”What a joy to begin reading your book — answered prayer!… I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior over a decade ago. His Holy Spirit is using your book to speak to me, right where I am at.
Thank you for your faithfulness in writing your creative synthesis of faith and art. What a comfort to not journey alone.
To Him Alone be the glory forever.”
Celena Sky April,
Professor of Theatre and Communication
Salem State College
Salem, MA
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Paul Kuritz’ book THE FIERY SERPENT presents theatre and film, the neglected stepchildren of Christian aesthetics, as the natural outgrowth of God’s revelation through story as seen in scripture. This entertaining and insightful book brings together dramatic theory, Judeo-Christian world view, the performing arts, and the evolving concept of story, under the central image of the bronze serpent which Moses raised up in the wilderness. Beginning in the Fall of 2007 this will be required reading of all our graduate students in theatre arts and scriptwriting at Regent University. I am presently using it in my playwriting class to encourage and inspire students to see the ‘ bigger picture’ in terms of their faith and their art.”
Gillette Elvgren, Ph.D Theatre Arts, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
”Well done! I love the way you wrote it, not for the Christian or the non-Christian, etc. The citations include lots of good stuff I look forward to reading. Yes, the breaking in of the kingdom of God, all great art participates in this, whether the vessel is believing or not. His love and wisdom is so vast! Thanks again. Do more!”
Greg Boardman, Maine fiddler extraordinaire
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FROM ARMCHAIR REVIEWS:
The Fiery Serpent
by Paul Kuritz
Published by Pleasant Word-WinePress Publishing
Reviewed by Dr. David Frisbie
Subtitled: A Christian Theory of Film and Theater
Storytelling is one of the world’s oldest and most noble professions. In current times, much of storytelling has moved to the stage or the screen: cinematographers and theater directors are among the key storytellers in our contemporary culture.
Dr. Paul Kuritz teaches theater and film at Bates University. A reluctant and surprised convert to Christianity in midlife, he explores in this book how the media of film and theater can point the viewer/observer in the direction of meaning and ultimate truth.
Kuritz uses Aristotle’s four levels of inquiry—material, form, power, and purpose—as chapter headings and as useful methods of exploring theater and film. Along the way his natural gifts as a teacher cause him to dip into classic literature, Scripture, and numerous films from the 20th century to find examples and illustrations.
One of Kuritz’s better sections explores Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront,” a movie made from a Budd Schulberg screenplay and rooted in real-life criminal activity on the docks. Director Kazan reveals that Marlon Brando’s character in the movie, who ultimately exposes the criminals and thus loses his job and social standing, mirrors Kazan’s own moral dilemmas and motivations in leaving the Communist party and cooperating with congressional investigators in the early 1950’s. Kazan’s explicit personal motives include his growing disillusionment with Stalin and Stalinists, a theme also explored by central characters in Chaim Potok’s compelling novel Davita’s Harp.
Kuritz’s book is well-crafted and readable, most probably intended for students of the dramatic arts in order to give them a philosophical base with which to understand and practice their craft. The general reader will enjoy lively discussions of how movies reflect the moral choices and social values of our times.
Armchair Interviews says: Interesting perspective on movies.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Theatrical illusion in the service of reality
The email appeared to be Christian spam, advertising a book and no personal greeting, but why did it come to me? I looked over the website it referred to, and then I could see why.
For thirty years Paul Kuritz was a respected (and atheistic) theater professor. Then, faced with personal crises and divine interventions, he found himself praying that God wouldn’t make him a born-again evangelical Christian. God did anyway, and Kuritz wrote more about his new perspective in the Porpoise Diving Life.
I wouldn’t agree with everything in the book The Fiery Serpent, which I haven’t read. For example, the email refers to the supposedly “undeniable truth: that Christian filmmaking and theatre… are having global impact on our world today.” I’ve already summarized my disappointing first-hand experience with imaginative conversions and Christian theater here. There really is a difference between drama and real life. You might also wonder how he can use Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Kazan’s On the Waterfront as examples in a book on Christian film and theater. But Kuritz is no wooly-minded, starry-eyed artiste. He doesn’t baptize the status-quo so much as he is calling for it to change. And he is calling for filmmakers and theater people to change.
in Tantalizing If True (see my blogroll)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Editor’s Pick: The Fiery Serpent—A Christian Theory of Film and Theater
by Paul Kuritz (Pleasant Word, 2007)
Kuritz’s first prayer was, “Dear God, please don’t make me a born again, evangelical Christian.” This surprising prayer was the beginning of an academic quest–a journey of faith that led Paul Kuritz to write The Fiery Serpent. Kuritz found that, as Moses’ bronze serpent symbolized God’s revealed love and redemption, storytelling in film and theater can communicate the same saving message.
