The Dallas Morning News article says: "'The same things always happen whenever Hollywood makes a movie about Jesus,'" says Steve Humphries-Brooks, associate professor of religious studies at Hamilton College in New York and author of the forthcoming book The Celluloid Savior: Hollywood's Making of the American Christ from DeMille's King of Kings to Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
"'The director always says it was a major religious experience to make the film, and that he tried to make the most authentic Jesus ever,'" says Dr. Humphries-Brooks. "'And almost always, various folks say that it isn't the authentic Jesus, it isn't historically accurate or it's not accurate to the Gospels.'"
"'If you really know about the way that Roman procurators behaved from sources
other than the Gospels, then the depiction of Pilate in the Gospels makes almost
no sense at all,'" says Dr. Humphries-Brooks. "'He was a typical Roman
soldier/procurator who at times was more cruel than he needed to be. As far as
history is concerned, the Gospel depiction, and Gibson's depiction, don't
particularly read true to what we know about Pilate historically.'"
