The San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish & Community Research did a survey after The Passion that indicated the film made viewers less likely to hold Jews responsible for the death of Jesus. In a news release, the Institute argued that the movie may have had a positive effect on Jewish-Christian dialogue by prompting discussions. Contact through the Institute’s website.

Stephen T. Davis is emeritus professor of philosophy at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. He contributed an essay titled “Crucifying Jesus: Antisemitism and the Passion Story” to the collection After ‘The Passion’ is Gone: American Religious Consequences. He is the editor of Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy.

Leonard Dinnerstein is emeritus professor of history at the University of Arizona at Tucson. He is the author of Anti-Semitism in America (Oxford University Press, 1995).

Pamela M. Eisenbaum is an associate professor of Biblical studies and Christian origins at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She has written widely about anti-Semitism in its historical contexts.

Thomas Leininger is a professor of religious studies and head of the Catholic Studies Department at Regis University, a Jesuit school in Denver. He can comment on the use of Passion plays and their impact on Christian-Jewish relations.

Rabbi Michael J. Cook teaches at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and is author of the collection Images of Jesus in Medieval Art: Influence of the Middle Ages on Contemporary Passion Plays (The Center for Jewish-Christian Learning, 1995). He is an expert on Christian-Jewish relations. Cook prefers to correspond by email.

The Rev. Stanley L. Davis Jr. is co-executive director of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, as well as executive director emeritus of the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice, now named the Chicago Center for Cultural Connections.

The Rev. John Pawlikowski is a professor of social ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a veteran of Christian-Jewish dialogue and author of many books and essays on the topic.

Jim Sibley is director and co-founder of the Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies at Criswell College in Dallas. He served as National Coordinator of Jewish Ministry on the Interfaith Evangelism Team of the North American Mission Board for 10 years.  Prior to that assignment, Jim and his wife, Kathy, served as missionaries of what is now […]