News & Ideas

Wednesday's News & Ideas - 8/24/2022

  • Oberammergau’s Passion Play
  • New wealthiest university?
  • Texas church apologizes to “Hamilton”
  • NZ investigating megachurch
  • Rembert Weakland dies
  • Book sculptures

‘It’s my tradition too’: A town’s centuries-old Passion Play evolves*
The New York Times: After a two-year pandemic delay, villagers in the German town of Oberammergau are once again re-enacting the story of Jesus’s life and death, with some changes.

Harvard’s status as wealthiest school faces oil-rich contender in the University of Texas*
Bloomberg: The Texas university system is unlike other colleges because of its oil-rich land that’s driving record revenue this year.

Texas church sorry for unauthorized Hamilton production with biblical rewrite
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: In a post to social media, church pastor Roman Gutierrez apologized for having “infringed on the rights and copyrights of many” and said the church would “pay damages for our actions.”

New Zealand authorities investigating nation’s largest megachurch
Christianity Today: Arise Church leadership said it was going to “listen and learn,” but its senior pastors tried to stop publication of a report on allegations of intern abuse.

Retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland dies at age 95
Associated Press: The leading Catholic liberal who pushed for social justice and increased power for women in the church before he resigned amid a sex and financial scandal has died. He was 95.

The Spark

Look at these beautiful book sculptures adorned in fungi and coral.
A sculptor who works primarily in discarded materials, Kilgast’s latest series focuses on old books, reimagining them as sources of organic vitality playing host to delicately rendered mushrooms, coral, flowers, and butterflies, Lit Hub says.

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Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants

The Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is designed to foster, strengthen and sustain well-grounded worship in congregations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Two streams of grants are offered: to teacher-scholars and to worshiping communities.

Grant proposal due date options include October 15, 2023, or February 15 or June 15, 2024.

Learn More