`Constantine’s Sword’
“Constantine’s Sword” explores the dark side of Christianity through the eyes of former Catholic priest James Carroll , the son of a U.S. Air Force general who played a key national-security role during the Cold War. It’s a powerful indictment of religion by a highly spiritual man who thinks God deserves better. read full entry
Casting bestselling author/columnist James Carroll as the teller of his own tale, Oren Jacoby’s magnificent, thought-provoking essay film “Constantine’s Sword” examines the unholy alliance between organized religion and military power. Jacoby’s focused yet peripatetic approach perfectly suits Carroll’s unique blending of historical and personal pilgrimages, as he travels to the U.S. Air Force base at Colorado Springs on the one hand and to ancient Rome on the other. Taking anti-Semitism as a paradigm for religious intolerance, Carroll sets out to ascertain where Christianity went wrong. Highly controversial, deeply felt docu bows April 18 at Gotham’s Quad and Lincoln Plaza. Full review Read the full entry »
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Too often, “essay films” — documentaries arguing a specific point of view — are made by those antipathetic to their subjects. What’s unusual about Constantine’s Sword, an exploration of the historical alliance of military and religion, and the ancient origins of Christian antisemitism, is that it’s narrated by ex-priest and still-religious journalist James Carroll, whose father was a three-star general in the US Air Force. In other words, Carroll knows of what he speaks. The result is an even-keeled but nonetheless moving interrogation of why, as he suggests, religion is the excuse of not one but both sides of those waging war in Iraq. flavorpill.com
– Lisa Rosman
Constantine’s Sword, based on James Carroll’s doorstopper-size book of the same name, indicts the Catholic Church for historical abuses, but takes aim at right-wing Protestant evangelicals as well. The film is essentially divided into these two overlapping segments. In this harsh, frightening and stunning dissection of Church history in the first instance and the efforts of evangelicals to break down the wall separating Church and State, Carroll takes viewers on a cinematic tour of specific areas of Europe and the United States to punctuate his reservations about religion’s role.
“If nothing else, it demonstrates why we should feel cold shivers whenever President George W. Bush bandies the term ‘crusade.’”
X marks the spot, literally, where Christianity and the Catholic Church fostered the centuries of religious hatred and anti-Semitism that culminated in the Holocaust. So argues James Carroll Read the full entry »
A controversial new film on Christian-Jewish history called “Constantine’s Sword” will open in New York City during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit next week. NY1’s Shazia Khan filed the following report.
The Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side invited religious leaders for a special screening this week. Among the attendees was Sister Mary Boys, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and a woman active in Christian-Jewish dialogue. nicotinell
“What he narrates in that film happened,” she said. “We need to know about it, so that we make for a different church, and I think we are in a different church. And I want to be a part of a church that has the courage and the maturity to face its own history.” Read the full entry »
Review in Sojourners by Judy Coode
More than seven years ago, James Carroll, award-winning novelist and Boston Globe columnist, wrote Constantine’s Sword, which traced the history of anti-Semitism in the church and also included Carroll’s personal reflections on his life as the son of an Air Force general and as a former priest.
Devout Catholic answers a call to challenge church
James Carroll, a former priest, uses his personal spiritual journey to drive ‘Constantine’s Sword.’
By Gina Piccalo, Times Staff Writer
Author James Carroll is an idiosyncratic Catholic, a former priest who still celebrates his faith yet rejects the very roots of its doctrine, viewing Christianity’s promise of eternal life as “destructive” and the cross as a symbol of Roman Emperor Constantine’s lust for power.
This unorthodox perspective drives “Constantine’s Sword,” a documentary premiering Sunday at the Los Angeles Film Festival about Carroll’s personal discovery of anti-Semitism in the Catholic church and its influence in today’s evangelical Christian movement.
James Dobson will freak out when he sees this film UPDATE: New showing tomorrow!!
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