Kuritz sets forth a Christian theory of theatre arts and answering key questions about its purpose and practice today, such as:
What causes a work of dramatic theatre to come into being?
What is the function of storytelling–for God? For humans? For actors and artists?
What is the relationship between the words of a script or screenplay and the Word?
What makes a play or film beautiful, good, or evil?
in Evangelicals for Social Action
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was asked to review the Fiery Serpent by Paul Kuritz. Dr Kuritz has been teaching Drama and the Theater for many years. He was not a believer and began to think he was going crazy. He was a Unitarian and decided to read the King James Bible as Literature. He actually bought a McArthur Study Bible and then prayed “God please don’t make me an Evangelical Christian.” Sometimes I can understand why he prayed that.
He began experiencing confusion in his spirit as he read the Bible. He went to a counselor who told him that he had a conversion experience. His worst fears had come true. He began to wonder what that would do to his career. But this book is about how a Theater and Film can co-exist with Christian faith.
The title comes from the Fiery Serpent that Moses made for the Hebrews. When they were attacked by a snake they were to look to the Golden Serpent and they were healed.
The book to me, is a text book for Theater and Film students. I don’t say that in a bad way. I just think that is what it is. I like drama and have been in several plays in my life. But I’m not a “student” of the theater or film. The author does a great job of explaining how the Bible ties into dramas and plays. He also writes a good chapter for Christians in film and the theater. I had several theater majors who were my interns and I think they would enjoy this book. For those looking for a book that will help them in their everyday life–this is not it. If you are looking for a book about weaving Drama, Theater and film into your life as a believer than you will enjoy this book.
I give The Fiery Serpent 4.25 hockey sticks out of 5.
Kevin Bussey at Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Book Review: The Fiery Serpent
Posted on August 6, 2007
Filed Under Books |
Recently I was invited to review the book “The Fiery Serpent” by Dr. Paul Kuritz. Dr. Kuritz teaches theater and film at Bates University. The book jacket states that this book “presents a Christian paradigm for the arts by exploring how best to model film and theatre after His own work in creation.” I would suggest that it goes farther than that; I feel that he may, in fact, have created a Theology of Christian Storytelling.
Kuritz uses Aristotle’s four levels of inquiry–material, form, power, and purpose–as chapter headings and as useful methods of exploring storytelling, speficially in the areas of theater and film.
One particular item of note is the tension of individual behavior in a scripted activity. He makes the interesting of how a good actor will get so lost in the part that, while it is scripted, the actor begins to live out the story in scenes, almost oblivious to the whole story. This has applications across many lines, but specifically in the area of soteriology.
This book has many implications for communication within contemporary culture as well. There were some things theologically that initially brought about concern; continued reading, however, eased those concerns, though I think they might have been able to be communicated better. On the whole, however, I thought this was a facinating book and one that could bring value to not only the theatre, but the pastor as well.
On a scale of 10, I would give this book a 7.5.
from David Phillips at www.wdavidphillips.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Fiery Serpent: A Christian Theory of Film and Theater
“Art for art’s sake, or even for society’s or people’s sake, is idolatry.”
Paul Kuritz (not to be confused with humanist professor Paul Kurtz) holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University and currently teaches acting, directing, and theater history at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Kuritz’s book, The Fiery Serpent, offers a “Christian theory of film and theater” based on the “healing story of the fiery serpent” (i.e., Num. 26) which acts as a “paradigm . . . for describing God’s ability to use the dramatic theater of stage and screen to illustrate the dynamic tension of living simultaneously in two kingdoms” (p. 16). In communicating his thoughts on the subject, Kuritz offers four chapters structured according to Aristotle’s ‘Four Causes,’ as well as introductory material and a closing chapter on working in theater as a Christian. Judging from many statements regrading God’s role and promises available to, the artist, Serpent’s content seems to be directed specifically to Christians (e.g., pp. 111, 113, 116, and 144).
