THEATER IN THE PEDAGOGY OF PHILIP MELANCHTHON

Lurie Zinaida Andreevna

DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2022-5-157-167

Information About Author:

Lurie Z. A., Candidate of Historical Sciences, Assistant Lecturer, St. Petersburg State University (Universitetskaya naberezhnaya, 7/9, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, 199034).

The article deals with the theater in the pedagogy of Philipp Melanchthon, primarily on the material of his prefaces and comments on the publications of Terence in 1517–1519, 1524–1528. and 1545, to which he returned throughout almost his entire career. Early editions were written within the background of his rhetorical reform at the Wittenberg Faculty of Arts, the second edition was prepared as part of the school reform in Saxony (with scholia being compiled) and, finally, the last edition reflects Melanchthon’s experience of studying ancient Greek dramaturgy (the tragedies of Euripides, Sophocles and the comedies of Aristophanes). Despite a sufficient number of scientific publications exploring the indicated sources in various contexts (Melanchthon’s ethics, his ideas about ancient drama, etc.), the article focuses on Melanchthon’s idea of theater as pedagogical practice. Analysis of the sources suggests that Melanchthon rarely shared the discourses of theater and drama, speaking together about their educational and educational functions. Sharing theological and secular knowledge into categories of Gospel and Law, Melanchthon considered it necessary to study ancient literature, philosophy and drama in particular as valuable “stories” which are rich in examples of universal human ethics and give pictures of various socio-political activity (speeches, meetings, council meetings, etc.). This idea was developed by him in his numerous works on ethics and theology. Modeling of the educational process in Melanchthon’s school based on the scholia to Terence allows us to suggest that the study of texts in the classroom was built primarily around grammar exercises and the study of expressions and vocabulary. Then his conviction of Melanchthon in the use of theater/drama for ethical and social up-bringing, along with the mentions of productions in his texts, suggests that the theatrical activity was that tool of the formation of ethics. Of course, Melanchthon was far from specific understanding the educational functions of the theater, but the practice of staging was laid in his method as an educational practice. We propose in this sense to talk about the theater in Melanchthon’s pedagogy as an anthropological practice.

Keywords: Wittenberg, school, university, theatrical activity, comedies, tragedies, anthropological practices

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Issue: 5, 2022

Series of issue: Issue 5

Rubric: REVIEW

Pages: 157 — 167

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