The Christ?ans

This is an important question for all Americans and Europeans, where Christianity is the dominant religion. A 2009 report indicated that 75% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians.¹

The megachurch Photo: Adams Viscom

In the Denver Center Theatre Company's current mainstage production of The Christ?ans, questions of faith and apostacy focus on concepts of the afterlife and whether church membership requires a specific belief regarding what happens after death.

While the drama in this story revolves around a specific religious faith, as director Kent Thompson points out in the theatre company's program guide, all good theatre is about one's faith being challenged, whether that faith is based on a religion or some other set of beliefs.

Kevin Kilner as Paul Photo: Adams Viscom

Generally speaking, the clear-cut notions of heaven and hell in Christianity are a unique historical development, derived only in part from Greek and Jewish notions, that grew over time, concerning different states of death.

In classical Greek cosmology, Hades is the realm where all mortals go when they die, without regard to the life they have lived. The teachings in Judaism vary on the subject of death, from it being the end of life, to it being a shadowy place, Sheol (cf. Numbers 30, 33), where all souls go after they die. While Sheol is a bleak place, "there is generally no concept of judgment or reward and punishment attached to it. In fact, the more pessimistic books of the Bible (Ed.:Torah), such as Ecclesiastes and Job, insist that all of the dead go down to Sheol, whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free man (Job 3:11-19)."²

Robert Manning Jr. as Joshua Photo: Adams Viscom

But, "by the third to second century BC, the idea had grown to encompass separate divisions in Sheol for the righteous and wicked (cf. the Book of Enoch), and by the time of Jesus, some Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the resurrection of the dead either in comfort (in the bosom of Abraham) or in torment."³

Clearly, these concepts set the stage for the heaven and hell of Christianity, as well as forming the ideological through line of this story. When Paul, a pastor (Kevin Kilner), announces to his congregation that, going forward, he is going to forego the notion of hell, all hell breaks loose, as the large, 3,000 person congregation splits into two camps, at first with only a small percentage leaving with the associate paster, Joshua (Robert Manning Jr.), who refuses to go along with Paul's new approach. But the problem keeps growing.

(L to R) Steve Brady as Jay and Kevin Kilner as Paul Photo: Adams Viscom

The elders of church, represented by Jay (Steve Brady), who approaches Paul, are concerned about the exit of Brother Joshua, and what he represents in terms of the congregation's range of beliefs.

Things continue to deteriorate when Jenny, a church congregant, questions Paul about Hitler, and how he could he could be allowed to be in heaven. This seems to resonate with some additional folks in the congregation. Then, she asks him why he waited to broach his change of position until the church mortgage was paid off, with the inference that he was not being forthright, and that he was calculating about material gain, when he should have been forthcoming from a spiritual level.

Caitlin Wise as Jenny Photo: Adams Viscom

Eventually, the shrinking congregation leads to extreme tension in Paul's marriage to Elizabeth (Krystel Lucas), who questions Paul as to why he never told her about his changed perspective, with which she, too, disagrees.

Playwright Lucas Hnath makes an interesting choice that has a major effect on the acting style and provides powerful commentary on the interplay of dogmatic beliefs and personality: keeping the wireless hand-held microphones in the hands of the actors even when they are not speaking to the congregation; that is, during their personal conversations. The effect is a Brechtian world where the characters "talk past" each other while promulgating their idées fixe.

Krystel Lucas as Elizabeth Photo: Adams Viscom

Despite this Brechtian subtext, the characterizations are Shavian, in that their ideological points-of-view come off as completely natural to their societal position, even if they are deaf to others' points. Kilner's portrayal of Paul is self-assured and persuasive, with the required preachy approach delivered in a well-tempered manner. Manning's cadences for Joshua are poetic, though tinged with hellfire and brimstone.

Brady's Jay is circumspect, as his fiduciary responsibility requires, yet there is an unspoken power that comes across. Wise keeps Jenny seemingly naive, while deftly weaving a web of subversive questions. Lucas reveals Elizabeth in a series of short, effective glimpses, moving from the beautiful, supportive wife, to an insightful partner, and finally to an incisive critic.

Almost 20 years after Pope John Paul II described both heaven and hell not as physical places, but as descriptions of one's relationship, or lack thereof, with G-d,⁴ it is disappointing to see large portions of the Christian spectrum (not to mention most religions) still hung up on judging others, rather than attending to their own spiritual health. Hopefully, throwing a spotlight on such behavior, such as we see here, will bring greater awareness to this problem.

The Denver Center Theatre Company's presentation of The Christians, by Lucas Hnath runs through February 26, 2017. For tickets: http://denvercenter.org/shows.

Bob Bows

Footnotes:
¹ Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar (2009). "AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION SURVEY (ARIS) 2008" (PDF). Hartford, Connecticut, USA: Trinity College. http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/AmericanReligionSurvey-ARIS/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf.
² http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/heaven-and-hell-in-jewish-tradition/
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_hell
⁴ Denver Rocky Mountain News, “Spotlight Magazine,” 7/31/99, in a Scripps Howard News Service reprint of an article by James Meek of The Guardian entitled “Pope defines hell more as a separation from God.”