Ibsen, Steiner argues, did not write tragedies. Ibsen wrote “dramatic rhetoric” calling society to reform. For real tragedy, there is no such “solution” to be found, there is no remedy, except destructive sacrifice and perhaps a deus ex machina. From this angle, tragedy is perhaps among the STOICHEIA that prepared the Greeks for the gospel, a Greek version of Levitical sacrificial ritual. It is the “law” half of the Lutheran law-gospel sequence, because it demonstrates that man is hopelessly at the mercy of unknown and uncontrollable forces, which can only be undone by the coming down of a God or by the apocalyptic destruction of the ruined world.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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