Kuritz’s overarching contention is that just as Moses’ healing serpent pointed, in an artistic fashion, to the ultimate Healer, so theater (including film and plays) can point to the ultimate Story – the outworking of God’s kingdom. “All attempts at storytelling and dramatic theater,” Kuritz writes, “model this historical paradigm–the invasion of the kingdom of God” (p. 23). Although the metaphor is sometimes stretched a bit too far (e.g., p. 80), it is certainly an interesting application of the story. As God gave Moses the power, materials, and purpose, to construct the bronze serpent which in turn reflected God’s qualities, so God empowers the artist to reflect His glory through theater (pp. 30-31). This is possible because “redemption is the arc of the action in the Christian story,” and this arc informs a universally recognized plot line that transcends particular cultures (p. 32-33).
Kuritz fleshes out his thesis by explaining theater’s universal appeal according to Aristotle’s Four Causes (The four causes can be seen as answers to four questions concerning a thing’s existence: The Formal Cause answers the question, “What is it?” The Material Cause answers the question, “What is it made of?” The Efficient Cause answers the question, “What made it?” and the Final Cause answers the question: “For what purpose was it made?”). Chapter Two gives the formal cause. Formally, says Kuritz, theater’s essence is that of story. While story can be expressed in different ways (e.g., in film through images and sound, and in plays through movement and words), it is the story that makes a theater piece “what it is.” The fact that the same basic story structure – beginning, middle, and end (a pattern first expounded upon by Aristotle) – exists across cultures can be explained by the fact that reality (God’s story) has these same parts (creation, relation, and restoration). In chapter Three Kuritz explains that the material cause of stories consists of universally shared aspects of life culled from one’s own particular experiences. These are found at cultural, familial, and individual levels of life. In Chapter Four we are told that the efficient cause of theater is God Himself, for the artist’s ability to create is given by God and is a reflection of His work. According to Chapter Five, the final cause of theater is (or at least should be) to glorify God. The final chapter of the book discusses how a Christian is to function in the world of theater, focusing on love, obedience, and servanthood.
The writing is often good, sometimes merely passable, and occasionally poor. One chapter (5) contains repetitious cut-and-paste passages that no professional editor would have let through (one of the dangers of on-demand publishing). Other chapters reflect confusing transitions and rabbit trails. For example, in a single page Kuritz moves from a discussion of actors as words-made-flesh, to a paragraph on logic and the law of non-contradiction, to a section concerning the recognition of an author’s traits due to their word choices (p. 62). There is, however, enough quality to be worth the time it takes to read the book. One of Kuritz’s more pithy observations concerns God’s story: “In His story, God is the main character, and our belief that we are the main characters, is the problem” (p. 40). Another passage that stands out is the danger of doing art for art’s sake which Kuritz calls idolatry (p. 29). Gems like these, as well as many well-chosen quotes, help to overcome what is sometimes rough reading.
On the subject of quotations, Kuritz has marshaled a collection that is impressive both in number, scope, and quality. There are over 240 citations in this short book which is roughly equivalent to 130 standard sized pages. This makes for an average of about two quotes per page, with some being quite long (e.g., pp. 54-58). However, there are some quotations that are of disputable relevance or questionable hermeneutics. Chapter Four alone contains several examples: Kuritz attempts to support the idea that “providence and the Holy Spirit break into our lives to empower the soul, outside the laws that govern time and space” with references to 1 Cor. 1:20-21; 25-26; 2:7-8; 12-13; and 3:18, as well as a statement by Thomas Aquinas concerning the intellectual power of the soul (pp. 114-115). Kuritz also cites1 Cor. 1:8 in support of his belief that “without the power of the Holy Spirit invading his life, the theater artist cannot create inspired works for stage or screen” (p. 116).
While I am in strong agreement with Kuritz’s basic thesis, there are several particulars that are troubling. Theological and philosophical issues reflecting everything from unfortunate inaccuracies to more serious errors are peppered throughout the book. Examples of the former might include Kuritz’s report that “the Word of God became the Son of God” (p. 55), or that “everything that is was created out of nothing by God” (p. 71), or listing sex along with poisonous snakes, violence, and temptation as items we need not fear in God’s Kingdom (p. 30). Concerning the more egregious errors, Kuritz espouses an unsatisfying and self-referentially incoherent notion that language does not directly communicate reality and that total objectivity is impossible in communication (pp. 64-67). He connects universal patterns in humanity to evolutionary biology and then equates this to God’s “imprint on the heart” (p. 84). He also claims that a person’s “soul continues to live after death by virtue of the powers that belong to its nature” (p. 98), and that God created because He “did not find satisfaction in self contemplation” (p. 120). Granted, many artists lacking theological training might not notice or find cause for alarm in these kinds of erroneous statements, but that only makes the errors more insidious.
