Jesus Christ Superstar / Christian Art or blasphemy?

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I saw the 1970s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar in the 5th grade. Many adults back then thought it was blasphemy, [no one ever said why] but it brought many to the church back then. For that reason, several people I talked to about it years later thought it was ok.

What do YOU think? Did you see it? do you think it is great or blasphemy?(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Both the album and the film are fantastic. A friend of mine is a big fan of the album and plays it whenever he DJs. People not familiar with the production often laugh when they see the title. They stop laughing when they hear the music.

My one caveat is that I think it is a fairly advanced concept of the Jesus story in terms of how it presents Judas, and perhaps more for those who are already well versed in the faith and want to explore another dimension, than beginners who are just figuring it all out. Also, the film does implicitly suggest that Mary Magdalene was in romantic love with Jesus, which I think is what got a lot of people bent out of shape about it backintheday, though nothing blasphemous or bad happens.

My parents were not big on either this or Godspell and would not let me watch any local productions of same growing up. I think the Jesus Christ Superstar movie finally played on TV when I was in high school or thereabouts and I watched it without any parental opposition at that time, but I remember being very confused by the Judas storyline. I am okay with it now but the idea of Judas as seemingly a good guy predestined to be an evil villain was offputting. I also couldn’t help noticing that the actor playing Judas was black and Jesus was white, which made me wonder if the producers were making a racial statement and if so what was it exactly. I continue to wonder about this since I read Ben Vereen played the Judas role on Broadway.

Edited to add, I am however very sad that neither Ian Gillan or Murray Head performed in the film. Everybody I know thinks Gillan’s performance of the songs is the absolute best, and I think Murray is great too. (plus I loved “One Night in Bangkok”)
 
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i haven’t seen it in years and just a bit ago it came on tv again. i dvr’ed it and haven’t watched it yet. i will now. i dvr a lot of things but rarely take time for tv to watch what i taped

thing is i thought it was great music and didn’t look at the storyline so much back then.
 
There were a lot of objections of course to the film as noted regarding Mary Magdalene, the portrayal of Judas etc. I however thought in my day which was when I was in high school a lot of young people were drawn to musical and did learn something about Jesus.

Whether it was a passing interest or pursed further by people I don’t know but I myself loved the movie and the soundtrack in my opinion was incredible.
 
I did not see it but credible accounts of why it is blasphemy exist. Our Religion Class teacher played the album in class at the time. I thought it was OK but not something I would want to own. So, looking back, this was not the Jesus we know and love, He is portrayed as someone who is not God.
 
Was he? That is disappointing. I think I saw it only one other time. I used to have a friend who owned the album.
 
Weber and Rice wrote the musical from Judas’ point of view. It’s the story of a man who was questioning the course of his life and the rising fame of his friend Jesus, because of his doubt/greed/envy betrays his friend and then kills himself.

So, no, the storytellers don’t say that Jesus is/isn’t God because the story is about Judas trying to figure that out.
 
I did not care for Jesus Christ Superstar nor Godspell. I didn’t care for the music either.
To me, they were almost trying to make Jesus like a “hippie” to appeal to the young people
of the day. I had the album Jesus Christ Superstar, but it did not help me want to stay in church or make a commitment to Christianity.
 
I never saw Godspell, but I understand it was controversial as well.
 
Right, it was my understanding that the Judas character doesn’t appreciate that Jesus is God.
Not that Jesus actually is not God.

I also didn’t think it was that far-fetched that Judas wouldn’t understand or appreciate that Jesus was God’s son.
What I didn’t get when I first saw this film was the implication that Judas either acted out of a good faith doubt about Jesus’ nature and motives, and/or Judas did not have free will. I have grown more comfortable with the idea of Judas maybe having a good faith doubt, but as a Catholic rather than some Christian who believes in predestination, I can’t imagine that Judas didn’t act of his own accord.
 
I never saw the movies, my family thought it was some kind of crazy hippie thing back then. 😜

That and Joseph and his technicolor dreamcoat.
 
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As much as I may love my Presbyterian husband and think fondly of and pray for his deceased Presbyterian parents, I am certainly not going to pay any attention to a blog written by “Rev. McClung, Minister of Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church & Administrator of Newtownabbey Independent Christian School.”
 
I actually saw Godspell with our church in NYC. Our priest organized it. There was a whole bus load of us that went.
I really liked it a lot. The movie is just okay though. I like the music too, I am not sure what was controversial about it. I like that if you were to see a version of it, it’s “jokes” are updated for the times.

I was in high school when Superstar came out. Our school had a big field trip to go see it. Everyone in my 9th grade class went. Except me…I knew my father would NEVER have let me go to see that performance, and rather than have him get upset, I never even asked to go or even mentioned that they were going.

Can you IMAGINE a public school today taking a bunch of kids to something that had ANY Christian component to it?? 😳
 
It is unorthodox, but not blasphemous. Lyricist Tim Rice had no anti-Christian intent.
 
Although I loved the soundtrack of “Superstar” , and ZOMG Herod’s icky little glasses were hilarious!–what turned me off was the scene where Jesus is pushing away the people who were coming to Him for help (the lepers, I think?). I was like, “nope, not Christlike” and that was the end of the musical for me.
Also, there was controversy because Judah’s was a Black man (seriously?–wth, casting!)
“Godspell” remains a favorite, I play the DVD every Good Friday.
But remember, both treatments are essentially fanfictions and not theology lessons.
But I’ve come to love Tyler Perry’s “Passion”. I think it was produced in 2015.
That, too, is a fanfiction.
 
No, they were right–they were both crazy Hippie things.
That doesn’t necessarily make them bad
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
what turned me off was the scene where Jesus is pushing away the people who were coming to Him for help (the lepers, I think?). I was like, “nope, not Christlike” and that was the end of the musical for me.

Also, there was controversy because Judah’s was a Black man (seriously?–wth, casting!)
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I forgot that part with the lepers. Yeah that was a bit creepy too.

I’m glad I’m not the only person who noticed Judas being black and Jesus being white. In that era, such casting really stood out. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen any review or commentator addressing it.
 
While we are on the subject of Jesus “fanfics”, anybody seen Johnny Cash’s Jesus movie, “The Gospel Road”? It wasn’t as good as “Superstar” from an art standpoint, but an interesting 70s curiosity. It also stars about the blondest, whitest actor as Jesus I ever saw.
 
Ive seen most of it…decades ago…couldnt finish it all. It struck me as extremely irreverant and joke like. I remember ppl made fun of Jesus during it.
 
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