Stimulate audiences to see the scriptural message in a new light with these inspiring sketches based on Cycle C lectionary readings for the Lent and Easter seasons. Originally developed for presentation by a high school-age youth group, the simple, easy-to-perform scenes in this latest installment of John TenBrook's popular Thespian Theology series are an excellent tool for sharing the Gospel with unchurched people and getting them excited about Jesus Christ. Each skit is introduced by brief "Thespian Theological Thoughts" on the drama and the scripture texts. These versatile pieces can be staged as an alternative to the Sunday sermon or used for youth programs and other fellowship settings -- they're sure to enlighten audiences of all ages while leaving an indelible impression. Some of the intriguing titles include: - Dust Thou Art... Art Thou Dust? (Ash Wednesday) - Moses The Fig Tree (Lent 3) - The Spiritual Struggle Of Sidney Centurion (Passion/Palm Sunday) - "But I Wasn't There... Ya Gotta Show Me!" (Easter 2) - Let Everyone Who Is Thirsty Come (Easter 7) A graduate of Harvard University (B.A. and M.B.A.), John A. TenBrook has been addicted to the theatre ever since he appeared in Harvard's famous Hasty Pudding Show as an undergraduate. His career has included marketing and public relations positions with the Westvaco and Friendly Ice Cream corporations, and TenBrook also served as community relations director for two social service agencies in the Springfield, Massachusetts, area.

Many congregations are searching for fresh approaches to telling the good news -- and Thespian Theology is just what you need to inject a healthy dose of fun into the scriptural message. Twelve of Jesus' parables are depicted in a humorous, offbeat way in scripts that were originally developed for presentation by a high school-age youth group. While the plays are especially appropriate for adolescents, they also maintain a focus on the biblical text and will appeal to all ages. Pastors and youth leaders will discover that these simple, easy-to-perform sketches can be an excellent tool for reaching out to unchurched people and getting them excited about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone who participates in (or witnesses a performance) of these sketches will enjoy them while learning about God in the process. Some of the amusing titles include: Who Is My Neighbor? or The Parable of the Good Geek (The Good Samaritan) Wilfred Wonderful's Weightless Wooden Widget Works (The Unforgiving Servant) Hey... Who's in Charge Here? (The Laborers in the Vineyard) Irkum D. Judge, Esq. (The Judge and the Widow) A graduate of Harvard University (B.A. and M.B.A.), John A. TenBrook has been addicted to the theatre ever since he appeared in Harvard's famous Hasty Pudding Show as an undergraduate. He has worked in marketing and public relations for the Westvaco and Friendly Ice Cream corporations, and has also served as Director of Community Relations for two social service agencies in the Springfield, Massachusetts area. He is currently the Communications Coordinator for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

Playing the Martyr is a book about the interplay between theater and religion in early modern France. Challenging the standard narrative of modernity as a process of increased secularization Christopher Semk demonstrates the centrality of religious thought and practices to the development of neoclassical poetics. Engaging with a broad corpus of religious plays, poetic treatises, devotional literature, and contemporary theory, Semk shows that religion was a vital interlocutor in early modern discussions concerning the definition of verisimilitude, the nature and purpose of spectacle, the mechanics of acting, and the position of the spectator. Well researched and persuasively argued, Playing the Martyr makes the case for a more complicated approach to the relationship between religion and literature, namely, one that does not treat religion as a theme deployed within literary works, but as an active player in literary invention. Indeed, it makes the case for a serious reconsideration of the role that religion plays in the development of modern, secular literary forms.

This book investigates the discursive practices of philosophy and theater/performance on the basis of actual encounters between representatives of these two fields.

Matthew Farlow traces the thoughts of Balthasar and Barth so as to enter into theological truth of God's Being-in-Act. This exploration embarks on a journey into the reality of our Triune God who has engaged his creation so as to elicit fellow actors. God seeking out humanity is God with us, a truth that not only informs our theological endeavors, but invites us into the dramatic performance of reconciliation. As Farlow illumines, God is an acting God who seeks fellow participants in his ongoing drama of salvation. Through the dramatizing of theology, the church and her theologians come to realize God's threefold movement--revelation, invitation and reconciliation. It is a unified act that startles humanity, and thus theology, out of its "spectator's seat," so as to drag it onto the world's stage. As Farlow discusses, it is through the dramatizing of theology that we find ourselves best equipped to participate faithfully in the role of a lifetime.

This work has grown out of the question regarding the negative relationship of the Church Fathers toward the Roman theatre and the apparent subsequent theatre vacuum of over 400 years (ca. 530 AD to 930 AD). This is considered to be the time which lies between the end of the Roman theatre and the appearance of the quem quaeritis tropes. This work moves between these two poles: on the one hand, between the polemics against the pagan Roman theatre which the Church Fathers described as a theatrum daemonicum and on the other hand, the appearances of dramatic-liturgical configurations in the Christian Church. This work attempts to connect these two opposite poles instead of separating them. This study begins with an examination of documents dealing with the patristic polemic. This is followed by an examination in chronological sequence of the development of the liturgical dramatic manifestations from Jerusalem to Amalarius of Metz. It also examines the allegorical method connected with this development. In conclusion the argument is maintained that aside the theatrum daemonicum, a theatrum infictitium et sapirituale is beginning to develop.

Theology is inherently theatrical, rooted in God's performance on the world stage and oriented toward faith seeking performative understanding in the theatre of everyday life. Following Hans Urs von Balthasar's magisterial, five-volume 'Theo-Drama', a growing number of theologians and pastors have been engaging more widely with theatre and drama, producing what has been recognized as a