THE PASSION: among the various commentaries on Mel Gibson's movie, which is scheduled to be released on Ash Wednesday, February 25:

[1] Peter J. Boyer, "The Jesus War," THE NEW YORKER (September 15, 2003) gives an insider's report about the controversy surrounding "The Passion"; his article is available at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/980753/posts

[2] The National Council of Churches provides a two page "reflection insert" that is available at: http://www.ncccusa.org/pdfs/passionfilmguide.pdf

[3] The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is publishing a collection of documents on THE BIBLE, THE JEWS AND THE DEATH OF JESUS; information is available at: http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2004/04-024.htm

There is ample additional material; Google estimates that there are about 297,000 search items on the movie; see: http://www.google.com/search-hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Mel+Gibson+Passion&btnG=Google+Search

FAITH TRANSFORMED: CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS WITH JEWS AND JUDAISM. Edited by John C. Merkle. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003. Pp. xii + 216. Paper, $23.95, Most Christians read the "Old Testament" from a Christological perspective, but comparatively few Christians ever read Jewish commentaries on the Hebrew Bible or meet their Jewish counterparts, let alone engage in serious interfaith dialogue. The essays in this
collection are the personal reflections of eleven Christian scholars, who have benefited from Christian-Jewish dialogue in terms both of personal friendships and of a scholarly understanding of the interfacing of the Jewish and Christian scriptures -- not simply as texts to be studied but more importantly as continuing sources of spirituality. These essays touch upon many major Jewish theological themes that form the background of the New Testament, as well as many aspects of modern Jewish culture and religious observance; the volume provide a helpful introduction to modern Judaism, while rejecting supersessionist presuppositions (that the New Testament has superseded or
replaced the "Old Testament").

SHARING THE SCRIPTURES. By Philip Cunningham. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2003. Pp. ix + 94. Paper, $9.95. The first third of this booklet points out that in recent years many churches have issued official statements affirming that "the Christian covenant with God in Christ has not ended the earlier covenantal life between God and the people of Israel"; reflecting this perspective, the author proposes the terminology: "Shared Testament" and "Christian Testament." The book's second section discusses
five sets of liturgical readings (for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Good Friday) in terms of their different Jewish and Christian interpretations. This booklet concludes with some brief reflections on the Pontifical Biblical Commission's statement on "The Jewish People and Their Scriptures in the Christian Bible" (2001), four discussion questions, a nine-word glossary, and a fourteen-item bibliography. While one whole-heartedly welcomes this attempt to advance Jewish-Christian dialogue, one regrets that the contents are so slim.

William G. Rusch, "The Journey to Reception -- A Progress Report," ECUMENICAL TRENDS 32/6 (June 2003) 1-8: discusses the history and theology of "reception" in view of its increasing significance as a result of the consensus agreements emerging through ecumenical dialogue: in effect, churches are called upon to "receive" each other's doctrinal statements.

Paul A. Crow, Jr. "Fanfare, Tillard, and Ecumenism in Rome," ECUMENICAL TRENDS 32/8 (September 2003) 14-15: reports on the inauguration of the Tillard professorship of ecumenical studies at the University of Saint Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome; Jean Marie Tillard (1927-2000) was a noted ecumenist who taught at the Dominican Faculty of Philosophy and Theology in Ottawa, Canada.

Mitzi J. Budde, "Lutheran-Roman Catholic Convergence on the Theology and Ministry of the Laity," ECUMENICAL TRENDS 32/8 (September 2003) 1-7: compares and contrasts the ministries of the laity in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Roman Catholic Church and points out similarities both in practice and in theology.