Film premiere

Filmmaker Davids ’69 probes ‘missing years’ in Jesus story

Paul Davids ’69’s latest film, the feature documentary Jesus in India, which explores where Jesus might have lived and what he did from age 12 to 30, will premiere nationally on the Sundance Channel Dec. 22, with a repeat broadcast Dec. 26. Those years, sometimes called the “missing years,” are noted in only one sentence in the New Testament, said Davids, but an ancient tradition in India suggests that Jesus traveled throughout India and lived with both Hindus and Buddhists before returning to the Holy Land to begin his public ministry.

In his controversial film, Davids, the producer and director, follows a former fundamentalist Christian from Texas, Edward T. Martin, who was ousted from his church for wanting to explore those years in Jesus’ life, as he searches for answers and evidence of Jesus’ travels in India. Princeton’s Professor of Religion Elaine Pagels appears in the film. By Katherine Federici Greenwood

For his film, Paul Davids ’69, at left above, interviewed Monsignor Corrado Balducci, a representative of the Vatican in Washington, D.C. Balducci died in September. (Photo courtesy Paul Davids ’69)

View a trailer for Jesus in India

Author outlines recommendations for Obama in the Middle East

As President-Elect Barack Obama sets the U.S. agenda in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he should learn from the policies of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, author Yossi Klein Halevi argued in a Nov. 10 speech at Robertson Hall entitled “Israeli Society and Politics After the Gaza Withdrawal.”

Nov. 4 marked the 13th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination by a right-wing Israeli who opposed his peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians. Halevi, at right, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Israel and contributing editor of the New Republic, explained that “Rabin is responsible for two Israeli policies” that could shape Obama’s involvement in the Middle East: the Palestinian peace process and the prevention of a nuclear Iran.

Halevi urged Obama to “resist the advice of well-intentioned but wrong-headed advisers…urging you to go for a comprehensive agreement” between Israel and Palestine, despite all past failed attempts. The new president, he said, will have to understand a paradox in Israeli public opinion: “There is a profound Israeli willingness to adopt the two-state solution. There is an understanding that the occupation is a long-standing disaster [for Israel], but most Israelis don’t believe that peace can be attained.”

Secondly, Halevi said Obama must operate on a tight timetable in preventing Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities. If it does, “the appeal of Hamas will almost be certainly irreversible,” he said. A nuclear Iran will mean a “decisive end for any chance for a negotiated end to the Middle East conflict. … No country with Iran over its shoulder will dare enter into a peace agreement with Israel.”

Halevi advised Obama to “be humble in your expectations” but work for “the limited goals that you set for yourself.” By Sarah Harrison ’09

Above, author Yossi Klein Halevi. (Photo courtesy Tzahy Lerner/Wikipedia)

NOTE: The third paragraph of this item was updated Nov. 12 at 2 p.m.

Fall champions crowned on busy sports weekend

On Friday, Nov. 7, the Princeton men’s hockey team dropped its home opener to Cornell, and the football team fell to Penn a few hours later. But those two losses were offset by plenty of Princeton wins in an exciting weekend of overlapping fall and winter sports.

In the brief period between the men’s hockey loss and football’s opening kickoff, Princeton fans at Class of 1952 Stadium cheered a Tiger victory as field hockey shut out Penn, 5-0, to win its fourth consecutive Ivy League championship. Coach Kristen Holmes-Winn’s players tried on new Ivy-champion T-shirts and hoisted the league trophy.

On Nov. 8, women’s soccer, paced by two goals from senior Taylor Numann, topped Penn 2-1 in overtime at Roberts Stadium. That victory earned Princeton a share of this year’s Ivy title, along with co-champion Harvard. While the Crimson received the league’s automatic spot for the Women’s NCAA College Cup, the Tigers reached the 64-team field with an at-large bid.

Men’s water polo, host of the CWPA Southern Championships at DeNunzio Pool Nov. 8 and 9, topped George Washington, 16-9, in the opening round and advanced the tournament finals with an 8-4 win over Bucknell. In Sunday’s championship game, the Tigers completed their title quest, beating rival Navy, 12-11, to win the Southern crown for the first time since 2004. Junior Eric Vreeland’s goal put Princeton ahead with 1:29 remaining.

Women’s volleyball, women’s hockey, and men’s hockey each won weekend games, and the men’s soccer team tied nationally ranked Penn. The final tally, Friday through Sunday: nine Princeton wins, three losses, one tie, and three championships.