The Distortion: 2000 Years of Misrepresenting the Relationship Between Jesus the Messiah and the Jewish People

by John Fischer, Patrice Fischer

2000 Years of Misrepresenting the Relationship Between Jesus the Messiah and the Jewish People What Mel Gibson missed in The Passion of the Christ! In this timely, eye-opening, and important new book, Drs. John and Patrice Fischer respond to ancient questions being raised once again, due to the release of the popular new film, The Passion of the Christ. "The Jews killed Jesus; they rejected their own Messiah." "Jews just don't believe in Jesus, and never have!" These statements, although common, are not true! The Distortion exposes how these misunderstandings began, how they continued through the last two millennia, what it has cost, not only the Jewish people, but also the Church. Here are some of the topics covered: Are the Gospels Reliable? Are the Gospels Anti-Semitic? Has the Church Been Anti-Semitic? A Modern Script for the Passion Story Cinematic Choices That Could Lead to Anti-Semitic Conclusions Have the Jewish People Responded to God's Plan? The Distortion reveals how the facts of the New Testament gradually got distorted in the minds of people, and shows what can be done to rectify something that has led to travesty and tragedy for 2000 years. 126 pages.

113 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

About the author

Dr. Fischer was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1946 to survivors of the Holocaust. He immigrated to the United States in 1949. He married 4 Jun 1972 to Patrice and they have two children and three grandchildren. Rabbi John has six earned college and university degrees, two of them doctorates (a Ph.D. and a Th.D.). Dr. Fischer has spoken and taught repeatedly throughout the United States and around the world. He has lectured in Israel, Russia, France, Germany, Hungary, the Ukraine, Canada, and South Africa. He is the author of numerous academic articles and books.

Reviews

[J.J. Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book primarily focuses on critiquing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" movie, it has incredible insight into the roots of anti-semitism and the churches historical role in it. At times the blunt way in which this addresses the failings of the church to protect the Jewish people is sobering. This book also presents some interesting insights to the beginning of the church, it's Jewish roots and it's turn from those roots. All that said, the Messianic Jewish sect should in no way be confused with the misguided Hebrew Roots movement. This book is about the real place of the Jewish people under the Messiah and how it has been distorted and fogotten partially due to dogma from historically problematic passion plays from the middle ages to Gibson's movie. All Christians should read this, as in some ways it will open minds to how some Christian traditions which aren't based on scripture have fed the overall rejection of the Jewish people and in turn causing those same Jewish people to reject Yeshua (Jesus).

[Bruce Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume was a serendipitous find amongst a trove of books labeled “Jewish” by the Craigslist seller. It was tucked in amongst cookbooks, joke books, Torah study books, and some non-book miscellany. I really didn’t know what the book was about or where it was going, including after reading the first two chapters asking whether the Christian gospels are authentic and whether they are anti-Semitic. The authors answered (1) Yes, and (2) No but yes according to many readers, respectively. The meat of this book is about the Passion Play, i.e., the trial and death of Jesus, especially as portrayed by Mel Gibson in his movie The Passion of the Christ. One version or another of The Passion Play has been presented since early Christendom, many if not most of them containing anti-Semitic lies and leading directly or indirectly to much discrimination against Jews. (Think genocide in WWII, if not countless lesser pogroms over the preceding centuries.) Looking at the death of Jesus as portrayed in the Bible and how those descriptions were interpreted and portrayed by the Catholic Church in particular is the focus of this work. As many still argue, some have interpreted the Bible to say that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus and remain responsible for his murder. As a result, many heinous crimes have been committed by Christians against Jews, at least in part and sometimes specifically because of this belief. The fact that the Catholic Church was partly (mainly) responsible for spreading that distortion lent it credence and contributed mightily to the harm inflicted on Jews. The authors, both Biblical scholars, credibly contend that Mr. Gibson’s movie is yet another example of this historical distortion. They do not feel this was a mistake of the film maker, a fervent if misguided Catholic, and simply but dangerously continues to tell a badly skewed version of history that aside from being factually incorrect, is dangerous. This book is readable for the semi-casual reader (me), but I suspect also for people with deeper backgrounds in the study of the Bible. There are lots of references for those who might want to read further and deeper in this subject matter.

[Dr. Paul T. Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Along with a detailed analysis of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion, Fischer offers great insights into the validity of the Gospels, prominent anti-Semitic issues today, the progression of the covenants from Abraham-Moses-David-New, and the chilling statistic that the nation of Israel has only found 300 "righteous Gentiles" from Europe who helped Jews during World War II (per Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem).