Shame versus pain
So there's this little movie coming out this month called The Passion of the Christ. You might have heard something about it. If you haven't heard anything about it, I'd like to know under what rock you've been hiding . . . and join you there.

In all the hubbub surrounding this film, I've been annoyed by the media's portrayal of its Christian audience. Much of the media seems to presume that Christians are accepting Gibson's hard sell without question--that we're all mindless consumers of Christianized culture. Hardly.

Which leads me to point out this interesting blog post by Camassia on Gibson's graphic portrayal of the pain of the crucifixion. She writes, "As I've said before, the element of victory in the Jesus story should not be downplayed, but that element isn't in this part of the story. If we are to believe Jesus experienced true human suffering, humiliation is a crucial part of that. Especially in that culture."

It's not something that I've thought much about recently. As an Asian-American, however, I think I may be somewhat more sensitized to it than your average Westerner, because Asian societies are so shame and status driven. Anyway, Camassia's post is good stuff--and it links to more good stuff from the blogosphere. Check it out if that's your sort of thing.