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The Passion as Theatre

The conclusion to the Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that:

“Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh” (Ecc. 12: 12)

I am aware that many, many articles and reviews have already been written on The Passion of the Christ. I don’t want to unnecessarily weary you with another addition to the towering pile of pastoral opinions, but I do want to be faithful to my task as Pastor of a congregation of God’s people. The phenomenon that is the Passion is too large a matter to ignore. I’m also reminded of a telling quotation from Martin Luther:

“If I profess with the loudest voice & clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world & the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ”

In short, burying one’s head in the sand like some evangelical ostrich, or beating an Amish-like retreat into irrelevance and obscurity isn’t an option. We have to engage with our culture and its challenges or opportunities – that includes interaction with Hollywood and its cinematic portrayals of Jesus. We also need to learn how to frame and express a biblical worldview that is able to meaningfully lock horns with the questions posed by contemporary culture.

We are immersed in society – its music, manners, customs and other accepted societal norms. We are surrounded and bombarded with a melting pot of worldviews filtered through the cultural vehicles of music, art and cinema. They express something of the ‘soul’ of a particular generation – whether pagan or puritan.

How do we react to what we see and hear? In particular, what are we to say in response to Mel Gibson’s blockbuster rendering of the last 12 hours of the life of Christ?

I would like to have had a little more time before putting pen to paper (finger to keyboard??), but other responsibilities must take priority.
What follows, therefore, may not be as clearly considered as I would like, and in places sadly lacks originality. However, as a first draft it will have to do.

The Passion as Theatre

March 26th saw the UK release of The Passion of the Christ. On its opening weekend in the USA last month, it took $84 million – the greatest ever box office success of any Hollywood film, even sweeping aside the records held by the Oscar-laden Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

One film critic described it as “the film that refuses to go away, about a Saviour who refuses to stay dead. You may not like what it says, but you can’t avoid the Jesus it portrays”.

As I sat down to write this piece, I received this email from CPO.

It seems that everyone is talking about Mel Gibson’s latest film, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ - positive or negative you cannot escape it. The media coverage has been quite astonishing with reports in the national press, on television and radio. The film has now released in the UK and carries an 18 certificate.

Other review articles have been equally glowing:

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is a magnificent achievement – a work of art that harnesses all the power of the film medium in the service of a visceral but also theologically subtle and emotionally moving portrayal of the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life.

The Passion is certainly a beautifully crafted and finely conceived work of great artistry and daring, worthy of serious contemplation, prayerful discussion and grateful applause and it may well be the finest portrait of Christ yet filmed.

Mark Greene, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity.

"The movie has been made and will open in thousands of theaters worldwide this month. It will draw eager audiences and become a box office hit - due in part to prerelease controversy, the "must see" factor has reached an almost unprecedented level of intensity among both committed Christians and the cinematically curious. Mainstream Christian leaders of every denomination [have] embrace[d] the film as the most artistically ambitious and accomplished treatment of the crucifixion ever committed to film."

Michael Medved

Whatever we may make of the film in other ways, there appears to be very little doubt that The Passion of the Christ will be a masterpiece of strategic lighting, skilful photography, extraordinary costumes, rugged and convincing set designs, incredibly realistic makeup and much more. As a cinematic production, it will undeniably reflect the highest standards in modern filmmaking. Classic FM already regularly feature pieces from the soundtrack. Plaudits for the actors themselves are already beginning to build.

Avoiding the Arts?

It is important that we make an observation here. It is not the place of Christianity to withdraw from cultural endeavours. A failure to acknowledge and appreciate flair and ability in the visual and acoustic arts is not something spiritual. Creativity is, in itself, a reflection of something of the image of God – we should encourage and enjoy wholesome cultural pursuits. Without wishing to necessarily join the ranks of the neo-Calvinists , we who claim to be Reformed particularly need to hear this!

After all, the Reformation and its proponents had a high view of the positive value of art. John Calvin says in the Institutes 1.11.12:

“Sculpture and painting are gifts of God”.

The Golden Age of Calvinism saw an explosion in cultural pursuits – music, painting, architecture etc. The continental Reformers believed in the exercise of gifts given by God – in fact, a recovery in wholesome creativity was part and parcel of the effects of theological renewal. Even Theodore Beza wrote a play for public viewing!

