Tori Winsky

Christian Aesthetics

Abstract 1

Theatre is meant to happen in community because it teaches people more about

themselves. This chapter in the book call this form of reflective theatre “looking glass theatre.”

Theatre provides an avenue for layered content which makes people think. There are also people

who believe that you can be a “passive receptor” which means you just consume entertainment

and inputs as they come to you. “There are many parallels between theatre and theology.” Which

is interesting because as the book points out the church and stage don’t always agree. The book

cites the reason for this being that theatre has a lot to do with the body. Even though the church

hasn’t always agreed with the theatre they have “intersected” at many points in history because

theatre often depicts religion or has people analyzing their faith in ways that the church typically

tries to avoid. For example, the play Doubt discusses many very controversial topics in the

theatre. All good theatre discusses topics that would maybe be considered taboo in normal

conversation. Chapter one beings with a discussion on a time where theatre and Christianity

worked together. The period of time where theatre and Christianity had the greatest

“relationship” was in the medieval period. During this time people created shows that depicted

the gospel or were analogies and symbolized the Christian faith. During the Middle Ages there

was a time of separation, and then a revival again in the Renaissance period. Later in the chapter

the book discusses the importance of the difference between “formal” and “informal” drama.

Pages 24-26 references scripture that has to do with informal dramas and the many parallels to

theatre in the bible. The chapter continues to do that until the end of the chapter where we circle

back to the ritualistic theater. The end of the chapter talks about the theatre of cruelty where they
combined their newfound technology with avant-garde subject matter typically mysticism and

ritualistic themes.

Questions

1. How can theatre be so connected to the body and not tempt actors to sin?

2. Does theatre have to depict bible stories or even have direct analogies to be effective?

3. As Christians are we to stay away from ritualistic shows because of the practices in

them?