Correspondence
Ayo, Nicholas & ROBINSON-HOLMES, JOAN & JR., CHARLES J. ORLOSKI & KIRCHNER, LOUISA D. & NOVOA, ANA M.
CORRESPONDENCE Locker-room poetry Notre Dame, Ind. To the Editors: The poem, "Ballad of Male Hegemony," by Clare Will Faulhaber [September 9] hits below the belt. This is locker-room talk. If a...
...Scorsese describes it as "a film made to set off discussions . . . [by] people taking Jesus seriously," taking seriously his "ideas of love, loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself...
...How many films invite viewers into an ever-familiar world that is uniquely unfamiliar because it welcomes them into one man's cinematic understanding of the Man/God, Jesus...
...The article by John Baldovin and the discussion of The Last Temptation of Christ in the same issue of the magazine were especially helpful and interesting...
...Taking Jesus seriously Stamford, Conn...
...If a man wrote such an uncouth poem about women, the magazine would not print it...
...To The Editors: Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ demands a new dialogue between art and the church...
...Finally, as a long-time eyewitness of the situation in Nicaragua, I was distressed to read in the editorial, "The Planet Speaks," that "The United States has ceased its funding of the contras,'' when at this moment such a bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting the judgment of the House...
...ANA M. NOVOA...
...How different would the world be if Jew and Gentile alike could view The Last Temptation, as an artist's interpretation of what it meant for him that God became man in the Jesus form...
...It seems vital to me, a Byzantine Catholic, that Christians also might examine more scrupulously the historic nature of blasphemy and mockery of Jesus Christ...
...CHARLES J. ORLOSKI, JR...
...The temptations then are of a very different sort...
...Mocking [esus & Paul Taylor, Pa...
...Why does a critical review not make mention of this absence...
...How many current film directors are willing to share their intimate, religious thoughts, however one might agree or disagree with them, about a subject so personal and controversial...
...To the Editors: At last a rational analysis of The Last Temptation of Christ...
...But there comes a point where we realize that there really is no choice for us anymore, a time when God is so near, and has touched us so deeply, that we know life without him is impossible...
...Mary Pat Kelly seems to be well versed in the genesis of the Scorsese film ["Jesus Gets the Beat,"September 9...
...I continue to be enriched by what I read in Commonweal...
...The same issue of Commonweal, however, brings a disturbing book review by John H. Wright, S.J.: The New percent of production is in private hands, and both private and state cooperatives function on a democratic basis with workers owning or sharing democratically in management, how can it be said that "the Sandinistas seem hell bent on centralization of the means of production...
...Apparently twentieth-century art is to know no boundaries...
...But I see that, first, the book is not a "dictionary" and second, that though its aim is "to provide 'an intelligent and critical introduction to Catholic theology in our day,' " it includes nothing from Latin America where liberation theology was born...
...LOUISA D. KIRCHNER A stunted Jesus San Antonio, Tex...
...To the Editors: I eagerly awaited the early September issue of Commonweal because I was sure that Tom O'Brien would review The Last Temptation of Christ...
...And Commonweal concedes that the film and the related "And lead us not into The Last Temptation . . ." controversy signal "a moment for scrutinizing our own images and ideas of Jesus" ["Whose Jesus...
...NICHOLAS AYO 'The Last Temptation' Wilmington, Del...
...I was happy to discover there were two other articles included as well: Kelly's interview with Martin Scorsese, the film director, and Scheper's review of Kazantzakis's novel, upon which the film is based...
...If it is as he describes it, I know I will enjoy seeing the film, though it may cause one of those spiritual agonies that Kazantzakis and Scorsese and so many thinking people have suffered throughout the ages...
...Surely lies about Jesus and St...
...Usually that occurs over a period of time, as our love and understanding of his majesty increase...
...Then the temptation of a normal, world-centered life is meaningless, and really no longer a temptation at all...
...As one often called upon to translate theological articles from the Spanish, I was hoping that it would help me when I struggle to find an English equivalent for the Spanish terminology...
...How many filmgoers, regardless of their religious views, may enjoy a film that challenges them to wrestle with basic religious questions about Jesus and themselves...
...George L. Scheper in "Jesus Wrestles with God" [September 9] made that point very clearly...
...As the tale of the Temple money-changers demonstrates, toleration and sacred dialogue have always had rules and "human" limitations...
...JOAN ROBINSON-HOLMES, Ph.D...
...Are Gustavo Gutierrez, Leonardo and Clodovis Boff, Jon Sobri-no theologians "in our day...
...I enjoy Commonweal very much...
...After reading the three articles and viewing the film, I would like to ask a few questions: How many Hollywood directors today would dare to spend their time and money to do a major film on the life of Jesus...
...Is today any different...
...Also, in a land where over 60 departure from a normal, world-centered life...
...Paul should never be regarded as advantageous to a people, especially in a consumer society which often uses religious symbols for commercial ends...
...The basic problem, however, is that Kazantzakis portrays Jesus at the end of his public ministry as just beginning an intimate personal relationship with the Father...
...All who have a deep commitment to the Lord have come to the realization that to continue with him will mean a radical Dictionary of Theology edited by Joseph A. Komonchak and Mary Collins, O.S.B...
...To the Editors: The book, The Last Temptation of Christ, and, I hope, the movie, drives home the point that Jesus was fully human, subject to all our fears and temptations...
Vol. 115 • November 1988 • No. 19