In the sphere of music, Reformation endorsements are no less significant. It is vital that we understand that music is not merely an invention of human culture, but is a wonderful gift of God. It is not only for him, but from him!

Calvin had it right when he said:

“All arts proceed from God and ought to be held as divine interventions”.

Elsewhere he goes on to say:

“Among other things adapted for men’s recreation and giving them pleasure, music is either the foremost, or one of the principal; and we must esteem it a gift of God designed for that purpose”.

Martin Luther said it far more colourfully a hundred years later:

“Music is to be praised as second only to the Word of God because by here are all the emotions swayed… When natural music is sharpened and polished by art, then one begins to see with amazement the great and perfect wisdom of God in the wonderful work of music… He who does not find this an inexpressible miracle of the Lord is truly a clod and not worthy to be considered a man”.

The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth once wrote:

“Every note, every strain, and every harmony is divine and belongs to us… bring out your cornets and harps and flutes and violins and pianos and drums, and everything else that can make a melody. Offer them to God, and use them to make all the hearts about you merry before the Lord”.

My favourite quotations, however, spring from the pen of one of the last century’s most brilliant Calvinistic thinkers – Abraham Kuyper:

“The world of sounds, the world of forms, the world of tints, and the world of poetic ideas, can have no other source than God; and it is our privilege as bearers of His image, to have a perception of this beautiful world, artistically to reproduce, and humanly to enjoy it.”

The Stone Lectures, Calvinism and Art (P157)

“There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out. ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’”

We need to hear these truths! We believe Psalm 24 and verse 1! For too long too many Christian people have unnecessarily abandoned the world of art and culture. We need to react against the unbiblical pietism that shuns artistic pursuits as somehow unworthy of the redeemed. David Bebbington (Evangelicalism in Modern Britain p130) is correct in his assessment that Evangelicals of the 19th century and beyond have tended to shelter behind blanket prohibitions that avoid the need for careful evaluation of cultural enterprise.

Baby and the Bathwater

Of course we need checks and balances. Of course the Christian must be careful not to unnecessarily expose him or herself to lewdness, crudeness and crassness. Of course we need the guiding principles of Philippians 4: 8.

In all of our cultural engagements we need in the forefront of our minds the caveat provided by Tertullian in his De Spectaculis:

“We must not, then, consider merely by whom all things were made, but by whom they have been perverted”.

We live in a polluted and fractured world that is far from God, and many of its cultural expressions plainly reflect that. We join with our Puritan forebears in decrying the evils of society that are mediated to us through the agency of stage and screen. We mourn the filth, godlessness and sheer waste of resources that art can express – aside from the low-brow forays of Reality TV, the perennially pornographic exposes of peep-hole pseudo-documentary and morally degrading primetime soap opera, we are subjected to Damien Hirst's dismembered animals in formaldehyde, the plastinated corpses of Body Worlds, and the infamous Andres Serrano work Piss Christ, to name but three recent examples of ‘art’.

What we must not do, is discard the baby with the bath water. For some, the only recourse to stem the tide of sin would be to return to the 1642 act of Parliament that closed all English theatres for 5 years. At the very least, evangelical Christian people should avoid contamination by steering clear of cultural engagement.

Such negativism simply will not do. Our world needs Christian authors and filmmakers, Christian composers and musicians, Christian sculptors and poets. Our world needs sane voices to counter the madness of a headlong scramble into sin. Our workmates and families need Christian people like the men of Issachar, ‘who knew their times’, able to intelligently relate the Scriptures to society.

Whatever else may be problematic with the Passion of the Christ, we have to allow the premise that films with religious or morally challenging themes can be helpful. If we have objections, they must not begin with the notion that Christians must shun the cinema anyway. They must not start with the notion that the depravity of modern artistic expression requires the retreat of the monastic hermit away from concert-going, television ownership or cinematic appreciation.

Henry Van Til was right - we need to resist the ‘alarming resurgence even in Reformed circles today of pietistic withdrawal from the world’.

The argument at stake regarding the Passion is not whether art is a viable pursuit for the Christian, nor even whether art can communicate truth, but whether art that visually portrays the Son of God onscreen - particularly in his dying agonies - is acceptable.

I hope to explore that in my next blog:

The Passion and the Decalogue.

Posted by pencils at March 27, 2004 12:32 PM | TrackBack