something else entirely

This is my pull question for The Bacche, I found the subject interesting and thought i'd post it here to see what any of you though about this subject.


In our culture, the church fights a popular image of stiff-necked hypocrites and people who are simply boring, lacking any of the joys or merriment of life. These images are horrendously detrimental when we are trying to reach out to the lost and we as the Church must find a way to combat them. In searching for this battle strategy it is helpful to look at the characters of Pentheus and Dionysus in The Bacche and analyze the way they represent the views of the church .
Pentheus represents structure, formality, duty and responsibility and yet he is curious of life outside his own rules and will break them to explore the forbidden delights. Dionysus on the other hand, represents the opposite of the church, living loosely and embodying the utter ends of a life lived for passion and gratification. Traditionally, Christians have taken one of two methods in combating these stereotypes. Either they choose to defend Pentheus and say why he was truly the greater man and his way of living is best or they choose to put themselves forth as the true Dionysus and appropriate his lifestyle as their own. Unfortunately, neither of these options are the correct response.
Defending Pentheus is a dangerous option for Christians, because we defend what we are not. Christianity does support duty and responsibility as Pentheus does, however there is one thing on which the two differ greatly – freedom. Pentheus is so strangled by legality that he is unable to see when change is necessary and even good. He has no freedom to actually enjoy life, and is instead so consumed with keeping order that he cannot exercise any freedom to rejoice in his life. The Church, as Christ intended it to be, is the epitome of this freedom, allowing for change and joy in life. By defending the whole of Pentheus we are, in reality, advocating this loss of freedom.
However, becoming Dionysus is equally dangerous. Though certainly appealing to the lost, this option is also a false representation of Christianity for it really only offers salvation for those who have no intention of ever making a lifestyle change. In fact, the reason there is so much sin and pleasure seeking in the Church is likely because Christianity has been presented as a form of the Dionysian lifestyle. However this is in direct contradiction with the Biblical standards of holiness and self-sacrifice. Additionally, Dionysus severely lacks mercy. He offers acceptance perhaps, but no mercy. Either you support him entirely, or you will die, there is no room for repentance. This is completely the opposite of the gospel, offers forgiveness for mistakes and an opportunity to repent for sin.
The correct response, then, is to portray the Church as neither Pentheus nor Dionysus, but rather as something else entirely. The stereotype should be that the Church is a place where Pentheus finds freedom and Dionysus finds mercy and forgiveness. We need to expose the weaknesses of both characters and show how the Church comes in and completes them.