Theater as Liturgy in the Post-Christian Age

Theater as Liturgy in the Post-Christian Age PDF Author: Matthew Yde
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476652813
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This is the first book-length study of one of the most talented and exciting American playwrights working today. Stephen Adly Guirgis has said that "God is the starting point and the finish line" of his work, and this book identifies him as a playwright with a distinctly Christian sensibility who uses the technique of "inculturation" to translate the gospel for a secular audience. Critics have noted that his plays are peopled with poor, suffering minority figures, but few have also noted that these figures bear a remarkable similarity to the dispossessed with whom Jesus identifies in Matthew 25. Beginning with his early play Den of Thieves and proceeding through each of his dramas, this work examines Guirgis's plays within a biblical context. While noting that Guirgis is a writer of the "post-Christian age" who staunchly resists identification as a "Christian playwright," the book situates him within the tradition of the "drama of ideas" as a powerful writer employing a dialectical method to inculcate the New Testament ethos and transform the theater space into a place of sacrament.

Theater as Liturgy in the Post-Christian Age

Theater as Liturgy in the Post-Christian Age PDF Author: Matthew Yde
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476652813
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first book-length study of one of the most talented and exciting American playwrights working today. Stephen Adly Guirgis has said that "God is the starting point and the finish line" of his work, and this book identifies him as a playwright with a distinctly Christian sensibility who uses the technique of "inculturation" to translate the gospel for a secular audience. Critics have noted that his plays are peopled with poor, suffering minority figures, but few have also noted that these figures bear a remarkable similarity to the dispossessed with whom Jesus identifies in Matthew 25. Beginning with his early play Den of Thieves and proceeding through each of his dramas, this work examines Guirgis's plays within a biblical context. While noting that Guirgis is a writer of the "post-Christian age" who staunchly resists identification as a "Christian playwright," the book situates him within the tradition of the "drama of ideas" as a powerful writer employing a dialectical method to inculcate the New Testament ethos and transform the theater space into a place of sacrament.

Theatre: A Very Short Introduction

Theatre: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Marvin Carlson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191648612
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
From before history was recorded to the present day, theatre has been a major artistic form around the world. From puppetry to mimes and street theatre, this complex art has utilized all other art forms such as dance, literature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Every aspect of human activity and human culture can be, and has been, incorporated into the creation of theatre. In this Very Short Introduction Marvin Carlson takes us through Ancient Greece and Rome, to Medieval Japan and Europe, to America and beyond, and looks at how the various forms of theatre have been interpreted and enjoyed. Exploring the role that theatre artists play — from the actor and director to the designer and puppet-master, as well as the audience — this is an engaging exploration of what theatre has meant, and still means, to people of all ages at all times. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages

Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages PDF Author: O. B. Hardison Jr.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421430878
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Originally published in 1965. The European dramatic tradition rests on a group of religious dramas that appeared between the tenth and twelfth centuries. These dramas, of interest in themselves, are also important for the light they shed on three historical and critical problems: the relation of drama to ritual, the nature of dramatic form, and the development of representational techniques. Hardison's approach is based on the history of the Christian liturgy, on critical theories concerning the kinship of ritual and drama, and on close analysis of the chronology and content of the texts themselves. Beginning with liturgical commentaries of the ninth century, Hardison shows that writers of the period consciously interpreted the Mass and cycle of the church year in dramatic terms. By reconstructing the services themselves, he shows that they had an emphatic dramatic structure that reached its climax with the celebration of the Resurrection. Turning to the history of the Latin Resurrection play, Hardison suggests that the famous Quem quaeritis—the earliest of all medieval dramas—is best understood in relation to the baptismal rites of the Easter Vigil service. He sets forth a theory of the original form and function of the play based on the content of the earliest manuscripts as well as on vestigial ceremonial elements that survive in the later ones. Three texts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries are analyzed with emphasis on the change from ritual to representational modes. Hardison discusses why the form inherited from ritual remained unchanged, while the technique became increasingly representational. In studying the earliest vernacular dramas, Hardison examines the use of nonritual materials as sources of dramatic form, the influence of representational concepts of space and time on staging, and the development of nonceremonial techniques for composition of dialogue. The sudden appearance of these elements in vernacular drama suggests the existence of a hitherto unsuspected vernacular tradition considerably older than the earliest surviving vernacular plays.

