Politics, Religion & Theater

Mom and I saw a very interesting play on Sunday, Passion Play by Sarah Ruhl at the Goodman Theater. It presents plays within the play, showing the towns, actors and politics around putting on Passion plays in Elizabethan England, early Nazi Germany and post-Vietnam US.

Elizabeth was anti-Catholic, but mostly just trying to get both politics and religion under her control. In Nazi Germany, Hitler visits the passion play in Ober Ammergau, and congratulates the town for its emphasis in attributing blame for Jesus' death on the Jews rather than the Romans. In post-Vietnam US, the actor playing Pontius Pilate wonders why Pilate doesn't take responsibility, and Ronald Reagan says he, like the play, will bring hope to the country.

How much of politics is theater? How is the theater used for political ends? How is religion used in the discourse of politics, now and through the ages? How does politics influence religion, in a time when pulpits have been used to endorse candidates? Is there a separation between religion and theater in the Passion Play?

What does the most recent famous version, Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson, say about our time? He has been accused of anti-semitism, and indeed his portrayal of Pilate and the Jewish crowd are similar to the one portrayed in Nazi Germany. He emphasizes blood, gore, death and suffering, not resurrection, hope and rebirth.

I'm reading a book review in last weekend's WSJ of The Stillborn God by Mark Lilla. The book explores the history of political theology, noting that Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was the first one to try to separate politics and religion. In the 1960's books were being written predicting the end of religion altogether, but the last quarter of the 20th century to the present has seen religion take a major role in politics in Iran's Revolution, the Christian right in the US, and the Hindu nationalist BJP party in India, to name just a few.