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Dr. Peter Kreeft breaks down 15 of history’s greatest dramas, offering his profound insights, hilarious wit, and drawing vivid lessons on life’s big questions.
God on Stage:
15 Plays That Ask the Big Questions
By Peter Kreeft
Word on Fire | July 8, 2024
Paperback | 240 Pages | 6” x 9”
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About God on Stage
“All the world’s a stage”—but are the men and women merely players, or actors in a heavenly drama?
In God on Stage, renowned author and professor Peter Kreeft explores fifteen great dramas and, within them, five great themes: life, death, suffering, religion, and damnation. From classics like Oedipus the King and Hamlet to modern plays like Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons and Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited, Kreeft draws vivid lessons on the big questions we all ask ourselves.
Like the plays it takes up, God on Stage invites readers to smile and frown, ponder and fall in love, and sit back in awe and wonder—at art, God, and the art of God that is man.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
THREE DRAMAS ABOUT LIFE AND JOY
1) Pre-Christian: Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood
2) Christian: Thornton Wilder, Our Town
3) Post-Christian: Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
THREE DRAMAS ABOUT RELIGION (RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD)
4) Pre-Christian: Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
5) Christian: Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons
6) Post-Christian: Peter Shaffer, Equus
THREE DRAMAS ABOUT SUFFERING
7) Pre-Christian: Sophocles, Oedipus the King
8) Christian: William Nicholson, Shadowlands
9) Post-Christian: Archibald MacLeish, J.B.
THREE DRAMAS ABOUT DEATH
10) Pre-Christian: William Shakespeare, Hamlet
11) Christian: John Henry Newman, The Dream of Gerontius
12) Post-Christian: Cormac McCarthy, The Sunset Limited
THREE DRAMAS ABOUT DAMNATION
13) Pre-Christian: William Shakespeare, Macbeth
14) Christian: C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
15) Post-Christian: Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit
APPENDIX: THE THREE GREATEST DRAMAS OF ALL TIME
CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT
An Excerpt from the Introduciton
By Peter Kreeft
This book will not teach you anything about the history of theater, or of these plays, or the “correct” scholarly interpretation of them, or about the structure and technique of a play, or how to create or perform one. Nor is it a philosophy or theology of literature or of theater. Nor will it help you to think logically about tricky philosophical issues raised in these plays, like most of the “Philosophy in . . .” books about popular culture that are always written by “analytic” philosophers, who love to analyze, define, and argue. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what I do. What do I do with these plays? I read, and smile, or frown, or fall in love, or ponder, or open my mouth to make an O, the syllable of awe and wonder—wonder at both life and art, and at both God and man, who is God’s art.
Here’s What People Are Saying...
“Made in his image, we have it in our DNA to be creators of worlds on the sub-level of art and specifically theater. Kreeft’s insights into the art of the human drama evoke what Karol Wojtyła meant when he said, ‘Outside of the drama . . . man cannot fulfill himself as a person.’”
– John Walker, Associate Professor of Theater, Franciscan University of Steubenville
“The world’s a stage, and we are all called to play our part in the drama of life and love. Peter Kreeft doesn’t merely play a part. He plays many parts, and he plays them all so well. He is one of our age’s greatest philosophers. He is a great apologist. He is a very good writer. He entertains. He makes us smile. He makes us laugh. He makes us look at ourselves and each other in a new light. And now, this tried and tested guide to life guides us through some of the greatest plays ever written. Those wishing to go deeper into the meaning of life and death, and the mystery of love and suffering, will find no better guide than Peter Kreeft.”
– Joseph Pearce, author of Through Shakespeare’s Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays
“Peter Kreeft modestly calls himself a ‘tour guide’ of these fifteen plays, but he’s something better than that: he’s a gregarious fellow sightseer, an enthusiastic rambler holding forth less systematically and more vividly than the tour guide. I’m reminded a bit of Sister Wendy Beckett’s art commentary, disparaged by some professional art critics, but beloved by ordinary people who learned more about art appreciation from a few minutes of her rapturous discourse than from pages of typical art criticism.”
– Deacon Steven D. Greydanus, creator of DecentFilms.com
About the Author
About the Author
Dr. Peter Kreeft is Professor of Philosophy at Boston College and the author of over one hundred books. His many bestsellers cover a vast array of topics in spirituality, theology, and philosophy. They include Making Sense of Suffering, Because God Is Real, Christianity for Modern Pagans, Ethics for Beginners, the Socrates’ Children series, and the Food for the Soul series.
