Well, I appreciate that. I was wondering where your theological degree landed on the subject, and whether you'd find offence (not intentional).
Look, I know I often come off as aggressive and so forth, but I am generally (would you believe it!) a fairly reasonable human being. I specialised in postmodern theology, brought metafiction into my dissertation (argued for a metafictional reading of Scripture, essentially), so had moved away from early Christianity and studying apocryphal writings. It was a shame, actually.
So the Essenes weren’t my focus at all, I’ve done about 1.5 years of research on them, all in all, it evolved from studying Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, and though I’ve remained invested and kept reading, there’s only so much you can find out about them in this disorganised way. When I was in Israel just before Covid (heh), I visited the caves and their sacred spots around the Dead Sea. Absolutely fascinating. I was lucky to have done it, given where we are now and what’s going on in the region.
It's interesting that you feel that way, because I always felt that, rather than diss, the film parallels the pagan rituals with the Christian (crucifixtion) in a way that directly ties the latter to the former.
True. I think I mean it in a purely teleological sense, you know. He did get utterly screwed over, and it’s left ambiguous (to me, that is) whether he will be ‘saved’ in any way. I actually always see the ending as a desperate kind of moment where he might even be wondering if he’s wrong.
I can’t explain why I feel that way. But that’s at the heart of early Christian persecution, right? Will you denounce it when you’re burning at the stake? I think there’s something in his eyes that suggests he regrets the whole Crusade.
If I had to pinpoint where I think that comes through, it’s the fact he curses the islanders after reciting the psalm, I’m not sure a martyr who’s not doubting would do that.
Either way, there is certainly a parallel, but I think the film shows the pagans as utterly self-sufficient, able guys who manage just fine without such self-appointed Crusaders such as Sergeant Howie.