Religion In Performance Art

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The field of theater and the arts holistically present audiences with of a dilemma. These works of art and expression often find themselves grounded in the reality we know, the one that exists beyond the stage or screen and yet is not an exact copy. The reality of the film, play, or show takes liberties with reality, asking the viewer to put on hold certain understandings and beliefs in order to allow the events of the work to unfold or to advance the plot. In doing so the creators of these works of art ask audiences to partake in the “suspension of disbelief.” This concept can best be defined as the act of an audience putting preconceived knowledge regarding the fundamentals of reality on hold while consuming some form of performance art, …show more content…

In spite of knowledge possessed in regards to the laws of what is scientifically possible in the boundaries of reality, followers of religions are able to invest belief into abstract concepts in regards to their religion due to the fact that it is an expectation of their religion. One such example of this can be found in The Bible of Christianity, which details the life of Jesus Christ. In one scripture of The Bible, Matthew 14, Jesus defies the laws of physics and is able to walk on water. Despite the fact that this concept of a man being able to walk on water may seem abstract, far-fetched, or even just impossible, it is part of being a faithful Christian to take the world of The Bible and believe in it. In spite of the knowledge one might have regarding the chemical and physical properties of water that make it impossible to walk on, that followers of the Christian religion still believe this to be possible. In doing so, Christians are pushing the boundaries of the suspension of disbelief as a term that is isolated to the confines of performance arts and into the area of religion. This exemplifies the necessity of suspension of disbelief extending beyond the boundaries of performance arts due to the fact that as a religious individual experiences the conflict between their observed knowledge of the real world and what is written in religious scripture as truth, as the two may come in conflict. This conflict between what is real and what is written ultimately leads to followers of religion suspending their knowledge of the real world in order to remain a devout follower and maintain their sense of religious