Christ Killers: The Jews and the Passion from the Bible to the Big Screen
In the history of Christian hostility toward Jews, historian Cohen discerns the consequences of a condemnatory image: the Jew as Christ killer. That image, Cohen acknowledges, originates in the New Testament, especially the Gospel of John. But careful investigation identifies a chain of theologians and clerics who have elaborated the image of Jews as deicides to advance their own cultural interests. Such Christian leaders have thus made the faith's most visible symbol--the cross--a visual indictment of a beleaguered minority. That indictment has grown particularly ugly when amplified by lurid fantasies about Jews performing bloody rituals of human sacrifice and cannibalism. Closer to the cultural mainstream, the Christian imagination has demonized the Messiah-murdering Jew in devotional woodcuts, street plays, and modern cinema. Yet when Jews have responded to this ominous imagery, they have, surprisingly, sometimes claimed the cross as a symbol of their own suffering. No wonder modern Christians have struggled to reassess a cultural history in which their doctrines have incubated anti-Semitic atrocities. Jews and Christians alike will find much here to ponder.Bryce ChristensenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved