According to a recent LA Times article, the story of Jesus a billion people have heard all their lives will finally receive a cinematic treatment courtesy of an Iranian director.
Nader Talebzadeh's "Jesus, the Spirit of God," tells the story of Jesus as it appears in the Qur'an. That of a man born to a virgin mother who went on to become one of the greatest Prophets in the world and escaped crucifixtion by the Romans.
As the article states, the film has already earned the ire of some Christian groups, with the Worldwide Church of God in Fairfield, California stating:
"Attempts by the Iranians or anyone else who try to deny that Jesus Christ is the true messiah will ultimately fail. The Holy Bible confirms the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in numerous ways, and no amount of filmmaking or lecturing or rhetoric to the contrary can defeat that fact."
As Talebzadeh has feared, some critics of the film are unwilling to see it simply as the depiction of the words of a religious text but rather as an Iranian attack against Christianity.
In taking the film as another way to demonize and vilify Iranians and Muslims, these critics are denying themselves an opportunity to possibly create a link between the two faiths over a shared story with differing interpretations. A link which can be seen as very similar to that of the story of Moses as it appears in Judaism and Christianity. Perhaps in seeing this link all three faiths will be able to see that they share more similarities than differences, but then again that’s probably far too dangerous of a thought.
“Well, this is sure to encourage an eloquent and well-reasoned dialogue between faiths…”
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