Exploring the gospel

A button on religion professor Richard Swanson's desk reads, "None of us is as smart as all of us."

Embodying this spirit is the St. Mark Passion cantata, which is the culmination of 30 years of research for Swanson and a single summer of work for the three other professors coming together to create this unique project.

The St. Mark Passion cantata will premier on Ash Wednesday this year and was made possible by the Granskou award.

Developed by Augustana alumni from the era of President Clemens M. Granskou, the Granskou award provides faculty an opportunity for professional development. In 2009, professors Richard Swanson, James Johnson, Christopher Stanichar and Patrick Hicks received the award, and on March 9, the product of their labor will be revealed.

Each professor supplemented the cantata with something from his specific background.

Swanson was the instigator of the project and has done extensive research on the topic.

"The cantata was born in a desire to create a way to celebrate the Passion without falling victim to the casual anti-Semitism of much of popular theology," Swanson said.

Swanson supplied translations from Mark, Lamentations and Isaiah to provided a base for the cantata. Passages from those texts are also integrated into the libretto and the script.

The selection of this gospel for the cantata was done deliberately to send a message to audiences.

"These activities were guided by our shared desire to do historical justice to the role played by Rome in crucifying Jesus," Swanson said.

"We wanted to explore the implications of ancient Christian understandings of the Incarnation for the way we read the Passion story," he said. "Ancient theologians saw the Incarnation as creating a durable link between Jesus and all of humanity, particularly humanity as it suffers in a dangerous world.  In this cantata, we explore the Passion of St. Mark from this very productive angle."

Swanson chose to honor the gospel of Mark for many reasons, but particularly because of the peculiar way the story ends. Breaking off in mid-sentence, the gospel of Mark doesn't portray Jesus post-Resurrection, which leaves many feeling uneasy and waiting for a conclusion.

"This ending apparently disturbed people even in the ancient world, and ancient writers contributed four different endings that all sought to pad the jagged edges of the original ending," Swanson said.

"The original ending is fascinating, and honest, and catches the complications of what it means to speak of God in the midst of human suffering."

Providing the music for the cantata are professors Johnson and Stanichar.

"It's a very challenging text, very weighty and very intense," Stanichar said. "It was intensity in a way that I haven't thought about before doing this project."

In keeping with the history of the text, Stanichar incorporated themes from his Byzantine Catholic background into his musical arrangements.