Is there a unique relationship between the church and the theatre? In 1874, New York City actors attempting to improve their status in life formed a 'gentleman's social club' called The Lambs Clubs, which grew in character, legitimacy and influence and from 1904 until 1975 occupied a clubhouse at 130 West Forty-eight Street. This clubhouse was purchased by the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene in 1975 and for more than twenty-five years the church has run various compassionate ministries, but also produced legitimate off-Broadway productions. In observing these two histories, this thesis addresses the relationship of the actor and church in society and offers historical, Scriptural, theological, and theatrical/artistic theories which explains the creative tension that exists between them and offers the experiences at The Lambs Clubhouse as a possible paradigm. In juxapositioning these two disciplines it is hoped to reconcile any misunderstandings that still exist today.

THE STORY: The most controversial and talked about play of the 1998 theatrical season begins: We are going to tell you an old and familiar story. But from that point on, nothing feels quite familiar again. What follows is a story that parallels t

Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Starktraces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal andcontroversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world’slargest religion. In The Triumph of Christianity, the author of God’sBattalions and The Rise of Christianity gathers and refines decadesof powerful research and discovery into one concentrated, concise, and highlyreadable volume that explores Christianity’s most crucial episodes. The uniqueformat of Triumph of Christianity allows Stark to avoid densechronologies and difficult back stories, bringing readers right to the heart ofChristian history’s most vital controversies and enduring lessons.

Six young people discuss their feelings about their own ethnic backgrounds and about their experiences with people of different races.

Striking toward peace and harmony the human being is ceasely torn apart in personal, social, national life by wars, feuds, inequities and intimate personal conflicts for which there seems to be no respite. Does the human condition in interaction with others imply a constant adversity? Or, is this conflict owing to an interior or external factor of evil governing our attitudes and conduct toward the other person? To what criteria should I refer for appreciation, judgment, direction concerning my attitudes and my actions as they bear on the well-being of others? At the roots of these questions lies human experience which ought to be appropriately clarified before entering into speculative abstractions of the ethical theories and precepts. Literature, which in its very gist, dwells upon disentangling in multiple perspective the peripeteia of our life-experience offers us a unique field of source-material for moral and ethical investigations. Literature brings preeminently to light the Moral Sentiment which pervades our life with others -- our existence tout court. Being modulated through the course of our experiences the Moral Sentiment sustains the very sense of literature and of personal human life (Tymieniecka).