The Passion of the Gene

I was doing a little research today. I subscribe to The Daily Gospel, which gives you the daily Catholic readings. I saw in the first reading today (Acts of the Apostles 18,9-18) a
reference to Gallio, proconsul of Achaia. I decided I would find out more about this historical character. I found out his appointment was in the year 51 AD.

As a historian, I guess this is just a part of life-to check on historical accuracy. I finally got around to seeing the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. I was a bit overwhelmed by the movie, but did find the punishment scenes to be very believable. I think that punishment and especially crucifixion recreations were probably pretty close to what happened. Of course this information has long been available for many years. Medical analysis of the crucifixion can be found on the web, too.

I liked the way the Passion portrayed Pilate, and the role of his wife. According to the New Advent Catholic Enclycopedia entry on Pilate, some believe he and his wife became Christians, and in some circles they are considered Saints. I think Gibson's movie was especially sympathetic to Pilate's position and I liked his guard's attitude toward Jesus. I found it believable that Pilate's closest guard would have seen Pilate's wife's concern and understood that Pilate did not consider execution a just punishment, so his attempts to protect Jesus from brutality were not off-character. I found that this more sympathetic view of Pilate originated in one of the Apocryphal Gospel, the Gospel of Nicodemus. I read it (it's pretty brief) and discovered much of the trial of Jesus, as it appears that the movie Passion of the Christ, was based upon the Nicodemus text.

If you're interested, check it out HERE