongside statements such as “I’m his (God’s) only son” (the story was over-heavy on Jeremias’ omnipresent Father language), or the Virgin Mary’s seemingly overt confession of the virginal conception
• the rewriting of Jesus’ teaching which lost poetic resonances and rendered it rather anodyne (however commendable the attempt to avoid Bible English)

One or two things jarred: why, for example, was Joseph of Arimathea black? More importantly, I couldn’t help wondering how much of this would make sense to someone who didn’t know the story. While a lot of the backdrop was filled in in brief allusions to the Galilean ministry, other things remained without explanation. Someone who didn’t know the story would be very hard-pressed to understand anything at all of the conversation between Mary (BVM variety) and Jesus, or the dramatic tension in the closing moments of this episode’s dialogue, where Jesus asks Judas what is in his heart.

But one the whole, the positives, so far, seriously outweigh the negatives, and it looks set to shape up as one of the better renditions of the story on screen, especially with the moody and often claustrophobic lighting giving a sense of gathering peril and clouds of confusion. I look forward to catching the remainder.

written by doug