Abstract
This paper uncovers how Terrence McNally’s 1998 gay passion play Corpus Christi braids together queerness and religiosity to highlight that queer people are also welcome at the “spiritual table.” By bringing together his life experiences as a gay man who grew up in Texas with the biblical passion story, McNally highlights ways in which the Bible has been weaponized against gay men specifically, while at the same time creatively retelling Jesus’s execution to undercut that weaponization.
Reference23 articles.
1. Alexis-Baker, Andy. 2012. “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Temple Incident in John 2:13–15.” Biblical Interpretation 20: 73–96.
2. Arnzen, Nic and Brandon, James. 2012. Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption. Breaking Glass Pictures and 108 Productions.
3. Beale, Richard and King, Pamela. 1984. York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling. World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Bial, Henry. 2015. Playing God: The Bible on the Broadway Stage. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
5. Blankenship, Mark. 2008. “Moments in History, Converging Anew.” New York Times, 15 Oct. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/theater/19blan.html