Bambi vs. Godzilla, a Prophet Stoner and Jesus in the Talmud
February 2nd, 2007 by Menachem Wecker
Christie’s has sold $9.4 million worth of Arab, Iranian and Indian-made contemporary art in Dubai. [Bloomberg]
Richard John Neuhaus does a great job of responding to what might be either Jeremy Cohen’s new book Christ Killers or Adam Kirsch’s review of it in the New York Sun. Two special treats are Neuhaus’ rereading of Hieronymus Bosch’s allegedly anti-Semitic painting Ecce Homo and his references to Peter Schafer’s Jesus in the Talmud. [First Things]
Is Ezekiel God’s stoner prophet? When you blog the Bible anything can happen. [Slate]
Denmark imam and critic of the Mohammed-depicting cartoons, Ahmed Abu Laban, is dead at 60. Responses are varied: “We lost one of our best friends and brothers,” said an imam, “It is a great loss for the community and his mosque.” But a spokesman for the anti-immigration People’s Party insists he “opposed and indeed fought against freedom and democracy.” [Al Jazeera]
Magnum co-founder, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs are very gripping and sometimes religious (see my coverage of another Jewish Magnum photographer David Seymour), as is one in Meghan O’Rourke’s slideshow review of a show at the International Center for Photography (NY). Here is O’Rourke on the image, pictured:
…taken in Germany at the end of the war. The woman at right has recognized the person who denounced her to the Gestapo. She assails her, to the surprise (and relief?) of the crowd. The entire series conveys Cartier-Bresson’s frustration with the singularity of a documenting photograph. [Slate]
Mein Kampf and anti-Christian polemics are in, but works by Kundera, Kazantzakis, al-Saadawi and al-Kharrat are out at the Cairo book fair. [Al Jazeera]
Mamet’s new book has gems like “Jewish law states that there are certain crimes that cannot be forgiven, as they cannot be undone. It lists murder and adultery. I add this film.” Janet Maslin thinks the book repeats itself — “That Jewish law is invoked more than once here” — despite an otherwise decent review. By the way, the book is called “Bambi vs. Godzilla.” [NY Times via Nextbook]