The Blending of Secular and Liturgical

The primary purpose and intention of the various pageants was, as the editor points out, to instruct and remind audiences of their spiritual responsibilities (to follow the teachings of the Bible and the church), of the incentive to fulfill those responsibilities (spending eternity with God in heaven), and of the fate (eternity in hell) that awaited if they did not. As the author also points out, however, the writers (and presumably the producers) of the various pageants seemed to want to communicate this things as accessibly as possible. This was partly done, it seems, by employing ordinary working people (the various trade guilds) to present and perform in the pageants, and partly by telling the story using as many contemporary characters, perspectives, words and attitudes as possible. There was also, he adds, an evident intent to interject humor into the scripts.

While the...