Download or read book Transgressive Devotion written by Natalie Wigg-Stevenson and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2021-02-28 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academic theology is in need of a new genre. In "Transgressive Devotion" Natalie Wigg-Stevenson articulates a theological vision of that genre as performance art. She argues that theology done as performance art stops trying to describe who God is, and starts trying to make God appear. Recognising that the act of studying theology or practicing ministry is always a performance, where the boundaries between what we see, feel, experience and learn are not just blurred but potentially invisible, Wigg-Stevenson brings together ethnographic theological fieldwork, historical and contemporary Christian theological traditions, and performance artworks themselves. A daring vision of theology which will energise anybody feeling ‘boxed in’ by the discipline, Transgressive Devotion blurs borders between orthodoxy, heterodoxy and heresy to reveal how the very act of doing theology makes God and humanity vulnerable to each other. This is theology which is a liturgy of Divine incantation. In other words: this is theology which is also prayer.
Download or read book Theology as Performance written by Philip Stoltzfus and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-06-05 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theology as Performance breaks new ground in the growing conversation between modern theology and philosophical aesthetics. Stoltzfus proposes that significant moments in the Western development of the concept of God, in particular as represented in the figures of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, have been deeply influenced by concepts and approaches borrowed from the discipline of musical aesthetics. Each thinker develops fundamentally different ways of writing about God that have in significant respects been derived from each one's reading and writing about music. The aesthetic implications of Schleiermacher's so-called subjectivist turn, Barth's objectivist reaction, and Wittgenstein's language-game pragmatism can thus be fully understood only by attending to the musical culture and distinctly musicological discourses that gave rise to them. Stoltzfus constructs two trajectories of thought with which to trace theological reflection upon music throughout the pre-modern period: the traditions of Orpheus and Pythagoras. Schleiermacher's aesthetic approach, then, becomes a modern representative of the Orpheus trajectory, and Barth's approach a representative of the Pythagoras trajectory. Stoltzfus interprets Wittgenstein as putting forward a radical critique of these trajectories and pointing toward a third, "performative" theological-aesthetic method. Theology as Performance offers a provocative rethinking of the aesthetic roots of modern theology.
Download or read book The Performance of Religion written by Cia Sautter and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-01-12 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how religious values are acted out and reflected on in classic Western theatre, with a particular emphasis on the plays put on during the Globe Theatre‘s yearlong season of 'Shakespeare and the Bible'. Each chapter includes ethnographic overviews of the performance of these plays as well as historical and theological perspectives on the issues they address. The Performance of Religion treads new ground in bringing performance and religious studies scholarship into direct conversation with one another. As such, it is essential reading for any academic with an interest in theology, religion and ethics and their expression in culture through the performing arts.
Download or read book Theology as Performance written by Philip Stoltzfus and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-06-05 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theology as Performance breaks new ground in the growing conversation between modern theology and philosophical aesthetics. Stoltzfus proposes that significant moments in the Western development of the concept of God, in particular as represented in the figures of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, have been deeply influenced by concepts and approaches borrowed from the discipline of musical aesthetics. Each thinker develops fundamentally different ways of writing about God that have in significant respects been derived from each one's reading and writing about music. The aesthetic implications of Schleiermacher's so-called subjectivist turn, Barth's objectivist reaction, and Wittgenstein's language-game pragmatism can thus be fully understood only by attending to the musical culture and distinctly musicological discourses that gave rise to them. Stoltzfus constructs two trajectories of thought with which to trace theological reflection upon music throughout the pre-modern period: the traditions of Orpheus and Pythagoras. Schleiermacher's aesthetic approach, then, becomes a modern representative of the Orpheus trajectory, and Barth's approach a representative of the Pythagoras trajectory. Stoltzfus interprets Wittgenstein as putting forward a radical critique of these trajectories and pointing toward a third, "performative" theological-aesthetic method. Theology as Performance offers a provocative rethinking of the aesthetic roots of modern theology.
