January 2, 2007: RoboChrist
Christianity is nothing more than one of many interpretations of reality, neither more nor less. Ideally, it would be nice to believe that there is a God somewhere out there, but it looks to me as if the whole Christian religion is a major symptom of schizophrenia in half the world's population: civilizations scrambling to rationalize their chaotic existence. — Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven
The director of RoboCop, Basic Instinct and Showgirls hopes to make the life of Jesus the subject of his next film. Paul Verhoeven thinks the world is ready for a "realistic" portrayal of Jesus, an ordinary man freed from 2,000 years of Christian mythology.
I can imagine Verhoeven's Jesus at the wedding in Cana, making a drunken pass at the bride before being tossed onto the street. Or, better yet, Jesus threatening the money changers with automatic weapons!
My [portrayal of Jesus'] life will be much more realistic and much more historical. I just want to go for what is historically, sociologically and politically real, and is defendable. I mean we couldn't have the scene of Jesus praying at Golgotha when everyone else is sleeping. How could we have a report of that when everyone's sleeping? That's a contradiction in the text already. So all those will be eliminated. — Verhoeven Talks Jesus, Empireonline
One hopes Verhoeven may actually read the Gospels at some point, where he will discover the disciples falling asleep at Gethsemane, not Golgotha. Oh, those troubling, historical details.
Actually, I think it might be interesting to see what Verhoeven's Jesus would look like. Paul Verhoeven is a secular modernist, an atheist — in other words, he's a typical 21st century intellectual. It could be instructive to see Jesus through the eyes of a modern skeptic, especially one with Verhoeven's cinematic talents.
And we should remember that more than a few skeptics have opened the Gospels only to find themselves changed by the Jesus they discovered there. I wish Paul Verhoeven success in this project and hope that he does, in fact, encounter the historical Jesus.
Thanks to First Things for the scoop.
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