22.9.06

G.RONALD MURPHY S.J. : THE HOLY GRAIL



G.Ronald Murphy S.J.
Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival

Thursday, September 28, 2006
Book Discussion at 6:30 p.m.

Searching for the Holy Grail and freeing the Holy Sepulcher were reasons given for the crusades, but the most popular story of the Holy Grail in the 13th century opposed the crusades, according to a new book by Father Ronald Murphy, S.J., professor of German at Georgetown University.

"Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival," a new book from Oxford by G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., will be featured at the National Press Club.

Parzival, Father Murphy believes, was intended as an argument against continued efforts by Latin Christians to recover the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by force of arms. In Wolfram’s story, warring Christians and Muslim brothers are brought together in peace by the power of Wolfram’s Holy Grail—a stone that the Jesuit professor believes still exists.

Has Father Murphy really found the Holy Grail? Find out in this exciting and informative evening.

The story of the Holy Grail comes to us from several medieval romances, and not just the stories that inform "The Da Vinci Code." This is a book about Wolfram von Eschenbach's Middle High German romance "Parzival," written around 1200, that scholars generally consider the most complex and beautiful of them all.

This evening will be your introduction to Father Ron Murphy -- a captivatingly fascinating German professor who has long been a student favorite at Georgetown -- and his research into the mysterious origins of the Grail.

In the Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library, National Press Club.

The event includes a discussion, Q&A session and book signing.

The event is free and open to everyone.
Please reserve at 202.662.7129 or email
opus@press.org
Books will be provided for sale and signing by Barnes & Noble
Since this is a fundraiser to benefit the Eric Friedheim Library, no outside books are allowed.

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