One of the most dramatic of these errors comes in Chapter Four during Kuritz’s discussion of efficient causality with regard to film. After brief discussions of various worldviews and an artistic version of the argument from desire, Kuritz makes the claim that “ the power that causes the dramatic theater to come to life is an aspect of the power of God” (p. 107). He goes on to state that “inspiration produces dramatic theater beyond the scope of human knowledge and natural skill” (p. 111). This notion is problematic both philosophically and theologically. Philosophically speaking, to credit God with efficient causality is actually to credit Him directly for the creation of the artist (not just as the divine supplier of the ability to create). While the notion of efficient causality can include both primary and secondary efficient causes, Kuritz does not make this distinction. While it is true that God is, ultimately, the primary efficient cause of all things [even human sin (e.g., Acts 2:22-23), where humans would be considered as secondary efficient causes], this is not how Aristotle used the term, nor how Kuritz is using it here. This leads to the theological issue. Theologically speaking, inspiration is a miraculous act by which God superintends the communication of His word such that His spokesperson says or writes exactly what He wishes. Kuritz is clearly equivocating on the term “inspiration.” While inspiration in the popular sense often means nothing more than the arousal of an artist to create, Kuritz is not using the term this way here. Any doubts as to his intended meaning are dispelled when Kuritz specifies that inspiration is “the very power that allowed Jesus to heal the lame and blind and to raise His friends from the dead. It is the power of His resurrection” (p. 112). This is a dangerous theological error, for theater is certainly not a direct (much less a miraculous!) work of God. Rather, the artist remains wholly responsible for what he creates.
While Kuritz’s overall thesis is truly commendable, the book’s numerous problematic features serve to enervate its important message (which, fortunately, has been expressed in more substantive works). Thus, Kuritz’s short treatise might best serve as a sampler of the plethora of trustworthy sources he cites throughout its pages. Readers who respond favorably to Fiery Serpent’s overall message might be interested in William D. Romanowski’s recent book, Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture which is a good general introduction to the topic. Those concerned primarily with theater would do well to read Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting (which has yet to be seriously challenged for best book on the topic). Brian Godawa’s Hollywood Worldviews provides a very helpful introduction to film interpretation and worldview recognition. For a more philosophical approach to these subjects see Etienne Gilson’s Forms and Substances in the Arts and Art and Scholasticism with Other Essays by Jacques Maritain.
by Douglas M. Beaumont
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Fiery Serpent: A
Paul Kuritz
Reviewed by John Merrill
Theater is the expression of human emotion conveyed to the world in a form that each individual can relate the emotions to their own lives in a very personal way. This is how I have always viewed the theater arts. Kuritz has a view that builds on that principal of a personal connection with an external sensation to an internal meaning. Specifically Kuritz is talking about the connection of the Arts and how God works in each of us. He believes that theater and movies is a way for us to better connect with the kingdom of god. There is the use of knowledge, beauty, truth, goodness, in theater that combines the external work of God to the internal faith and understanding of God.
The theme that binds this book together is the “Fiery Serpent” which is, for those of you who went to Sunday school less than I did a reference to the staff that Moses had. This staff was a response to the attack of poisonous snakes that God sent the wayward Israelites who began worshiping false gods. Many of us have seen this image recreated on many medical emblems. This symbol of healing has dominated western culture since biblical times. In Kuritz’ book he uses the parody of the external object with the internal meaning to produce a new found understanding and love for God.
Kuritz does a great job of not running off on a tangent of Fundamentalist views on the use of theater and film but simply explains the dynamic relationship of the theater arts to a person understands and how god can be ever-present in its creation. Kuritz ties the book up with the “Working Christian Theater Artist” and how a modern Christian thespian, which by the way I am, can better serve God through the use of theater, even if it does not seem to be directly related.
FRONT STREET REVIEWS HOME PAGE
+++++++++++++++++++++
The Fiery Serpent
A Christian Theory of Film and Theater
By Paul Kuritz. Pleasant Word. Pp. 196.
$16.99, paper. ISBN 1414107676.
This book is likely to be welcomed in
theater departments of Christian colleges
and universities, especially with
its last chapter, “The Working Christian
Theater Artist.” Beyond that, though, I
don’t see much of a market for TheFiery Serpent. Paul Kuritz,
a director, writer and educator,
breaks little new
ground in his consideration
of the connection
between Christianity and
theater and film.
