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

• Austere approach to Christian morality

• Christian women should wear veils

• Remarriage should be forbidden

Context

• Carthage famous for spectacles, especially violent gladiatorial displays.

• Christians kept going to the games.

2nd century CE basilica, Carthage

The port of Roman Carthage, 2nd century CE. It used the same structures as the Punic port had.

Vaticanus

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.

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

The capital of Jordan, the Greco-Roman city named Philadelphia, originally spread over seven hills, Amman now covers at least nineteen hills.

Bestiarii

We LUST for shows

• Their spiritual agitation procures pleasure

• Excitement leads to lapses

• Show involve pornography a ‘buffoon in a woman’s clothes’

Pagan conspiracy

• Pagans insist that Christians take part in the games, because they want to jeopardize their salvation

Examples

• Case 1: woman went to theater and came back possessed; during exorcism, the demon replied: ‘I found her in my domain’

The Setting

• The arena as the place of Christian martyrdom

• ‘to the lions!’

Last Judgment

• ‘Our pleasures are yet to come’

• God is the greatest enjoyment

• The final judgment will be the true spectacle

Last Spectacle

Augustine

(354-430 C.E.)

St Augustine

• Lived most of his life in Roman Africa

Augustine:

• Christian mother:• As a student had a

mistress and son

• He gave her up to make a society marriage in Milan

Conversion

• Baptized Christian in 387

• 397 becomes bishop of Hippo and publishes Confessions

Hippo Regius today

Remains of Hippo Regius

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

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. ”

Emotions

• Theatrical emotions are artificial.

• Theater abuses the human capacity for pity, because the spectators enjoy feeling it.

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

Conclusion

• Theatrical performance represents representations and therefore cannot be a means of expression Christian values