Monday, January 27, 2014

Gospel According to Jefferson, Dickens & Tolstoy

I love to imagine putting people like Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Judi Dench in the same room and listening to their conversation.  

In fact, that's the kind of exam I often give at the end of a course in Religion & Literature or Women & Religion.  Write a conversation among five women you've met in this course.

Playwright Scott Carter wrote a play using the same kind of format: putting Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy all around a table and letting them talk about their views of the Bible.  It was reviewed in the LA Times this weekend:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-theater-review-discord-at-noho-arts-center-20140121,0,151780.story#axzz2rdtuzsA9

These three are interesting because Jefferson selected his favorite Scriptures to produce his own take on the Bible.  Dickens also gathered his favorite passages together, and Tolstoy learned Hebrew and Greek to translate and put together his own version of the Gospel.

I'm planning to see this play before it closes on February 23.  Anyone want to join me?

http://www.thenohoartscenter.com/


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