Dear Ladies and Gentlemen

For almost two thousand years ago a feast with 13 guests is supposed to have taken place. Traditions and texts have described and interpreted and explained this feast in endless variations.

To answer If, When, Where, and Why this feast took place there is today 3 great monotheistic religions. They have the same figures and tales as their point of departure but interpret them differently. In almost two thousand years these religions have discussed, fought, murdered and waged wars. And what may come as a surprise to the more rational among us they are still doing it.

No matter whether this feast with the 13 took place or not, what is so great and beautiful about history is that is has fundamentally affected our cultural life since then.

In these times where quantity is our only measure we have to realize that 13 was enough to change the world.

Today 12 disciples have come from different subject areas. Even if we cannot change the world, for that purpose we are too modest, could we not based on our different points of departure and attitudes suggest a possibility for dialogue? A dialogue that could put humans first in this endless war of religions that is now also involving our secular democratic state of law.

The Spirit, number 13, is here, as an image as matter, carved in stone behind us like the stone statue in Mozart’s Don Juan. Whether our living words are spiritual enough to liberate the spirit from the stone, we shall see.

Disciples: Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Steen Hildebrandt, Preben Brandt, Søren Gosvig, Lisbet Christoffersen, Ove Korsgaard, Daniel Dencik, Dina Al-Erhayem, Peter Bastian, Henrik Marstal og Anja C. Andersen.

Arranged by Rune Reimer Christensen og Hans Grishauge.