Download or read book Religion Theatre and Performance written by Lance Gharavi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-12-21 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intersections of religion, politics, and performance form the loci of many of the most serious issues facing the world today, sites where some of the world’s most pressing and momentous events are contested and played out. That this circumstance warrants continued, thoughtful, and imaginative engagement from those within the fields of theatre and performance is one of the guiding principles of this volume. This collection features a diverse set of perspectives, written by some of the top scholars in the relevant fields, on the many modern intersections of religion with theatre and performance. Contributors argue that religion can no longer be conceived of as a cultural phenomenon that is safely sequestered in the "private sphere." It is instead an explicitly public force that stimulates and complicates public actions, and thus a crucial component of much performance. From mystic theologies of acting to the neuroscience of spirituality in rituals to the performance of secularism, these essays address a broad variety of religious traditions, sharing a common conception of religion as a crucial object of discourse—one that is formed by, and significantly formative of, performance.
Download or read book Performance in Preaching Engaging Worship written by Jana Childers and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2008-11-01 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, which launches the Engaging Worship series from Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, offers a unique study of sermon delivery. While many books offer advice on how to prepare, write, and preach a sermon, this volume is distinctive in approaching the subject from the perspective of performance. The authors, who teach at a variety of seminaries and divinity schools across the nation, examine how the sermon can bring God's word to life for the congregation. In that sense, they consider the idea of performance from a wide range of theological, artistic, and musical viewpoints. These thoughtful essays will engage clergy and students with new ways of looking at the art of preaching.
Download or read book Church Music Through the Lens of Performance written by Marcell Silva Steuernagel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-14 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an investigation into church music through the lens of performance theory, both as a discipline and as a theoretical framework. Scholars who address religious music making in general, and Christian church music in particular, use "performance" in a variety of ways, creating confusion around the term. A systematized performance vocabulary for the study of church music can support interdisciplinary investigations of Christian congregational music making in today’s complex, interconnected world. From the perspective of performance theory, all those involved in church musicking are performing, be it from platform or pew. The book employs a hybrid methodology that combines ethnographic research and theory from ritual studies, ethnomusicology, theology, and church music scholarship to establish performance studies as a possible "next step" in church music studies. It demonstrates the feasibility of studying church music as performance by analyzing ethnographic case studies using a developmental framework based on the concepts of ritual, embodiment, and play/change. This book offers a fresh perspective on Christian congregational music making. It will, therefore, be a key reference work for scholars working in Congregational Music Studies, Ethnomusicology, Ritual Studies and Performance Studies, as well as practitioners interested in examining their own church music practices.
Download or read book Unbridled written by William Robert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-02-14 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Unbridled, scholar of religion William Robert uses Peter Shaffer's enigmatic 1973 play Equus, about a boy passionately devoted to horses, to think about and teach religion. For Robert, a play like Equus tangles together text, performance, practice, embodiment, and reception. Studying a play involves us in playing different roles, as ourselves and others, and those roles, as well as the imaginative work they require, are critical to the study of religion. By approaching Equus with the reader, Robert transforms standard approaches to the study of religion, engaging with key themes including ritual, sacrifice, worship, power, desire, violence, and sexuality, as well as major thinkers such as Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, and contemporary theorists such as J. Z. Smith and Judith Butler. As Robert shows, the way themes and theories play out in Equus challenges us to imagine the study of religion anew through open questioning, contrasting perspectives, and alternative modes of interpretation and appreciation"--
Download or read book Sacred Discontent written by Herbert N. Schneidau and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1977 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Art of Performance written by Frances Margaret Young and published by . This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Performing the Sacred written by Todd E. Johnson and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2009-08 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theologian and a theatre artist examine both the nature of theatrical performance within contemporary culture and its relationship to Christian life, faith, and worship.
Download or read book Faithful Performances written by Steven R. Guthrie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The metaphor of performance has been applied fruitfully by anthropologists and other social theorists to different aspects of human social existence, and furnishes a potentially helpful model in terms of which to think theologically about Christian life. After an introductory editorial chapter reflecting on the nature of artistic performance and its relationship to the notions of tradition and identity, Part One of this book attends specifically to the phenomenon of dramatic performance and possible theological applications of it. Part Two considers various aspects of the performance of Christian identity, looking at worship, the interpretation of the Bible, Christian response to elements in the contemporary media, the shape of Christian moral life, and ending with a theological reflection on the shape of personal identity, correlating it with the theatrical metaphors of 'character' and 'performing a part' in a scripted drama. Part Three demonstrates how art forms (including some technically non-performative ones - literature, poetry, painting) may constitute faithful Christian practices in which the tradition is authentically 'performed', producing works which break open its meaning in profound new ways for a constantly shifting context.
