Artbeat

A Jewish Jesus in occupied territory

Marty and John Bender, Elkhart, Ind., are pictured in front of the Oberammergau Passion Play Theatre in Germany at the end of May.

In 1633, the people of Oberammergau in Bavaria (now part of Germany) pleaded with God to save them from extinction. Not only had the Black Death—or plague—taken its toll in the village and surrounding area, but the Thirty Years War across Europe between Protestants and Roman Catholics had ended in deprivation and exhaustion for all.

The decline and fall of a legend

As a boy, I couldn’t get enough of the Robin Hood legends. I read every book I could find on the subject and I loved the 1938 Errol Flynn film. While it’s true that Robin dispatched the Sheriff of Nottingham’s expendable soldiers without a second thought, these light-hearted tales about Robin and his merry men conveyed a sense of harmless innocent adventure mixed with justice for the poor.

Men need to understand their ‘warrior’ side

Author Gareth Brandt, seated, signs copies of his book Under Construction: Reframing Men’s Spirituality at this spring’s book launch at House of James Christian bookstore, Abbotsford, B.C.

Gareth Brandt has written a personally grounded book on men’s spirituality as a resource for men’s prayer or discussion groups. His goal is to re-frame the basic contours of the field of men’s spirituality, which he considers neither practical nor biblically resonant.

Put on those shoes of peace

Those Shoes of Peace playwright Barb Draper (playing Grandma Katie), left, Steve (Ort) Bauman (playing Grandpa Peter), and Robb Martin (playing Kevin), discuss peacemaking around the family kitchen table.

Applause broke out in the audience at Floradale Mennonite Church when Kevin Bauman (played by Robb Martin), a recently returned Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) member from Palestine, responded to his uncle Trevor, a Zionist Christian: “But the land belongs to the Palestinians!”

New book gives greater voice to minority Reformation traditions

André Gingerich Stoner, director of interchurch relations for Mennonite Church U.S.A., left, talks with Walter Sawatsky, who has recently edited a book of proceedings from consultations that brought together representatives of Reformation movements in Europe.

Walter Sawatsky, professor of church history and mission at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), has edited proceedings of two ecumenical consultations in a newly released book, Prophetic and Renewal Movements: The Prague Consultations, published by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).

Experiencing the Chaco through Paraguay Primeval

Paul Dueck plays the Paraguayan harp during the prelude to Paraguay Primeval.

The standing-room-only audience in the Conrad Grebel University College chapel on March 3 listened to street sounds (cars, voices, music), Spanish voices shift into aboriginal ones, German voices, and modern and traditional worship music, while slides of Asunción, Paraguay, morphed into the South American countryside.

A Mennonite artist in the Canadian landscape

Paul Tiessen and Hildi Froese Tiessen sign copies of their new book, Woldemar Neufeld’s Canada: A Mennonite Artist in the Canadian Landscape 1925-1995, on Jan. 23 at the Gallery on the Grand, Kitchener, Ont., within sight of several of Neufeld’s subjects—the Bridgeport Mill and the site of the original Bridgeport bridge over the Grand River.

A cornucopia of events and exhibits in Waterloo Region has celebrated the centenary of artist Woldemar Neufeld’s birth.

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