Paul Muir directs fellow students from 91ŃÇɫ’s Master of Fine Arts Theatre Program in this fast-paced, edgy courtroom “dramedy” by Stephen Adly Guirgis presented in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre from Jan. 23 to 29.

Left: Director Paul Muir

Set in purgatory, the play re-opens the case against the great betrayer, with everyone from Mother Teresa to Sigmund Freud brought to the stand to testify. First presented off Broadway in 2005, the play was remounted in 2008 in New 91ŃÇɫ’s West End.

“I think Charlotte Stoudt of The Village Voice said it best when she said: “This ain’t your grandmother’s gospel!” says Muir.

Notwithstanding the playwright’s irreverent approach, there’s a deep and serious undercurrent. Muir cites New 91ŃÇÉ« Times critic Ben Brantley’s statement that Guirgis infuses his play with “a stirring sense of Christian existential pain, which wonders at the paradoxes of faith.”

“In the midst of all its humour, profanity and darkness, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot delivers a message of hope that the world desperately needs,” said Muir. “The truth might just be that it is never, ever too late to choose freedom and light over darkness and despair.

“But this choice is not an easy one. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult and challenging struggles we face as human beings. How do we truly find our way to forgiveness and freedom when we are lost in the pit of self-condemnation and despair?”

Muir is completing an MFA in directing in 91ŃÇɫ’s Theatre Department. He has most recently worked with Alberta’s Rosebud Theatre, where he directed Confessions of a Paper Boy (remounted at the Vancouver Fringe last summer), When the Sun Meets the Earth, The Homecoming, Salt-Water Moon, Crimes of the Heart, The Clearing and The Zoo Story.

Theatre @ 91ŃÇɫ’s production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot features undergraduates handling all aspects of production, design and execution.

The play previews Jan. 23 and 24, opens Jan. 25, then runs nightly to Jan. 29 at 7:30pm. There are matinees Jan. 26 and 28 at 1pm. Performances take place in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre, Centre for Film and Theatre. General admission $17; students and seniors $12; previews $5. For tickets, call the box office at 416-736-5888 or purchase online.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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After all, who doesn't like a good miracle? As 91ŃÇÉ« history Professor Rachel Koopmans, author of the recently published , says, "miracle stories almost always have happy endings."

Although the medieval period did not have a monopoly on miracles – Koopmans says people today believe they continue to occur – there was a specific period of time in which medieval writers fervently recorded them in Latin. The most famous of these are the Thomas Becket miracles. This is what Koopmans calls a "fad" for miracle collecting that lasted about 150 years.

"I'm trying to tell…the story of this big burst," says Koopmans. To do so, she surveyed more than 75 collections, examining how they were generated, circulated and replicated. In the first two chapters of Wonderful to Relate, she looks at the oral circulation and tradition of these miracle stories and how their telling could generate further miracles, then turns to how this mania over recording miracles came about.

Left: Rachel Koopmans

Miracle preserving reached its peak just after the murder of Becket in Canterbury cathedral in 1170, following a disagreement with King Henry II. After King Henry II and his men left the area, the monks allowed pilgrims to visit Becket's tomb. "Afterward, people reported that they were healed by Becket's power, and soon floods of people were coming to Canterbury," says Koopmans. "In 1171, a year or so after Becket's death, monks started collecting these stories. They continued collecting for about five or six years."

Most of the Becket miracles were collected by only two monks – William of Canterbury and Benedict of Peterborough. "They certainly heard many more stories than they actually recorded. Reading the collections, you get a sense of an incredible mob scene and huge excitement in Canterbury cathedral in those years after Becket's murder."

There were tales of miracles involving blind people being able to see, pregnant women having difficulty giving birth but still delivering healthy infants, accidents in which people avoided death, insane people being cured and even animals, such as sick cows, being healed. Even King Henry eventually visited Becket's tomb, apologizing and recognizing him as a miracle-working saint.

"There is a period in which dozens of English monks wrote down thousands of miracle stories and then that impulse to record miracle stories mostly disappears," says Koopmans. "Why would 12th-century monks put in all that effort to record so many very personal and often very earthy stories of saintly intervention? That question inspired my book."

These miracles weren't preserved for the average person to read; they were never translated into Middle English or French. The oral tradition of circulation was what continued to be most influential and carried more propagandistic power among the pilgrims than anything written. But these miracle collections provide a rich look into the personal lives of pilgrims, how they lived and what they struggled with during that time.

By the early 13th century, the miracle recording had waned and the window that allowed this intimate glimpse into the lives of medieval pilgrims was closed. This was around the time that formalized canonization procedures began. In 1220, Becket was moved to a new shrine where he was surrounded by stained-glass miracle windows, depicting dozens the miracles he performed posthumously. It came at a time when the "enthusiasm for miracle collecting that had gripped English monks and canons since the late 11th century was evaporating," says Koopmans. But just because miracles ceased to be recorded, doesn't mean they didn't continue to happen.

Koopmans is already working on another book about the Becket miracle windows.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Published by Duke University Press, Homophobias looks at these questions through critical interrogations and analysis of diverse sites where homophobic discourses are produced, including New 91ŃÇÉ« City, Australia, the Caribbean, Greece, India and Indonesia, as well as American Christian churches. The idea is to uncover the complex operational processes of homophobias and their intimate relationships to nationalism, sexism, racism, class and colonialism.

In the book's preface, Murray notes that the term "homophobia" had moved into the global sphere. This got him thinking about the term's meaning and the existence of homophobia. "Homophobia had gone global, and to be accused of being homophobic was to be accused of something more than just not liking homosexuals; furthermore, this accusation now carried potentially serious economic and political repercussions." He hopes the book will be the initial step in answering some of the questions the term homophobia raises.

Left: David Murray

Murray gathered researchers from a diverse range of ethnographic sites "to demonstrate how homophobia is a phenomenon that has no centre or origin, but more importantly, to examine how, or if, a transnational, comparative and ethnographically informed perspective might extend, challenge or change our understandings of homophobia."

In part one – "Displacing Homophobia" – some of the issues the contributors examine include homophobia in New 91ŃÇÉ«'s gay central, American Christian homophobia and homophobia as racism. In part two – "Transnational Homophobias" – they look at homosexual hate in Jamaica, political homophobia in Indonesia, as well as the Barbadian media. In examining these issues, Homophobias provides innovative analytical insights that expose the complex and intersecting cultural, political and economic forces contributing to the development of new forms of homophobia.

Murray, the director of the Graduate Program in Women’s Studies at 91ŃÇÉ«, is the author of .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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