Mysteria

The year is 1348, and the Black Plague has crossed Europe and arrived in the Swiss Alps. With the plague surrounding them on all sides, the villagers of Rundschau must suddenly confront their worst fears. Arnold Enke, the twenty-year-old son of a harness-maker, and his friend Lothar Lange are called along with the rest of the village by Father Theodor Richmann to demonstrate their courage and faith by performing the Mysteria, an enactment of the Passion of Christ. Reluctantly, Lothar agrees to play the part of Jesus and undergoes a miraculous transformation that defies explanation. Arnold can only observe the struggle between humanity and deity, good and evil that Lothar and the rest of the village must endure.

Writing sixty-eight years later about the extraordinary events that brought hope to his village, Arnold transports readers to a time of great historical significance and transformation, revealing universal mysteries of human nature and faith.