Akenson on the new Jesus films

Donald Akenson, author of Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus has written an article on the two new Jesus films,

Garth, Mel: Of all the sacred texts to bring to the screen, why did you pick the most adversarial Gospel?

The "Garth" of the tile is Garth Drabinsky, the man behind the revamping of the Visual Bible and one of the producers of the new film. This is the first really anti-Gospel of John piece I've seen, though Akenson brings the Gibson film in too. For an example of the flavour of the piece:

"Why would anyone want to be faithful to such a text? It can be redeemed by informed, discriminating and gentle scholarship. But, to film a literal version of the Gospel of John is like filming a faithful version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

So Akenson overstates things rather. His remark that "Drabinsky's literalist version of the Gospel of John, financed by the far-right, evangelical Visual Bible International Corporation", even if it were accurate, does not pay attention to the fact that Drabinsky took care to get an advisory board of scholars together, none of whom -- as far as I could see -- are marked by far right, evangelical credentials. I'd have thought that they'd have good reason to be a bit annoyed with the piece.