The title refers to the
image Moses made to save
the Hebrew people who
had been bitten by snakes. “Christian
dramatic theater — the fiery serpent —
is the gospel of grace, a mysterious
invasion of the kingdom of God into
our Evil Age, an imitation of our Lord
Jesus Christ,” Mr. Kuritz writes. “The
paradigmatic story in Numbers presents
the model for our dramatic theater
makers who seek to imitate the means
and ends of the great maker Himself.”
What I found most interesting was
the preface in which he described the
conversion experiences that changed
him into an evangelical Christian. I
wish he had been able to maintain that
lively style throughout the book.
Unfortunately, it reads more like a
doctoral dissertation, and is as heavily
referenced as one.
Retta Blaney, The Living Church++++++++++++++++++++++++++Paul Kuritz, an acting and directing professor at Bates College, has written a book with an interesting perspective. “The Fiery Serpent” (Pleasant Word 2007) examines theater and film making from a Christian perspective. The author’s first prayer as a newly converted follower of the Lord was “Dear God, please don’t make me a born-again evangelical Christian.” God declined and one of the results is this book. Some might be intimidated by its erudite nature (he quotes Aristotle and delves into the laws of thermodynamics) but the investigation of the nature and art of movies and plays is well worth the read.Mr. Kuritz creates the image of God as a playwright and director and offers the stories of the bible as evidence of God’s flare for the dramatic. We come to see that all of the creative process isn’t really all that new, but a recreation of the internal conflict within man to choose to follow good instead of evil. And in the end, it’s all for God’s glory. There’s some great practical advice for Christian artists like: “In making a play or a film, the theater artist encounters many people giving him instructions, making demands on him, planning his days, requesting compliance, issuing orders, presenting temptations, and rationalizing and justifying all sorts of things. For the Christian, all of these human messages must be filtered through the cross of Christ and found consistent with life in the kingdom of God. To order the book online go to http://www.pleasantwordbooks.com
Christian Performing Artists http://christianperformers.blogspot.com/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Paul,
I am a third year theology student studying in the U.K. at Redcliffe College. Before studying theology I worked for 22 years in theatre, ballet, opera, film and television making costumes and also taught at an Art College teaching Costume Design and Interpretation.
I am presently writing my degree dissertation. The topic of the dissertation is: From Scripture to Canvas to Stage, A justification for a dramatization of Rembrandt’s Biblical Paintings. The topic has been narrowed down to a retelling of the Prodigal Son using the events of Rembrandt’s life,which are historically accurate, to reveal the artist’s own issues with inheritance, debt and fatherhood. In effect, through Rembrandt’s mismanagement of his wife’s inheritance he becomes the Prodigal Father and his Son is robbed of the majority of the mother’s inheritance.
The two paintings by Rembrandt, The Prodigal Son Spending his inheritance(which is a self portrait with his wife) and the Return of the Prodigal Son (one of his last works, painted after his son’s death) will provide the inspiration for the sets and costumes. My hope is that the performance could be performed as part of a drama/choir festival that regularly takes place in Worcester Cathedral.
Throughout researching for this paper I have read many books on theology and the arts and I just wanted to let you know that I have just finished reading The Fiery Serpent. Your book has helped me enormously, particularly Chapter 6. When one has worked in theatre it is immensely difficult to move over to theology. Theological colleges by in large are not filled with people who have worked in the theatrical or plastic arts and often the tutors don’t understand where you are coming from.
Before reading your book my enthusiasm for my whole Rembrandt project was at an all time low and my attitudes reflected the views presented under the left hand column (Present Evil Age) on page 152 of your book. The verses offered on the right hand column have helped me to keep on working and to see things through the ‘kingdom of God’ lenses and focus on the ‘bigger plot’.
This email is just to say thankyou for writing your book.
Sincerely, Diane Evans
Diane Evans
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For what it’s worth, I am a “born again evangelical Christian” actor/writer/instructor myself (I received my MFA in Acting Pedagogy from the University of Alabama), and I must say I immensely enjoyed reading your book. From the personal testimony, to the insights regarding God’s reason for the arts, I found your words truthful and relevant.
I can make no promises, but the way the Lord works is awe-inspiring. I will certainly keep your contact information, and you, in the back of my mind for any projects that I am involved with. I’ve been wrong before, but perhaps our paths will cross in the future. We Christian artists are few, and as such, should look out for one another.
God Bless,
Will North Cleckler
Assistant to Sam Haskell
