Research & Aesthetics: Part 1

I've been doing a lot writing in class so writing actual blog posts has been difficult.  So since my professors were impressed with some of the stuff I was writing, I thought I would post that instead. The purpose of the class Research & Aesthetics is to examine the relationship between the history of Christianity and the history of Theatre and how they were connected and influenced each other, and most importantly how they influenced our worldview of each today.  The following is the first of five short papers I wrote off of prompts given by the professors Scott Hayes and Michael Burnett:

The Middle Ages were the golden time of Christian drama. As ironic and complicated as the relationship between theatre and Christianity has been throughout history, it was never stronger than during medieval times. This affiliation is obvious for three reasons; the Church was responsible for the rebirth of theatre despite its preexisting prejudices, the Church had a huge presence in all aspects of life during the medieval time period, and the relationship between Christianity and theatre during the Middle Ages was especially close when it is compared to the relationship today. 

            The Church had established a huge prejudice against the theatre well before the Middle ages, which continued through the Middle Ages and has survived until today. This prejudice is justified when looking at what Christians had been through in the centuries leading up to the Middle Ages. Roman theatre was considered a form of worshiping pagan Gods, so Christians avoided it as much as possible. Roman persecution of Christians heated up under the reign of Emperor Decius in 249 AD when he created laws that required all citizens to attended Roman religious ceremonies. Those who refused, as most Christians did, could potentially be put to death. Romans persecuted Christians for genocidal reasons, attempting to gain back authority and stability on political and social levels. Because of this strong persecution, church leaders and lead theologians of the time, such as Tertullian denounced the theatre and discouraged Christians from partaking. They even reached the point of excommunicating church members who attended the theater instead of church on Sundays and forcing actors to denounce their profession before they were allowed the sacraments (Bruch 2-4).

            The Church, after it had spent a few centuries pushing theatre and those who partook away, would be the ones to rebirth it and start the relationship anew during the medieval period. The Church did not recreate theater from nothing; it combined the popular forms of entertainment with the liturgies and sacred texts of the time (Johnson and Savidge 35). 

In the early parts of the Middle Ages many forms of popular entertainment still existed, such as traveling troupes of comedic, acrobatic and circus style acts that were performed at different festivals. The establishment of the Church had a few roots in theatre as well. Rituals such as mass, vestments for clergy, structures of churches, musical accompaniment and certain symbolic events are all considered theatrical.  Apart from these facts, church drama seemed to grow out of the liturgical music that was sung in Latin, a language not understood by common people, thus creating a need to perform these stories and biblical concepts (Wilson and Goldfarb 121, 125-126). According to Dale Savidge, “The use of stained glass imagery as a visual means to teach in an illiterate world and St. Francis’s creation of the crèche to tell the story of the nativity also point to the use of theatre in religious education (37).” What started as liturgical music grew into liturgical dramas, tropes, cycle plays, and finally morality plays.  Savidge also tells us that,

“By the fifteenth century a robust body of work was in evidence in nearly every European country, from cycles of plays based on the Bible to morality plays to folk dramas. Because of the pervasive influence of the church, in no period in the history of Christianity or the theatre was a closer relationship between the two more in evidence than in the Middle Ages (38).”

There are many theories about how theatre was reborn but the fact that it happened during the medieval period and that it was primarily the Church’s responsibility proves the strength of the relationship between theatre and Christianity. This is not only because of the Church’s role in resurrecting it; the Church and its influence were ever present (Wilson and Goldfarb 124).  This influence covered most aspects of life including “politics, learning, social organization, art, music, economics, and law… (Noll 121)” 

The Church’s most noteworthy influence in the Middle Ages was over the secular rulers (Wilson and Goldfarb 121). The crowning of Charlemagne in 800 AD by Pope Leo III is the best example of Christian influence in the world at that time. How the papacy came to such power is indeed perplexing to say the least, given that there is no clear lineage or special events that mark a clear ascension to power. Nevertheless, by 800 the papacy had reached the height of its power and the coronation of Charlemagne was considered a “strategic alliance” between the pope and political power whose influence was also greatly expanding (Noll 116-117).  Christendom in the Middle Ages was not only affecting the political powers of the time but was unifying the secular and sacred elements of life that we today would require to be separate; something Mark A. Noll mentions is sometimes called the “medieval synthesis (122).”  This molding of the secular and sacred is apparent in the relationship between theatre and Christianity as well. 

