Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Bosch: Creation, Fall, Hell -- a New York City view

Well, even on a short vacation, I am doing "Church-y" things. Last weekend Sylvia and I went to New York City to visit her best friend. Beautiful views were seen and a wonderful time was had. On Friday night we attended an off-Broadway play, "The Garden of Earthly Delights," based on the painting of the same name by Hieronymous Bosch about 1500.
In this triptych, Bosch gives the viewer a sense of the Creation, Fall, and Hell, though some critics argue about the middle theme. Anyway, the play attempted to deal with the themes on stage -- a brave undertaking. I was impressed by the staging, but am still wondering about the message. I felt like the director or perhaps playwright were trying to do this without God! Is this the modern theater? On the other hand, interestingly, hell was depicted eerily parallel to the chaos that preceded the creation of Adam and Eve. That is truly worth pondering -- is "hell" not merely the repository of Satan and evil or even separation from God, but in fact, separation from the creative intention of God??? I will chew on that.

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