Walter Schmithals on The Passion

On Biblical Theology Jim West refers to a piece on The Passion of the Christ by Walter Schmithals. It is from Die Zeit and dates back to March, but I missed it at the time:

Gewaltverherrlichung ist der Bibel fremd
Den Evangelisten ging es nicht um Jesu Qualen, sondern darum, dass er für die Sünden der Menschen gestorben ist. Davon weiß Mel Gibsons Film „Die Passion Christi“ nichts
Von Walter Schmithals

The article consists primarily of working through the Gospel Passion Narratives and contrasting their approach with Gibson's. His essential complaint is that Gibson's film dwells so much on the blood and the agony of Jesus' crucifixion that it does not have time to invest in the theological, christological and soteriological meaning of Jesus' death that is the key concern of the New Testament writers:

Aber bei allen diesen unterschiedlichen Erzählstrategien der Evangelisten spielt die besondere Qual des Leidens und Sterbens Jesu am Kreuz ersichtlich keine Rolle. Da die Kreuzesstrafe häufig verhängt und immer öffentlich vollzogen wurde, setzen die Evangelisten bei ihren Lesern mit Recht eine Kenntnis des Strafvollzuges voraus und sehen davon ab, diesem Umstand besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu widmen.

Diese Dezenz geht dem Film von Mel Gibson ab. Er folgt zwar der biblischen Darstellung, aber er ist nicht biblisch.

But I think Schmithals is missing a couple of important points. First, it is arguable that the evangelists do not need to dwell on the blood and the gore in the way that the contemporary does because the very words "they crucified Jesus" conjur up a wealth of appalling images to the ancient mind in the way that they do not for us. Our problem is that we have no acquaintance with the horror of crucifixion. Read in this light, I cannot help be struck by the horrible, eery silence of Jesus during most of Mark's crucifixion narrative (a theme I hope to develop a bit further in a paper I am preparing for the Mark Group at this year's SBL Annual Meeting).

Second, as I have often commented in the past, the idea that The Passion of the Christ falls short on the atonement is a fallacy. The film strives hard to set Jesus' death as a triumphant eschatological, salvation event in which sin is defeated and Satan is cast into hell (on more of which, see my article in the forthcoming Corley / Webb volume, on which I will be commenting in due course).