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Rating: 
Summary: The passion of the passion play
Review: Although frequently cited in connection with its visitations from and support by Adolph Hitler, the passion play of Oberammergau, Bavaria is less frequently the study of the more serious and long standing issues bound up with a theatrical presentation of the last hours in the life of Jesus. Fortunately, Shapiro's work endeavors toward such an analysis.
Reputedly first presented in 1634, the passion play of Oberammergau is the periodic product of a town that maintains that its prayers were answered when they were spared a plague then ravaging Bavaria. Using local talent the town attempts to -- every ten years -- retell the story of the passion through theatre.
On the historic level, their actions have obviously (and in varying degrees) attracted the support of the church, the state and the faithful. In this regard this book is a great companion work to James Carroll's Constantine's Sword in its attempt to track evolving Christian self identity.
On a more fundamental level, if our great canons are really inspired of the divine should this not reveal itself in our actions toward others. In a post 9/11 world can any berth be given to those who maintain hatred in the name of God or any religious work.
While history informs that Hitler's Oberammergau existed within 75 miles of a Nazi death camp, significantly Shapiro puts his focus on the modern Oberammergau. The story of the 2000 passion play, according to Shapiro was a story characterized by an attempt at Christian/Jewish collaboration.
In other words Shapiro permits the view that the modern passion play can -- as needs it must -- be told with eyes lifted toward heaven. Not of Hitler and hatred, but rather of an attempt at the divine.
Rating:
Summary: Behind the Scenes of Oberammergau
Review: First a disclaimer: Technically, I should not review this book because as the official translator of the revised Passion Play text into English and one of the scholars involved in the preparatory Jewish-Christian dialogue concerning the complex Oberammergau-anti-Judaism issue, I am one of the participants in the story Jim Shapiro tells, as well as one of his sources. Hence, I clearly cannot expect to be considered an objective reviewer. In addition, I bought the book not via Amazon in the United States, but in the German translation at the Jewish Museum bookstore in Vienna on my way to Oberammergau and the premiere performance of this year's Passion Play.On the other hand, precisely because I know so much of the background, I also feel uniquely qualified to offer my opinion: the book is superb. Shapiro is a Jewish scholar, but this is neither a Jewish analysis of Oberammergau, nor a ponderous academic treatise. It is a painstakingly researched, sensitive, and highly readable investigative report of the complex issues involved. This is not only a history of the play itself but a non-sensational exposé of the labyrinth behind the scenes of this millennial production. Supporting characters range from Vatican theologians and representatives of the Anti Defamation League to members of various village factions, Adolf Hitler, "Jud Meyer", and the Victorian intellectuals Isabel and Richard Burton. In his book, Shapiro lances countless pretensions and lights up the dark corners of rewritten history and fiction accepted and perpetuated as reality. According to tradition, the first Oberammergau Passion Play was performed as a result of a vow the villagers made when people were dying of the bubonic plague in 1633. Afterwards, we are told, the illness subsided. However, it can be argued that the real plague was not a physical illness but a deadly disease of the soul and spirit - the kind of anti-Judaism inspired by hundreds of years of blaming "the" Jews for the death of their brother Yeshua/Jesus and calling them the "Murderers of God." The real plague was anti-Judaism masquerading as Christian piety, a deadly disease spread by denial and coverup. Passion plays became bearers of the kind of hatred that eventually erupted in the Shoah of the 20th century. If the play is to continue in the next millennium, these issues must to be faced. As Shapiro reports, they are being faced, and the current production is the result. Shapiro dispatches assorted "sacred cows," and may consequently annoy both some Jewish and some Catholic disputants in the long standing Oberammergau controversy. But no one, I believe, can doubt that he is genuinely concerned with getting at the truth. He understands that it may be impossible for Jews and Christians to read the same text or see the same event on stage and interpret their experience in an identical manner. Otto Huber (responsible for the text) and Rabbi Leon Klenicki (ADL) may never be able to see what the other sees, but the effort of working together and trying to make this a genuinely new beginning is in itself a sign of hope. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography and should be required reading for Jews, Christians, students of history, anyone concerned with furthering interreligious dialogue--in sum, thoughtful people everywhere. Ingrid Shafer, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Interdisciplinary Studies University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Chickasha, OK 73018 http://ecumene.org
Rating: 
Summary: What's the problem?
Review: I started this book but found it had nothing serious to say. It's more like a trip through the author's troubled expectations and mind. It was pleasant to read something about the famous Passion Play though, if only a weak hatchet job. Put it back on the store shelf
Rating: 
Summary: The Trouble is...what?
Review: I'm a little concerned about Shapiro's grasp of the primary source material. Oberammergau is a place where Catholics put on a play about events re-enacted from an exclusively Christian memoir. There are the good guys, that'd be Jesus and His crew, and then there are the bad guys, that'd be the Romans and the Jews, only not the Jews who're Jesus and His crew, some other ones. See. It's a story. They are acting out a story. Perhaps someone needs to write the story in reverse. If it makes a better story we'll probably all be able to look forward to a better play.
Rating:
Summary: The Trouble is...what?
Review: I'm a little concerned about Shapiro's grasp of the primary source material. Oberammergau is a place where Catholics put on a play about events re-enacted from an exclusively Christian memoir. There are the good guys, that'd be Jesus and His crew, and then there are the bad guys, that'd be the Romans and the Jews, only not the Jews who're Jesus and His crew, some other ones. See. It's a story. They are acting out a story. Perhaps someone needs to write the story in reverse. If it makes a better story we'll probably all be able to look forward to a better play.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book So Good You Don't Want It to End
Review: Shapiro's a good writer, and he's able to spell out the implications of all the on-stage and backstage action at this weird Bavarian once-every-ten-years affair. From now on I am giving Obergammerau a wide berth in my travels. I'd rate the book even higher if it didn't feel overly rushed to me, written at white heat in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 Passion Play, so it has the slapdash end of one of those tabloid-isnpired true crime books that hit the supermarket racks a day after the crime takes place. Dr. Shapiro, you are brilliant at analysis, so next time out why not give a little more time for your thoughts to gel?
Rating:
Summary: A Book So Good You Don't Want It to End
Review: Shapiro's a good writer, and he's able to spell out the implications of all the on-stage and backstage action at this weird Bavarian once-every-ten-years affair. From now on I am giving Obergammerau a wide berth in my travels. I'd rate the book even higher if it didn't feel overly rushed to me, written at white heat in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 Passion Play, so it has the slapdash end of one of those tabloid-isnpired true crime books that hit the supermarket racks a day after the crime takes place. Dr. Shapiro, you are brilliant at analysis, so next time out why not give a little more time for your thoughts to gel?
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