Living Catholicism: Catholic issues with <i>The Nativity</i>

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June 21, 2007

Catholic issues with The Nativity

The Hollywood movie, The Nativity, is clearly a flawed portrayal of the birth of Christ. And I thought it was worth pointing out some of the bigger problems the movie has in case you hear questions about it.

Overall a significant amount of the movie is simply invented for the sake of creating drama. Instead of using our rich Christian tradition to fill in the holes in the Gospel accounts, they choose to simply invent meaningless scenes that confuse more than educate. This was a flaw in the strategy they used and it really reduced the value of the movie tremendously - it changed it from "A True Story" to "Based on a True Story" in a sense.

So here are the issues I had from a Catholic perspective. If I missed anything, please add a comment with your thoughts.

Joachim and Anna. Mary's parents are portrayed as downright hostile to her. These Saints of the Church were supportive and believed by all accounts. But The Nativity destroys their Godly values and makes them simply bitter, angry parents.
Mary's Sinlessness. Mary is clearly not depicted as without sin. She appears to lie early in the film (about the donkey given to her father) and is not happy about Joseph being her future husband at least initially.
Joseph and Mary's Virginity. We believe that Joseph and Mary married as consecrated virgins (at least Mary did - some argue that Joseph had earlier children). However during their engagement, Joseph talks of filling a house with children and appears a bit lustful.
The Angel Visits. Both Mary's and Joseph's visit by an angel are incorrect, Scripturally speaking. Joseph's is the biggest error in that the angel doesn't show up until after a big confrontation with Mary and her parents. And Joseph dreams of stoning her. Downright silly and downright wrong.
Birth of Jesus. God added pain to childbirth because of the original fall. It can be argued that Mary did not experience pain during childbirth because of her sinlessness. Either way, it was an odd scene and wrong on several levels. For example, it is very doubtful that Joseph would have delivered Jesus.
The Magi. The Magi apparently start their journey just to follow a star - without understanding what they were seeking. This was a silly change in order to add humor (or what attempts to pass for it) to the movie. In addition, the Magi show up the night of Jesus' birth, which was weeks earlier than they really arrived.

Overall this movie was a theological disaster, which tends to present all the wrong things surrounding this important date. If you haven't seen the movie, don't waste your time. If you have, brush up on the real story - it's much better anyway.

God bless,
Jay

Posted by jay at June 21, 2007 8:27 AM