Crestwood, NY—In light of the large scale reaction to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," released on February 25, faculty, staff, and students at St Vladimir's Seminary have felt compelled to participate in the discourse both publicly and privately. Several members of the seminary’s community have seen the film and are discussing their impressions and reactions in several ways. An in-house online discussion forum, initiated by two members of SVS faculty, was set up to enable dialog and interpretation amongst the seminary community. This site, a part of the seminary's "e-campus" online course platform, also provides links to many of the reviews and comments available elsewhere on the Internet. To date, nearly half the student body has been following these postings.

In addition, Fr Thomas Hopko, dean emeritus of the school, has contributed an essay to the seminary website, focusing directly on the theological implications of the film.  Faculty member Peter Bouteneff, who teaches a course at the seminary on Religious Themes in Film, has also written a reflection, commenting on the assets and liabilities of such a film within popular culture.

Asked for comment, Bouteneff said that his own reaction to the film was somewhat more positive than he had expected, given the pre-release publicity.  "So far, I feel there's something good about the stir it's causing both in the public square and the seminary community.  People's reactions are quite varied - part of that has to do with the film's merits and shortcomings, but it's also a reawakening of the perpetual scandal of the cross.  The idea that the triumphant victory of the messiah is expressed in a shameful and bloody death has always been impossibly difficult for people truly to understand.  There has to be something positive about the fact that people are engaging anew with the meaning of Christ's passion."