Incarnating story: a hermeneutics of play through drama

Sharon G Jones

Etd

Incarnating story: a hermeneutics of play through drama

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Sharon G Jones. Incarnating Story: a Hermeneutics of Play Through Drama. Andover Newton Theological School. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/50a0d5a9-a824-4291-9990-5907704ff0fb.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

S. G. Jones. Incarnating story: a hermeneutics of play through drama. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/50a0d5a9-a824-4291-9990-5907704ff0fb

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Sharon G Jones. Incarnating Story: a Hermeneutics of Play Through Drama. Andover Newton Theological School. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/50a0d5a9-a824-4291-9990-5907704ff0fb.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Sharon G Jones

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In Copyright

Abstract

Medieval lay Christians in Western Europe found meaning in the performance of mystery plays, short scenes based on the biblical story, but presented as contemporary to their time and culture. The English mystery cycles are seen, first as a predecessor to Shakespeare and second as a source of information about medieval culture. This author's process began with a review of this research by theater historians in the 1960s and 70s, then moved to analysis by medieval scholars of the last twenty years who are searching the mystery plays for archaeological evidence of custom and social change. This research reveals the medieval dramatist's transformation of the stories of scripture by setting the gospel narratives in medieval life. It identifies techniques including contemporary costumes, dialogue that deals with the actors' concerns and questions, and biblical characters transformed into contemporary figures. The lay Christians 'locally incarnated' the Bible by bringing human flesh to biblical story and taking their own place in salvation history. The identification of these plays as ludus (a Latin term related to the games of the arena) encouraged the establishment of a new 'field of play.' This project adapts the techniques of the medieval mystery plays to communicate the good news in the 21st century through contemporary mystery plays. The second stage of the research was to create 'fields of play' in the 21st century and encourage youth and adults to 'locally incarnate' the biblical story in their own lives. A reader's theater group was introduced to the techniques of the mystery plays, enjoyed discussing doctrine, and wrote their own mystery play. A congregation enlivened their worship, discovered drama gifts among their members, and grew in their appreciation of scripture and how it could speak to their lives. A youth arts camp had fun exploring scripture, a first for many of them, and improvised dialogue that dealt with their own issues and questions. This author concludes that using tableaux and improvised dialogue to explore biblical story encourages today's Christians to view their own lives through the lens of scripture. Playing in drama through these plays leads people into deeper exploration of what they believe about their own faith. Finally, performing mystery plays in worship invited congregations to adopt the biblical narratives as their own story.

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