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Notes
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239 notes introduction 1. Frank Rich, at the time the cultural commentator for the New York Times, is often attributed with opening the mainstream public debate about the film with his 3 August 2003 article in the International Herald Tribune entitled “Mel Gibson’s Martyrdom Complex.” This was followed by an array of New York Times pieces that Rich devoted to Gibson’s film during the months preceding and following its release. Among the many other reviews and articles related to the film, see A. O. Scott, “‘The Passion of the Christ’: Good and Evil Locked in Violent Showdown,” New York Times, 25 February 2004; Peter J. Boyer, “The Jesus War,” New Yorker, 15 September 2003, 58–71; Jon Meacham, “Who Killed Jesus?” Newsweek, 16 February 2004, http://www. newsweek.com/2004/02/15/who-killed-jesus.html#; David Gates, “Jesus Christ Movie Star,” Newsweek, 8 March 2004, http://www.newsweek.com/2004/03/07/jesus-christmovie -star.html; Maureen Dowd, “Stations of the Crass,” New York Times, 26 February 2004, op-ed; Kenneth Turan, “A Narrow Vision and Staggering Violence,” Los Angeles Times, 24 February 2004, http://www.latimes.com/et-passion24-2004feb24,0,6930255. story; Richard Corliss, “Holy Hypocrisies,” Time, 27 February 2004, http://www.time. com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,596038,00.html; Corliss, “Movies: The Goriest Story Ever Told,” Time, 1 March 2004, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ article/0,9171,993485,00.html. The website The Text This Week, which features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy, has a bibliography of articles published about the film by scholars, critics, and religious leaders from across the globe: The Text This Week, “‘The Passion of the Christ’ Mel Gibson Movie—Articles, Study Guides, & Opinions ,” http://www.textweek.com/response/passion_movie.htm. 2. Timothy K. Beal and Tod Linafelt, “Introduction,” in Mel Gibson’s Bible: Religion , Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ, ed. Beal and Linafelt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 3. 3. See Marcia Kupfer, “Introduction,” in The Passion Story: From Visual Representation to Social Drama, ed. Kupfer (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), 4. See also Mark C. Taylor, “The Offense of Flesh,” in Mel Gibson’s Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ, ed. Beal and Linafelt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 139–52, and Debra Taylor Cashion, “The Man of Sorrows and Mel Gibson,” in Tributes in Honor of James H. Marrow: Studies in Painting and Manuscript Illumination of the Late Middle Ages and Northern Renaissance, ed. Jeffrey 240 Notes to Pages 1–3 Hamburger and Anne Korteweg (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), 139–45. For the development of crucifixion and Passion iconography, see Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion : Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002). 4. As Timothy Beal notes, although some scholars and religious leaders from other traditions hoped Gibson’s film would offer “‘teachable moments’ and opportunities for interreligious dialogue,” it largely proved baffling to non-Christians. Beal, “They Know Not What They Watch,” in Mel Gibson’s Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ, ed. Beal and Linafelt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 199. 5. Kupfer, “Introduction,” 19. 6. Taylor, “Offense of Flesh,” 140. 7. Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 46. 8. Ibid., 45. 9. Among them: On “The Passion of the Christ”: Exploring the Issues Raised by the Controversial Movie, ed. Paula Frederickson (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006); special edition on “Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ,” Journal of Religion and Society 6 (2004); Re-Viewing the Passion: Mel Gibson’s Film and Its Critics, ed. S. Brent Plate (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); Mel Gibson’s Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications, ed. Zev Garber (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2006); Mel Gibson’s Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ, ed. Beal and Linafelt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006); and various essays in The Passion Story: From Visual Representation to Social Drama, ed. Marcia Kupfer (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008). 10. John Fletcher, “Tasteless as Hell: Community Performance, Distinction, and Countertaste in Hell House,” Theatre Survey 48, no. 2 (2007): 313–14. 11. Margaret Miles, “The Passion for Social Justice and The Passion of the Christ,” in Mel Gibson’s Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of...