Where we once had a grand connection between what was secular and sacred, we now have a great divide.  In this separation-of-church-and-state society, many people in our country tend to let this mindset bleed over into other aspects of life, including entertainment.  A quick glance at Hollywood and Broadway and all of the movies and shows nominated for prestigious awards will tell you that Christ and his saving grace has no place on the big screen or stage.  As a final point, you can see the relationship between Christianity and theatre in the middle ages was the closest it ever was in history simply by viewing the status of that relationship today.

Theatre today is considered secular.  Generally Christian theatre, to the secular world, is considered to be short skits or dramas played during church services that are either depictions of biblical characters or principals that go nicely with that week’s sermon topic. Or it is considered to be a grandiose production of a passion play that has an in-your-face sort of message. To the secular world, Christian theatre is looked at as low quality, no talent, and weak attempts at the “real” thing. Realistically, however, there are a number of Christian touring and resident theatre companies like Riding Lights Theatre in York, England, The A.D. Players in Houston, Texas and The Lamb’s Players in San Diego, California (Johnson and Savidge 44). These companies do put on comparable productions to other non-faith-based theatre companies. But because of the established Christian theatre stigma, without seeing these productions, one would never think they produced anything of quality, let alone know the company existed at all.

Most denominations have people in them who hold true to the philosophy that who we are is in accordance with how we behave. They pattern their behavior based on an endgame of righteousness. With this philosophy in mind, stemming directly from the puritanical views, there are many objections against theatre: The theatre arouses emotions that hurt the spiritual life of those who watch it; it also has no use and does not help people to behave appropriately to establish righteousness. However, there are also those who believe that it is not what you do that makes you who you are, it is who you are that decides what you do.  Christian doctrine today focuses on growth from the inside and helps people understand the world around them and how to interact with it.  Under these goals, Christians do not try to control the world around them but accept it for what it is, thereby allowing theatre to exist, but separate from the church and thus drastically different then what it was in medieval times (Bruch 17-18).

Theatre as a part of the worship service in churches varies from denomination to denomination as well.  The rise of the contemporary church has by and large been interested in being up-to-date and current with the common fads and information media practices. Most theatrics are now being replaced by cheap and easy cinematic shorts that are projected on the screen (Johnson and Savidge 41). 

In conclusion, I have always considered the theatre of the Middle Ages to be the quintessential Golden Age of Christian theatre.  What writing this paper has really helped me to see is the state of Christian theatre today.  From my worldview, it is not the secular theatre that needs to be more sacred.  It is the theatre that we Christians hold sacred which needs to be released into the world of the secular.  As Christians we are called to be in the world.  Our Christian art needs to be in that world, changing it for the better.  We cannot keep separating ourselves from the very people who need us the most.  But because the people of the secular entertainment industry view Christian art, especially that of theatre, with an unprofessional stigma, we need to be doing everything we can to eradicate that stigma and prove ourselves as we did in medieval times.  The Golden Age of Christian theatre existed because of the strong relationship between theatre and Christianity.  That relationship can and needs to be rekindled.

Works Cited

Bruch, Debra. "The Prejudice Against Theatre." Journal of Religion and Theatre 3.1 (2004): 1-18. Web. 19 Sep 2009. .

Johnson, Todd E., and Dale Savidge. Performing the Sacred: Theology and Theatre in Dialogue. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2009.

Noll, Mark A.. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. 2^nd ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2000.

Wilson, Edwin, and Alvin Godlfarb. Living Theatre: A History. 4^th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004.