Zinaida Andreevna Lurie PhD in History, assistant lecturer, Institute of foreign modern languages, St. Petersburg State University (Universitetskaia nab., 7/9, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)
z.lurie@spbu.ru
Lurie Z. A. Space of meanings of the biblical drama «The Sacrifice of Abraham» by Theodore de Beza, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2022, vol. 10, pp. 158–183.
doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2022-10-158-183
Language: Russian
The article examines the tragedy «The Sacrifice of Abraham» (1550) by Theodore de Beza, the reformer of Lausanne and Geneva, that was one of the first tragedies in French. This text was republished many times and influenced other evangelical Biblical dramas of the 16–17th centuries. Potentially, using the example of the Old Testament patriarch, many moral and social topics can be revealed. However, de Beza focuses on the most important issue in the life of a Christian, i.e. fight against temptation. This spiritual test, the struggle of the Spirit with the Flesh and victory over sin and devil are the signs of a true believer, who has been chosen for Salvation. Thus, the plot about the Old Testament righteous man who decided to violate the Commandment and trampled his natural attachment to his son actualizes the doctrine of predestination. This aspect of the confrontation between the individual and society was very important for de Beza himself. Besides, in the visual layer of tragedy — which we can be reconstructed in parts — the importance of Satan, who has lost part of his comic persona in comparison with the folk theater, the lack of imagery of God and other elements of confessional propaganda can be marked out.
Key words: patriarchs, Biblical drama, humanism, Calvinism, predestination, faith, the Apostle Paul, Isaac, Sarah, urban stage space
URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/en/lurie-2022-en/
