Theology As Performance

Author : Natalie Wigg-Stevenson
Publisher : SCM Press
ISBN 13 : 033405947X
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : Philip Stoltzfus
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0567174735
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : Lance Gharavi
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136483403
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : Steven R. Guthrie
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317136721
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : John Webster
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1493419900
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Culture of Theology written by John Webster and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Webster, one of the world's leading systematic theologians, published extensively on the nature and practice of Christian theology. This work marked a turning point in Webster's theological development and is his most substantial statement on the task of theology. It shows why theology matters and why its pursuit is a demanding but exhilarating venture. Previously unavailable in book form, this magisterial statement, now edited and critically introduced for the first time, presents Webster's legendary lectures to a wider readership. It contains an extensive introductory essay by Ivor Davidson.

Author : William Robert
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226816907
Total Pages : 175 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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"--

Author : Philip Stoltzfus
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0567029212
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : Rachel Held Evans
Publisher : Thomas Nelson Inc
ISBN 13 : 1595553673
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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.

Author : Steven R. Guthrie
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317136713
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

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 332 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.

Author : Reverend / Pastor of Theological Formation and Director of the Pastor Residency Program Robert Covolo
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781481312738
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Fashion Theology written by Reverend / Pastor of Theological Formation and Director of the Pastor Residency Program Robert Covolo and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is fashion? Where does it come from? Why has it come to permeate modern life? In the last half century, questions like these have drawn serious academic reflection, resulting in a new field of research--fashion studies--and generating a rich multidisciplinary discussion. Yet theology's voice has been conspicuously absent in this conversation. The time has finally come for theology to break her silence and join this decades-long conversation. Fashion Theology is the first of its kind: a serious and long-overdue account of the dynamic relationship between theology and fashion. Chronicling the epic journey from ancient Christian sources to current developments in fashion studies, cultural theologian Robert Covolo navigates the rich history of Christian thought as well as recent political, social, aesthetic, literary, and performance theory. Far from mere disparity or quick resolution, Covolo demonstrates that fashion and theology inhabit a mutual terrain that has, until recently, scarcely been imagined. Covolo retraces the way theologians have taken up fashion across history, unveiling how Christian thinkers have been fascinated with fashion well before the academy's current focus, and bringing these insights into the conversation with fashion itself: the logic by which fashion operates, how fashion shapes our world, and the way fashion imperceptibly molds our personal lives. Within fashion's realms reside some of life's greatest challenges: the foundations of political power, the basis for social order, the nature of aesthetics, how we inhabit time, and the means by which we tell stories about our lives--challenges, it turns out, that theologians also explore. Fashion favors the bold; theology demands humility. Holding the two together, Fashion Theology trailblazes an interdisciplinary path informed by a thoughtful engagement with the Christian witness. For those traversing this spectacle of unexpected crossroads and hotly contested terrain, the promise of fashion theology awaits with its myriad unexplored vistas. --Malcolm Barnard, Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, Loughborough University