Abstract
Mel Gibson's blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, released in 2004, has already faded into the distance for most observers of the film and religion scene - a culture-wars hot spot that flared in an especially intense American moment. However, the issues it raised about art, historiography, and, of course, Christian theology, remain largely unresolved for moviegoers and laypeople. As long as individual viewers and believers remain uncertain what values are at stake, or why this film represents a unique crisis point in the culture wars, they will be unable to move beyond their personal aesthetic reactions into an informed judgment on the larger issues.