Passion Play on Marcan Jesus: New Paradigm in Sri Lankan Passion Play Tradition

Abstract

The main aim of this Passion Play is to introduce a new paradigm for presentday Passion Play writers. This is realised by highlighting the pastoral implications of appropriately interpreting the passion and death of Jesus based on the Gospel of Mark with an emphasis on the theology of redemption (liberation), rooted in Hebrew and Christian Scriptures enlightened by the modern biblical exegesis. To achieve this aim, I opt for practised-based research by performing a Passion Play in collaboration with the professional dramatists of the Department of Drama and Theatre, University of Kelaniya. I, too, intend to employ the literary-critical, sociocritical, and context-oriented methods of analysis in this research. In addition to that, I will discuss Three methodologies of modern biblical exegesis: the historical‐critical method focusing more on historical contexts (diachronic dimensions), new literary criticism emphasising the texts (synchronic dimensions) and the new trends of exegesis (or hermeneutics), which promote more interaction with the target audiences. This methodological approach helps to replace the Creation-Fall-Salvation of atonement theological framework of the traditional Pasion Plays with Exodus-Easter or Exodus- Prophets-Passion of Jesus. I have carefully selected the dramatic scenes within the classification of the passion narratives of the Gospel of Mark based on the scholarly book of Donald Senior, C.P., University of Louvain, Belgium.