Theodrama & COVID-19
Theodrama and COVID-19
By: Peter Breboneria II
In the last few decades, there was renewed interest in theological perspectives of beauty in relation to justice initiated by Swiss Catholic Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. He produced seven-volume works on theological aesthetics entitled, The glory of the Lord relating every theological reflection to beauty. He understood the relation between aesthetics and ethics. And justice can be viewed as a form of beauty-in-action. Beauty, goodness, and truth are intrinsically linked to one another. He cautiously transitioned from aesthetic to dramatics, from “theophany” to “theopraxy”.
In his work Theo-Drama, he remarked “that, if we look closely, this beautiful form of Christ, as examined in his aesthetics, is not simply a static image, icon, or artwork ‘crystallized in immobile perfection’, but, in fact, a dynamic event, a dramatic act, an embodied performance that reveals to us, along with God’s glory and beauty, God’s unbounded goodness.” He “was convinced that any talk of God’s beauty and goodness, as embodied and performed by Christ and those following in Christ’s footsteps, should involve and relate to the ‘social and political dimensions’ of human existence. Already in the opening section of Theo-drama, Von Balthasar identifies ‘political theology’, concerned with the liberation of the oppressed, as one of the building blocks of his theological dramatic theory.“Through the performance, the oppression and social injustices in the time of COVID-19 were unveiled on stage and examined by both audience and actors simultaneously, as a result of that, enabling a transformative critique of values, emotions, behavior, and attitudes.
References
1.Havenga, M. (2020). Justice as Beauty-in-Action? Insights from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Aesthetics and Dramatics. Acta Theologica, Supp(29), 37–49. https://doi.org/10.18820/23099089/actat.sup29.3
2.Theatrical Theology: Conversations on Performing the Faith |. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://jasongoroncy.com/2012/02/07/theatrical-theology-conversations-on-performing-the-faith/
3.What Hans Urs von Balthasar learned from St. Ignatius | America Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/08/07/what-hans-urs-von-balthasar-learned-st-ignatius
About the Author
Peter Dadis Breboneria II (Formerly Peter Reganit Breboneria II) is the founder of the International Center for Youth Development (ICYD) and the program author/ developer of the Philippines first internet-based Alternative Learning System(ALS) and Utak Henyo Program of the Department of Education featured by GMA News & Public Affairs, and ABS-CBN and MOA signed with Department of Education, Voice of the Youth Network, Junior Chamber International (JCI), and the Philippine Music and the Arts. He was the International Radio/TV format Host for Youth Program at Veritas Asia, a giant Catholic media network. He started as a local Youth Radio host at Gospel Broadcasting Network, an evangelical station, and trained by Far East Broadcasting Network (FEBC Legazpi Branch). He garnered model youth awards at Ateneo de Naga University, Bicol’s premier university in 2008. He is currently studying at the University of the Philippines-Open University. He studied Pastoral Management and Leadership at the Loyola School of Theology, a theological graduate school in Ateneo de Manila University. The Philippine Normal University-The National Center for Teacher Education waived his entrance exam and majorship exam. You may visit his website at www.peterbreboneria.com
