Table of Contents

Prologue: Choosing a Script and Learning Lines
1. Setting the Stage: Community Theater and the Translation of Tales
2. Take Your Places: Authors, Actors, and Audiences
3. Imagine, If You Will: Ekphrasis and the Senses in the Sanctuary
4. Method Acting: Ethopoeia and the Creation of Character
5. Sounds, Sightlines, and Senses: Bodies and Nonverbal Literacy
6. The Stage is a World, The Body an Instrument: Hymns in Sacred Space
Epilogue Curtain Call: Afterlives of Liturgical Theater
Index

About the Author

Laura S. Lieber is a Professor of Religious Studies and Classical Studies at Duke University and the Director of the Duke University Center for Jewish Studies. She holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and received her rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Reviews

L.'s interdisciplinary approach is a relevant contribution to contemporary scholarship that considers literary and material 'fragments' as invitations to reevaluate philological and historiographical methods in the analysis of Jewish, Christian and Samaritan textual traditions.
*Christine Rosa De Freitas, JSOT 48, no. 5*

This excellent book contributes to an ever-widening conversation scholars of the ancient world are having about form, and how the customs of genre can both shape thought and link traditions that have long seemed distinct. Lieber focuses on late ancient liturgical poetry, joining others such as Georgia Frank, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, and Ophir Münz-Manor to consider the making of culture at the level of performance.
*Ellen Muehlberger, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Ultimately, Lieber's work offers a rich and lively reimagination of long-silenced voices, reinvigorating the discussion of whether theatricality and performance are viable options for understanding ancient texts. Even if one is unpersuaded by her placement of particular pieces upon the mosaic of ancient performance (as I am at times), it is clear that the majority of these pieces not only belong but are in the correct place. Modern readers are left to wrestle with and reimagine the remaining gaps in the mosaic.
*Zechariah Eberhart, Reading Religion*

Staging the Sacred is a momentous achievement, distinctive in its knowledge, scope and range. Lieber's prose is elegant and engaging, rich yet unfailingly clear.The approach to sources both ancient and modern is exemplary.
*Emma Greensmith, Project Muse*