Download or read book The Performance of Religion written by Cia Sautter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-01-12 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The performing arts are uniquely capable of translating a vision of an ideal or sacred reality into lived practice, allowing an audience to confront deeply held values and beliefs as they observe a performance. However, there is often a reluctance to approach distinctly religious topics from a performance studies perspective. This book addresses this issue by exploring how religious values are acted out and reflected on in classic Western theatre, with a particular emphasis on the plays put on during the Globe Theatre‘s yearlong season of 'Shakespeare and the Bible'. Looking at plays such as Much Ado About Nothing, Dr. Faustus and Macbeth, each chapter includes ethnographic overviews of the performance of these plays as well as historical and theological perspectives on the issues they address. The author also utilizes scholarship from other academics, such as Paul Tillich and Martin Buber, in examining the relationship between art and culture. This helps readers of this book to look at religion in culture, and raise questions and explore ideas about how people appraise their religious values through an encounter with a performance. The Performance of Religion: Seeing the sacred in the theatre treads new ground in bringing performance and religious studies scholarship into direct conversation with one another. As such, it is essential reading for any academic with an interest in theology, religion and ethics and their expression in culture through the performing arts.
Download or read book A Year of Biblical Womanhood written by Rachel Held Evans and published by Thomas Nelson Inc. This book was released on 2012 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller. With just the right mixture of humor and insight, compassion and incredulity, A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor. What is "biblical womanhood" . . . really? Strong-willed and independent, Rachel Held Evans couldn't sew a button on a blouse before she embarked on a radical life experiment--a year of biblical womanhood. Intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans decides to try it for herself, vowing to take all of the Bible's instructions for women as literally as possible for a year. Pursuing a different virtue each month, Evans learns the hard way that her quest for biblical womanhood requires more than a "gentle and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4). It means growing out her hair, making her own clothes, covering her head, obeying her husband, rising before dawn, abstaining from gossip, remaining silent in church, and even camping out in the front yard during her period. See what happens when a thoroughly modern woman starts referring to her husband as "master" and "praises him at the city gate" with a homemade sign. Learn the insights she receives from an ongoing correspondence with an Orthodox Jewish woman, and find out what she discovers from her exchanges with a polygamist wife. Join her as she wrestles with difficult passages of scripture that portray misogyny and violence against women.
Download or read book Carnival and Other Christian Festivals written by Max Harris and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a riotous mix of saints and devils, street theater and dancing, and music and fireworks, Christian festivals are some of the most lively and colorful spectacles that occur in Spain and its former European and American possessions. That these folk celebrations, with roots reaching back to medieval times, remain vibrant in the high-tech culture of the twenty-first century strongly suggests that they also provide an indispensable vehicle for expressing hopes, fears, and desires that people can articulate in no other way. In this book, Max Harris explores and develops principles for understanding the folk theology underlying patronal saints' day festivals, feasts of Corpus Christi, and Carnivals through a series of vivid, first-hand accounts of these festivities throughout Spain and in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad, Bolivia, and Belgium. Paying close attention to the signs encoded in folk performances, he finds in these festivals a folk theology of social justice that—however obscured by official rhetoric, by distracting theories of archaic origin, or by the performers' own need to mask their resistance to authority—is often in articulate and complex dialogue with the power structures that surround it. This discovery sheds important new light on the meanings of religious festivals celebrated from Belgium to Peru and on the sophisticated theatrical performances they embody.
Download or read book Practicing Thankfulness written by Sam Crabtree and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2021-01-27 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians are called to be thankful. What we believe about God is evident in how we exhibit thankfulness for all he has done. In this book, pastor Sam Crabtree encourages us to express glad-hearted thankfulness for God's unending provision in all circumstances. Through the daily practices of expressing gratitude—saying "thank you" to a neighbor, serving others in practical ways, or simply thanking God for his many gifts—we recognize the absolute and total lordship of God and his sovereignty over all things.
Download or read book Theatrical Theology written by Trevor Hart and published by Lutterworth Press. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
