Robinood65
5th August 2007, 03:09 PM
Hi,
I am one of the co-writers of the musical and I would like to point a few things out about who we are and what we hoped to achieve with the musical.
I am a moderate ELCA Lutheran whereas the co-writer is a non-demoninational Evangelical. Most everything in the musical is rooted in historical fact and an immense amount of research went into it's production.
As for the charge of making fun of Catholics, it is difficult to portray the insanity of the Vatican under Pope Leo X while still indicating that most Popes (and especially not the resent ones) have not had people jumping out of cakes and whatnot. Pope Leo X is purported to have said, "Since God has granted us the Papacy, we might as well enjoy it" and then proceeded to empty the treasury in about 2 years. He was a fun guy but was not talented at running a church. And he did have people jump out of cakes - we would not make that up. We don't mock Catholics - we mock the corruption of the Catholic Church ca. 1517, which would not necessarily include the Roman Catholics we live with today (I have Catholic friends who like the show a lot).
As for Luther himself, you probably noticed his temper and profanity, and well, he had a temper and swore sometimes. That's historical fact. However, what we hoped to do with his character was to in spite of his obvious flaws and penchant for describing the world in terms of flatulance, make sure that his message, the Gospel message of being saved by grace through faith and not by works came through loud and clear. Luther was a great man with flaws like any of us, but in spite of them (and because of them) did a really important, God-ordained thing.
We also believe that laughing at ourselves is a good thing so long as the Gospel is not lost in the chaos. We do hope that you will consider coming to see the show and remember that this might be the only chance for some people to hear Ephesians 2:8 repeated in good faith. We purposefully included Bible verses wherever we could and tried not to be disrespectful to it (some things are sacred)
We apologize if we offended anyone and we hope that after looking at Luther's writings, the historical record, and then our work that you will see it as it is intended - a comedic historical satire unavoidably embedded with the Gospel as Dr. Luther might tell it.
We appreciate your discussion on the subject and I would appreciate any questions or comments that you would like to send us at info@martinluthermusical.com
Come see the show at Augsburg College
Sunday, Aug 5 @7:00
Friday, Aug 10 @8:30
Saturday, Aug 11 @8:30
Hoversten Chapel, Augsburg College, Mpls., MN
visit us at martinluthermusical.com
Watch clips on youtube.com by searching for "Martin Luther Musical"
Thanks!
I am one of the co-writers of the musical and I would like to point a few things out about who we are and what we hoped to achieve with the musical.
I am a moderate ELCA Lutheran whereas the co-writer is a non-demoninational Evangelical. Most everything in the musical is rooted in historical fact and an immense amount of research went into it's production.
As for the charge of making fun of Catholics, it is difficult to portray the insanity of the Vatican under Pope Leo X while still indicating that most Popes (and especially not the resent ones) have not had people jumping out of cakes and whatnot. Pope Leo X is purported to have said, "Since God has granted us the Papacy, we might as well enjoy it" and then proceeded to empty the treasury in about 2 years. He was a fun guy but was not talented at running a church. And he did have people jump out of cakes - we would not make that up. We don't mock Catholics - we mock the corruption of the Catholic Church ca. 1517, which would not necessarily include the Roman Catholics we live with today (I have Catholic friends who like the show a lot).
As for Luther himself, you probably noticed his temper and profanity, and well, he had a temper and swore sometimes. That's historical fact. However, what we hoped to do with his character was to in spite of his obvious flaws and penchant for describing the world in terms of flatulance, make sure that his message, the Gospel message of being saved by grace through faith and not by works came through loud and clear. Luther was a great man with flaws like any of us, but in spite of them (and because of them) did a really important, God-ordained thing.
We also believe that laughing at ourselves is a good thing so long as the Gospel is not lost in the chaos. We do hope that you will consider coming to see the show and remember that this might be the only chance for some people to hear Ephesians 2:8 repeated in good faith. We purposefully included Bible verses wherever we could and tried not to be disrespectful to it (some things are sacred)
We apologize if we offended anyone and we hope that after looking at Luther's writings, the historical record, and then our work that you will see it as it is intended - a comedic historical satire unavoidably embedded with the Gospel as Dr. Luther might tell it.
We appreciate your discussion on the subject and I would appreciate any questions or comments that you would like to send us at info@martinluthermusical.com
Come see the show at Augsburg College
Sunday, Aug 5 @7:00
Friday, Aug 10 @8:30
Saturday, Aug 11 @8:30
Hoversten Chapel, Augsburg College, Mpls., MN
visit us at martinluthermusical.com
Watch clips on youtube.com by searching for "Martin Luther Musical"
Thanks!