When considering the common elements of Islam and Christianity, “Jesus” is perhaps not the first thing to come to mind (at least not to Western Christians). The theological overlap and differences are highlighted in a movie that is being touted as the “Iranian Passion of Christ.” ABC has an interview with film creator Nader Talebzadeh:
NT: Everybody [in Iran and the U.S.] knows Jesus, so why not make a film about something everyone relates to? And made in Iran…We are talking about the same beautiful man, the same beautiful prophet, the same divine person sent from heaven. In the Koran, it emphasizes maybe three main points: about the birth, about the fact that he was not the son of God, and then, that he was not crucified. The rest is [the same] Jesus … the sermons, and the miracles, and the political situation.
It’s an interesting read, and it’s refreshing to see exceptions to the typical news that shows Christians and Muslims at each others throats. I guarantee that this isn’t going to get the air time that the violent reactions to teddy bear blasphemies and the Danish cartoons received, but I’ll be happy to be proved wrong. In the meantime, consider this post my little bit to foster understanding between Christians, Muslims, and skeptics.
[Update 2/20/2008: I just realized that I forgot to insert a link to the interview–Doh! Link added.]
(hat tip to Isaac–thanks!)
9 responses so far ↓
1 Elaine // Feb 18, 2008 at 8:27 am
Interesting that even this Iranian film is apparently perpetuating the European/American stereotype of the pale, light-haired Jesus.
2 xJane // Feb 18, 2008 at 7:31 pm
heh, that crossed my mind, too. Although, my part-Jewish husband is blonde, all his relatives (on the Jewish side) are not. So…yeah, Jesus is not a whitey.
3 John // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:08 pm
You all make a good point, but I want to highlight the significance of this event from the point of Iranian-Western and Muslim-Christian relations. I hope we don’t dismiss this simply because a Persian director chose to go with the blond depiction of Jesus.
4 Elaine // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm
You’re quite right, John. It is a significant event. And goodness knowns, Iranian/American relations can use all the help they can get right now. That was just the first thing that struck me…I guess that illustrates the power of one photographic image.
I also think it is worth noting that not even all groups that have identified themselves as Christian through history have considered Jesus to have been the literal son of God. One of the things I think is the most interesting about Christianity is that although we often think of it as a monolithic belief system, more or less (and this may be why so many Christians have such a hard time with calling Mormons Christians), there is really quite a wide variety of mutually exclusive things that different denominations believe about Jesus.
I don’t think, however, that I’ve ever run across information on any Christian group which believes that Jesus wasn’t crucified.
5 John // Feb 19, 2008 at 11:07 am
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are considered strange (by Christians) for teaching that Jesus was nailed to a pole, rather than to two pieces at right angles.
I need to read up more on the Muslim Jesus–I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know much. Some religious studies scholar I am!
6 Ricardo // Feb 20, 2008 at 8:59 am
I don´t believe this movie will be welcomed by Christians in general. It doesn’t matter if the stories about the sermons are similar in the two religions. Most Christians will probably consider more important the two differences outlined above:
- Jesus was not the Son of God
- He was not crucified
If you deny the divine nature of Jesus and his sacrifice at the cross you empties him of all meaning given to him by Christian theology.
7 wren // Feb 28, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Elaine, don’t know if you’ll see this as I’m replying late on this. You commented that you hadn’t run across a Christian group that didn’t believe Christ was crucified. I hadn’t either until a bit over a year ago.
I have a Pagan friend who attends a Unity congregation. When I read that they were Christian based I read no further and asked her how she could go there. She said it really wasn’t want I thought and to visit sometime. I did. There was a lot of metaphysical stuff but I still couldn’t understand how they could believe anything in relation to the Bible. One night after their mid-week meditation service I asked one of the chaplains about that. I said I had some anger regarding scriptures. I told her I never liked the writings of Saul/Paul and saw him as a bit of an arse. I asked her how she could reconcile the scriptures that condemned her as a lesbian.
She replied that Unity’s view of scriptures was metaphorical… that it recognized a lot of it as the opinion of the writers and the story of salvation was, itself, a parable, not literal. She said that while the church wasn’t perfect, she came to find its philosophies positive and vibrant.
As I read more about the Fillmores (who founded Unity) and attended services, my interpretation of scriptures loosened. I came to see what she meant.
This is a FAQ about Unity.
8 xJane // Feb 28, 2008 at 4:09 pm
My niece’s (Catholic) parochial school rents space from a Unity church & I love going to functions there because it gives me an excuse to hang out there. I love that on their list of events, they’ve got an Easter and an Ostara service. I don’t know much about Unity, but all I’ve ever heard has been to my liking (we considered getting married by them).
9 wren // Feb 28, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I learned a lot about other belief systems from functions and speakers there. I haven’t visited any churches since I moved to the twin cities. I’ve been looking at websites and I’ll eventually visit some. That FAQ on the webiste of the closest Unity church to where I live. I’m curious, too, about a UU church that’s walking distance from my place. I’ve visited a UU congregation before. I liked Unity better, perhaps because there seemed to be more acknowledgement of a spiritual aspect to life. Though I’m a big fan of the UU social justice activities.
And if I’m ever feeling nostalgic I’ll visit the local lds ward. That’s nice every once in a while in a “I like the warm socializing feeling without the negative obligations and baggage” kinda way. Then again, they don’t know me here. They could think “Ah, fresh meat!” if I walked in. lol
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