University Press of America
Pages: 204
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Trim: 0 x 0
978-0-7618-4469-3 • Paperback • May 2009 • $44.99 • (£35.00)
978-0-7618-4470-9 • eBook • May 2009 • $42.50 • (£33.00)
Nelvin Vos, emeritus professor of English at Muhlenberg College, is the author of of the Drama of Comedy and The Great Pendulum of Becoming: Images in Modern Drama. He has served as executive director of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture since 1999.
Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 Introduction—Places of Seeing: Religion and Theater
Chapter 4
Chapter One: Drama and Religion: Their Languages
Chapter 5
Chapter 1—Drama: Where the Action Is
Chapter 6
Chapter 2—Biblical Revelation: The Mighty Acts of God
Chapter 7
Chapter Two: Drama and Religion: Their Structures
Chapter 8
Chapter 3— Ritual: The Act Re-Done
Chapter 9
Chapter 4—The Play's the Thing in Drama and Religion
Chapter 10
Chapter 5—Worship: The Drama Re-Enacted
Chapter 11
Chapter Three: Drama and Religion: Their History
Chapter 12
Chapter 6—Dionysus: Lord of the Greek Theater
Chapter 13
Chapter 7—Religion and Drama in Opposition: Two Instances
Chapter 14
Chapter 8—The Medieval Stage: The Inherent Drama in the Mass
Chapter 15
Chapter 9—From Liturgy to the Plays of Mystery, Miracle and Morality
Chapter 16
Chapter 10—Shakespeare: All the World's a Stage
Chapter 17
Chapter 11— Modern Drama: If the Stage is All the World There Is
Chapter 18
Chapter 12—Contemporary Drama: Glimpses of the Transcendent
Chapter 19
Chapter 13—Contemporary Theater: T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party
Chapter 20
Chapter 14—Contemporary Theater: Samuel Beckett, Endgame
Chapter 21
Chapter 15—Contemporary Theater: Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Chapter 22
Chapter 16—Contemporary Theater: Peter Shaffer, Equus
Chapter 23
Chapter 17—Contemporary Theater: David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Chapter 24
Chapter 18—Contemporary Theater: Tony Kushner Angels in America
Chapter 25
Chapter 19—Contemporary Theater: Mary Zimmerman, Metamorphoses
Chapter 26 Coda—Life is a Drama!
Nelvin Vos' insightful study of the interrelationship of theater and religion, drama and worship, shows a deep appreciation for the ways that both depend on a holy and living presence...Theologians no less than theatre historians will appreciate this well-crafted consideration of how this powerful artistic medium has the ability to reveal mysteries, tell truths, and transform hearts....
— Robin Jensen
In spite of the extensive cross-fertilization between religion and theater throughout history, and in spite of their common origins in the human attempt to see and enact the transcendent, the many connections between religion and theater are seldom wellarticulated. That is partly because both have become so manifold in practice that it is hard to see their underlying relationships clearly. Nelvin Vos is a good guide for those seeking clarity in this confusing landscape. He walks the reader through it with skill and insight. Along the way he makes his chosen pieces of theater come vividly alive as we read...
— Tom F. Driver
Dr. Nelvin Vos has provided the present moment with an important and provocative book! Its special value lies in its particular timeliness. Just when religion seems to be defining itself by dogmatism, ideology and doctrinaire literalism, Dr. Vos has demonstrated compellingly that the genius of religion lies in its dramatic and aesthetic qualities, qualities that are characterized by playfulness.
— David L. Miller
In this remarkable book, Nelvin Vos revisits in the many forms of the Western theatre its close continuing relationship with the sacred, the sacramental and the religious. Close readings of plays from Greek tragedy to Peter Shaffer and Tony Kushner offerus a panorama of the stage upon which we too are merely players, but also and at the same time awestruck witnesses of the cosmic drama of the gods and God....
— David Jasper, DD FRSE