church fathers
DESCRIPTION
Church Fathers. On and laughter. TERTULIAN. (2nd -3rd CE). Tertullian. Life. Well educated; probably practiced law Converted in his late thirties, was married Wrote and lived in Carthage Among other writings published a book condemning theater entitled On Spectacles. Thought. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Church Fathers
On and laughter
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TERTULIAN
(2nd -3rd CE)
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Tertullian
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Life
• Well educated; probably practiced law
• Converted in his late thirties, was married
• Wrote and lived in Carthage
• Among other writings published a book condemning theater entitled On Spectacles
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Thought
• Austere approach to Christian morality
• Christian women should wear veils
• Remarriage should be forbidden
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Context
• Carthage famous for spectacles, especially violent gladiatorial displays.
• Christians kept going to the games.
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2nd century CE basilica, Carthage
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The port of Roman Carthage, 2nd century CE. It used the same structures as the Punic port had.
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Vaticanus
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Arguments against theater
• Idolatry—pagan religious origin of the games.
• Emotions are an integral part of the theatre, including the obscene Atellan farces, naked prostitutes, etc.
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Arguments against theater
• Theater linked to the temple of Venus to give it a religious back-up;
• Venus and Bacchus allied demons promoting immodesty of gestures and attire
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The capital of Jordan, the Greco-Roman city named Philadelphia, originally spread over seven hills, Amman now covers at least nineteen hills.
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Bestiarii
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We LUST for shows
• Their spiritual agitation procures pleasure
• Excitement leads to lapses
• Show involve pornography a ‘buffoon in a woman’s clothes’
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Pagan conspiracy
• Pagans insist that Christians take part in the games, because they want to jeopardize their salvation
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Examples
• Case 1: woman went to theater and came back possessed; during exorcism, the demon replied: ‘I found her in my domain’
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The Setting
• The arena as the place of Christian martyrdom
• ‘to the lions!’
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Last Judgment
• ‘Our pleasures are yet to come’
• God is the greatest enjoyment
• The final judgment will be the true spectacle
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Last Spectacle
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Augustine
(354-430 C.E.)
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St Augustine
• Lived most of his life in Roman Africa
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Augustine:
• Christian mother:• As a student had a
mistress and son
• He gave her up to make a society marriage in Milan
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Conversion
• Baptized Christian in 387
• 397 becomes bishop of Hippo and publishes Confessions
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Hippo Regius today
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Remains of Hippo Regius
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Augustine on Theater
• Confessions– Theater as site of debauchery
• City of God– Social practice inappropriate for Christians
• Concerning the teacher and On Christian doctrine– Theater as a language inappropriate for Christian contents
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Augustine’s experience of theater
• “Thus arose my love of suffering, not the kind that would affect me deeply… but such as would supply, as it were, a superficial scratching as I listened to those fictions. Yet, an inflamed sore, and putrefaction, and blood poisoning followed as if from the scratches of fingernails. ”
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Emotions
• Theatrical emotions are artificial.
• Theater abuses the human capacity for pity, because the spectators enjoy feeling it.
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Theater in the City of God
• Theater as an institution– Is an expression of polytheism– Is virtually indistinguishable from other
religious rituals– Represents gods (including grotesque ones,
such as Priapus) directly– The myths shown are immoral
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Conclusion
• Theatrical performance represents representations and therefore cannot be a means of expression Christian values