A.O. Scott of the New York Times has his own retrospective of the biblical epic and the related culture wars as we prepare for release of Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Good stuff, as frequently from Scott, and fair to all sides. (I note in passing how difficult it seems for media people in particular to get the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception straight. See the NYT correction, which is itself incorrect; it is a Catholic doctrine, not necessarily shared by other Christian traditions. Look, if you don’t understand it, look it up.)