December 02, 2006
Robo Jesus
The man who brought us Robocop, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and the Citizen Kane of lap-dancing melodramas Showgirls is putting together a book project on the historical Jesus.
As opposed to the biblical Jesus, which is the only reliable history we have.
I was particularly taken with how taken Mr. Verhoeven is with himself: "[My Jesus story] really goes into the politics of the time and tries to show a lot of things that have been buried and eliminated by Christianity. My scriptwriter told me not to do the movie in the United States because they might shoot me. So I took his advice and decided to write a book about it first."
This dummkopf has obviously mistaken Christianity for another monotheistic religion that shall remain nameless. (But of course, The Historical Muhammad is a film we are unlikely to see anytime soon.)
One can only wonder what astonishing revelation about the historical Jesus Verhoeven intends? Christianity has undergone more historical-critical surgery, more deconstruction, more Enlightenment demythologizing than any religion on earth—and still, here we are.
And so what is left to be said about the “historically . . . defendable” Jesus that hasn’t already been said by many a scholar/nutcase before?
Here is a quick review of what other "authorities" have concluded about the Jesus who Paul, the early Church, the Vatican, and Fox News have kept hidden in a vault somewhere:
Jesus was the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the messiah of Israel, the savior of the world.
As opposed to the biblical Jesus, which is the only reliable history we have.
I was particularly taken with how taken Mr. Verhoeven is with himself: "[My Jesus story] really goes into the politics of the time and tries to show a lot of things that have been buried and eliminated by Christianity. My scriptwriter told me not to do the movie in the United States because they might shoot me. So I took his advice and decided to write a book about it first."
This dummkopf has obviously mistaken Christianity for another monotheistic religion that shall remain nameless. (But of course, The Historical Muhammad is a film we are unlikely to see anytime soon.)
One can only wonder what astonishing revelation about the historical Jesus Verhoeven intends? Christianity has undergone more historical-critical surgery, more deconstruction, more Enlightenment demythologizing than any religion on earth—and still, here we are.
And so what is left to be said about the “historically . . . defendable” Jesus that hasn’t already been said by many a scholar/nutcase before?
Here is a quick review of what other "authorities" have concluded about the Jesus who Paul, the early Church, the Vatican, and Fox News have kept hidden in a vault somewhere:
- Jesus was a woman.
- Jesus was a space alien and is buried in Japan.
- Jesus visited India and is buried in Kashmir.
- Jesus was a Buddhist.
- Jesus was a Muslim.
- Jesus was a Mormon.
- Jesus was a magician.
- Jesus was a Gnostic.
- Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier.
- Jesus never existed.
- Jesus was never executed.
- Jesus was married and had children.
- Jesus was a mere Mediterranean peasant.
- Jesus was insane.
Jesus was the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the messiah of Israel, the savior of the world.
