Catholic League president William Donohue issued the following statement today on the wounded egos of theologians opposed to the Mel Gibson film, “The Passion of the Christ”:

“It’s been going on for some time now, but over the weekend it really broke loose: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish theologians are irate over ‘The Passion of the Christ.’  Having spent their entire adult lives studying the Bible, and having concluded they really don’t know very much about their subject (no argument there), they’re angry at Mel because he pays them no respect.  More important, why are they angry with Mel for giving us his version of what happened when they confess they don’t know what happened?  How can his portrayal be inauthentic if they don’t know what is authentic?

“Susan B. Thistlethwaite is president of the Chicago Theological Seminary.  Marvin Meyer is a professor at Chapman University.  Amy-Jill Levine is professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School.  Ex-priest John Dominic Crossan is a DePaul University professor emeritus.  Zsuzsanna Ozsváth teaches Holocaust studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.  Michael Evans is the head of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.  Susan Bond is a Vanderbilt Divinity School professor.  Stephen Prothero teaches at Boston University.  Philip Cunningham is a theology professor at Boston College.  Over the weekend, they made it clear that they don’t like the movie because, they say, it doesn’t conform to their understanding of Christ’s death.  How unfortunate.

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