Teaching theology through art

For my Systematic Theology class, we’re reading Christian Theology: An Introduction by Alister McGrath.  In a passage on some Trinitarian ideas that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to explain, he wrote the following:

“But how could these difficult ideas be expressed?  And, more importantly, how could they be communicated to ordinary Christians?

“One of the most influential answers was given by the great Methodist writer Charles Wesley (1707-88): through hymns.  For Wesley, hymns were not merely a means of praising God; they were an instrument of theological education.  In 1746, Wesley published a collection of 24 short hymns concerning the Trinity.  Individually and collectively, they manage to communicate and explain the two trinitarian notions we have just been considering without technical language or theological fuss.  Here, for example, is the concept of appropriation, applied to redemption:

“Father of Mankind be ever adorn’d;
They Mercy we find, In sending our Lord,
To ransom and bless us; Thy Goodness we praise,
For sending in Jesus, Salvation by Grace.

“O Son of His Love, Who deignest to die,
Our Curse to remove, Our Pardon to buy;
Accept our Thanksgiving, Almighty to save,
Who openest Heaven, To all that believe.

“O Spirit of Love, of Health, and of Power,
Thy working we prove; Thy Grace we adore,
Whose inward Revealing applies our Lord’s Blood,
Attesting and sealing us Children of God.”

Okay, so what Wesley did?  I want to do that with musical theatre.

Yes, I realize it’s not a direct comparison — after all hymns were already being used to praise God, while that’s not the intention of most musical theatre productions.  But I think musical theatre has incredible potential to communicate theological truth.

Twice now I’ve produced a musical revue pulling together songs from various musicals and highlighting their spiritual themes or pointing out spiritual applications of the songs.  However, I’ve been frustrated by the limitations of working with others’ material — there are spiritual truths I’d like to communicate for which there are no songs out there.

I’ve been impacted lately by listening to the cast recording of !Hero: The Rock Opera, a Christian-produced retelling of the Gospel story.  Despite its flaws (one of which is that they didn’t make it conducive to reproduction by others), it has helped me to envision some aspects of the Gospel in a new way (can you imagine being the one that Jesus saved from embarrassment by changing water into wine?).  Obviously there are several other Bible-based shows out there with varying degrees of orthodoxy — Godspell, Superstar, Joseph, Children of Eden, etc.  But there aren’t enough.

I think I want to do something about that.  What exactly, I’m not sure.  I’m not a composer or lyricist, so I may need to focus on some sort of producer role.  Hmmm…..

(This is what happens when I’m studying theology while one of the songs I’ve used in God on Broadway — “I’m Changing” from Dreamgirls — is playing in the background).