Performing the Plays of the Bible: Seven Ancient Scripts and Our Journey to Return Them to the Stage

The Bible is full of dramas. And plays are meant to be performed. Performing the Plays of the Bible helps us locate the plays in the Bible. Then it helps us perform them.This book is for everyone who wants to better understand the Bible. Jeff Barker is a theatre director and Tom Boogaart is a teacher of the Old Testament. This book is the result of their years of work alongside each other and with generations of their students. Their book is part of the growing field of biblical performance criticism.The seven plays (verbatim from the scripture) explored here are: Eve’s Two Sons (Genesis 4) Sarah Laughs (Genesis 18)The Bands of Aram (2 Kings 6)The Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22)The Binding of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3)The Sword of Goliath (1 Samuel 17) The Widow’s Oil (2 Kings 4)Dr. Boogaart has crafted new translations for each of the above passages. Professor Barker has opened the door to his rehearsal process. Tom provides cultural and biblical exegesis of each text. Each chapter includes the biblical text formatted as a dramatic script with staging notes.Video links are included for each of the plays in performance. Read more