ITIA Conference 2012: Theatrical Theology
St Andrews, 15–17 August 2012
Influenced and inspired by Hans Urs von Balthasar’s seminal work in The Theo-Drama, a growing number of contemporary scholars in various theological disciplines are discovering the potential for interdisciplinary conversation between theology and theatre. From a theological perspective, there are several reasons why drama and theatre present themselves as particularly fitting conversation partners, including the inherently dramatic form of God’s revelation in word and deed, the role of Scripture as a text which invites performance rather than passivity, faithful action as both the goal and means of theological understanding, the public and communal nature of theology, and the indeterminacy, provisionality, and ‘improvised’ nature of the theological task. For its part, theatre has always been compelled to acknowledge a debt to its ancient and longstanding entanglements with religious and theological perspectives, and may have much to gain from the process of revisiting and responding to these, not least in their present-day Christian form.
The task of pursuing a serious and constructive interdisciplinary exchange between theatre and theology, however, is one that has only just begun. Furthermore, suspicions persist in some theological quarters regarding the value of interdisciplinary approaches to theology as such, and towards theatre in particular which, among the arts, has experienced a particularly volatile relationship with the Church across the centuries. In response to all of this, Theatrical Theology: Conversations on Performing the Faith will seek to demonstrate the fruitfulness for constructive Christian theology and theatre alike of pursuing the conversation further, tracing some of the advances that have already been made, and identifying new challenges and opportunities still to be reckoned with as the interaction continues and develops further.
Our plenary speakers are among those whose work has already embarked upon the conversation between theology and theatre. In addition to these plenary presentations, there will be several short paper sessions on the conference theme. A full programme is available below. Click here to view the conference poster.
Plenary Speakers:
David Brown (St Andrews)
“The Potential of Theatre for Insight and Revelation”
Shannon Craigo-Snell (Louisville Seminary)
“In Praise of Empty Churches”
David Cunningham (Hope College)
“‘And That’s True Too’: Revelation, Drama, and the Shape of Christian Ethics”
Jim Fodor (Bonaventure)
“Rehearsal Time: The Play of Christian Life”
Timothy Gorringe (Exeter)
“Revisiting God’s Theatre: The Limits of a Metaphor”
Ivan Khovacs (Canterbury Christ Church)
“Theatrical Action, Character Play and the Drama of Gethsemane”
George Pattison (Oxford)
“Play it Again – Kierkegaard’s Repetition as Philosophy and Drama”