Arts & Sciences

The soon to be released Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of The Christ” is creating quite a stir among religious experts, as well as lay people. Many say the movie has anti-Semitic overtones. But according to Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis, the Jews had nothing to do with killing Jesus — the Romans are actually to blame.

Four distinguished St. Louis composers, all affiliated with the Washington University Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, will be honored with a concert of their works in the university’s Edison Theatre at 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 29.

Robert M. Walker, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences and faculty fellow for the McDonnell Center for Space Sciences, died Feb. 11 in Brussels, Belgium after an extended battle with stomach cancer. He was 74.

Four eminent scientists will explore the subject of “Plant Sciences: The Environment and Sustainability,” and topics ranging from phytoremidiation, the inorganic carbon cycle, carbon sesquestration, the impact of genetically modified crops on the environment, and the issue of sustainability.

Roberta Freund Schwartz, assistant professor of historical musicology at the University of Kansas, will present a lecture titled “An Investigation into the Late Renaissance episteme Embodied in the Musical Writings of Joachim Burmeister and the Motets of Orlando di Lasso” at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27.

Tenor Joseph Michels, a master’s candidate in vocal performance in Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, will present a voice recital at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in the university’s Graham Chapel.

DaviesFiction Writer Peter Ho Davies will present a pair of events Feb. 26 and March 4.

Pianist James Prell will join the Washington University Symphony Orchestra for a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, in University’s Graham Chapel.

LeeHelie Lee, author of the national bestselling memoirs Still Life with Rice (1996) and In the Absence of Sun (2002), will host a pair of events Feb. 23-24 for The SmartSet Series: Where Great Writers Read, sponsored by Washington University’s Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences.

Photograph © Douglas M. Parker StudioJean-Michel Basquiat *Horn Players* 1983 Acrylic and oil paintstick on three canvas panels, 96 x 75Works by contemporary composers John Adams, Emma Diemer, William Bolcom and saxophonist Anders Lundegaard will highlight a concert of American Music of the 1980s at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at the Washington University Gallery of Art.