Beyond Pentecostalism

Beyond Pentecostalism PDF Author: Wolfgang Vondey
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802864015
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The Pentecostal Manifestos series aims to speak for and to a rising, outward-looking generation of Pentecostal scholarship. Written by both established and newly emerging scholars, the various "manifesto" volumes are to be creative statements, marked by rigorous theological scholarship, reflecting a distinctly Pentecostal engagement with wider themes and concerns in Christian thought today. --

Atheist in a Foxhole: One Man's Quest for Meaning

Atheist in a Foxhole: One Man's Quest for Meaning PDF Author: Ruth Imler Langhinrichs
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491766212
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
The life of Richard Alan Langhinrichs is a remarkable journeyin his own words as he struggles with his personal demonsand in the words and remembrances of his family, friends and colleagues. He was awarded two medals for valor in Saipan during WWII, where he proclaimed, There are atheists in foxholes, because Im one. Dick enrolled in Northwestern University at the age of 17, joined a fraternity, and wanting to appear blase because he was on a full scholarship, was able to fulfill this ambition, partly because he could play the piano with panache and savoir faire by imitating George Gershwin. At the wars end, he headed to New York City for a stage career while writing a novel and pursuing his lifelong quest for meaning, but years later his midlife crisis changed the course of his journey. The ministry would become his career, but not until he had been a struggling novelist, a successful real estate agent in New Yorks Greenwich Village and a highly paid business executive in Detroit. Dick was a prolific reader and books that influenced his philosophy and his quest for meaning are listed as Sacred Texts at the end of Part I: One Mans Journey.

The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama

The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama PDF Author: Michelle M. Dowd
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350161861
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
How does our understanding of early modern performance, culture and identity change when we decentre Shakespeare? And how might a more inclusive approach to early modern drama help enable students to discuss a range of issues, including race and gender, in more productive ways? Underpinned by these questions, this collection offers a wide-ranging, authoritative guide to research on drama in Shakespeare's England, mapping the variety of approaches to the context and work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. By paying attention to repertory, performance in and beyond playhouses, modes of performance, and lost and less-studied plays, the handbook reshapes our critical narratives about early modern drama. Chapters explore early modern drama through a range of cultural contexts and approaches, from material culture and emotion studies to early modern race work and new directions in disability and trans studies, as well as contemporary performance. Running through the collection is a shared focus on contemporary concerns, with contributors exploring how race, religion, environment, gender and sexuality animate 16th- and 17th-century drama and, crucially, the questions we bring to our study, teaching and research of it. The volume includes a ground-breaking assessment of the chronology of early modern drama, a survey of resources and an annotated bibliography to assist researchers as they pursue their own avenues of inquiry. Combining original research with an account of the current state of play, The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama will be an invaluable resource both for experienced scholars and for those beginning work in the field.

The Cambridge History of British Theatre

The Cambridge History of British Theatre PDF Author: Jane Milling
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521650402
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 571

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Book Description
Publisher Description

The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture

The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture PDF Author: Yaakov Ariel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0429522630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 601

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Book Description
The centrality and importance of the intersection of Christianity and culture when it comes to English-speaking countries and particularly American culture, history, and politics is beyond doubt. The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject. Comprising over 35 chapters by a team of international contributors, the handbook is divided into five parts: • Practicing Christianity • Christianity and the Word • Social and Political Aspects of Christianity and Culture • Christianity and Culture in a Global Context • Christianity and the Arts Within these parts, central issues, debates, and problems are examined including liturgy, material Christianity, education, missions, religion and science, hermeneutics, Bible translations, Christian wars, human rights, law, social action, the secular, ecumenicalism, inter-religious relations, visual arts, literature, music, theatre, and film. The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture is essential reading for students and researchers of religious studies and Christian studies. The handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, area studies, visual studies, literature, and material religion.

The Ambivalences of Medieval Religious Drama

The Ambivalences of Medieval Religious Drama PDF Author: Rainer Warning
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804737913
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
What is medieval religious drama, and what function does it serve in negotiating between the domains of theology and popular life? This book aims to answer these questions by studying three sets of these dramas from Germany, France, England, and Spain: 10th-century Easter plays, 12th-century Adam plays, and 15th- and 16th-century Passion plays.

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't PDF Author: Gavin Ortlund
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493432451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
It has never been more important to articulate the wonder and enchantment of the Christian message. Yet the traditional approaches of apologetics are often outmoded in an age of profound disenchantment and distraction, unable to meet this pressing need. This winsome apologetics book for a new generation makes the case that Christianity offers a compelling explanatory framework for making sense of our world. Pastor and writer Gavin Ortlund believes it is essential to appeal not only to the mind but also to the heart and the imagination as we articulate the beauty of the gospel. Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't reimagines four classical theistic arguments--cosmological, teleological, moral, and Christological--making a cumulative case for God as the best framework for understanding the storied nature of reality. The book suggests that Christian theism can explain such things as the elegance of math, the beauty of music, and the value of love. It is suitable for use in classes yet accessibly written, making it a perfect resource for churches and small groups.