... philosophy and early Christian theologians. These plays also engage with liturgical debates that stem from these anxieties, debates regarding the role of music in the church and in the life of a pious Christian. The chapter argues five major points about how staged music can contribute to religious discourse...

... the changes made to church music as well as people’s reception to those changes. While debates raged about music’s abilities to bring listeners and singers into harmony with their God—and its power to distract, corrupt, and manipulate—staged music could represent and enact the logical consequences of cases...