The television program
The Passion is an example of public theology. This concept is not about preaching the gospel
to society, but bringing it into dialogue
with and
in society. The point of departure is the incarnational character of the Christian faith, which transcends the boundaries of the church (
Day and Kim 2017). Traces of God can be found in the secular world, because he honored the world through his self-revelation in Jesus Christ. However, this is not first and foremost about mission, but rather about a mutual dialogue. Not only the world is placed under criticism, but also the church and theology. They in turn benefit from their contact with different social systems and with all aspects of life. The Christian faith is again decontextualized. The concrete result can be a form of constructive public theology (
Breitenberg 2003, pp. 64–65), such as an event like
The Passion, where the Christian narrative melds with secularity.
1.1. The Special 2020 Edition
The Passion was originally developed by the BBC in 2006 under the title of Manchester Passion, with a live production of the Christmas story (Liverpool Nativity) the following year (
Dowell 2006). The idea was adopted in the Netherlands in 2011, and it has been revised and adapted ever since. In contrast to other countries, it has in the Netherlands become an annual event, held on Holy Thursday. It is staged each year in a different city. The Dutch format has been successfully exported to other countries. Thus, the American broadcaster Fox performed
The Passion live in New Orleans on Palm Sunday 2016 (
Andreeva 2015). The production was relayed worldwide via the streaming service Netflix.
1 The event has been organized every second year in Belgium since 2014, and a second edition has been planned in the UK for 2021.
A performance of
The Passion was set up in Germany for the first time in 2020 (
Nelissen 2020). The original idea for the current article, on the occasion of a congress at Dortmund University, was to compare the German and the Dutch editions. This appeared promising, since the religious fields in both countries seem similar at first glance, which is all the more reason to analyze the differences in the two broadcasts and to ask what could explain these (
Gärtner 2017a, pp. 208–15). However, the coronavirus put a stop to this plan, as the German edition was canceled. We decided to look instead at the 2017 Dutch production, since the 2020 Dutch version of
The Passion was held in a unique format. It was the tenth production in the Netherlands, allowing the broadcaster to use material and clips from past editions and to integrate these into a live performance in a studio location. Very suitably, given the fact that the coronavirus was dominating world news at the time, the title was
Now Give Me Your Fear.
2 After an opening scene featuring deserted streets, the presenter said that “tonight, perhaps more than ever, the Netherlands is in need of a story about hope, faith, and love.” The age-old story of the passion of Christ suddenly came very close to people. In the ensuing broadcast, the current crisis and the threat that the virus posed to all Dutch citizens were repeatedly linked to this event: like all of us today, Jesus Christ experienced loneliness and fear, which he overcame through his sacrifice and his love. He shared our suffering, but, according to another statement made during the performance, “if death can be overcome, then nothing is impossible anymore”. The cross was not the end, but a new beginning. Jesus is called “savior of the world”, who “faced his fear out of love for humankind”.
These are central messages from the gospel that have been passed down through generations of believers. Whether, and if so in what way, the viewer today still considers this story to be credible, is explicitly left to the viewers themselves to decide. The underlying principle of
The Passion is “believe it or not”. This is one of the reasons why the event is also popular among non-Christian or secular Dutch people (
Bernts and Berghuijs 2016, pp. 74–75).
The 2020 edition of
The Passion in the Netherlands thus told the well-known story in line with an orthodox theological program, according to which Jesus Christ died on the cross in solidarity with the people and ultimately for them (
Korthaus 2007). The current significance of this event lies in the possibility to identify the experiences of that time with those of today.
Other, non-Christological, interpretations of the Covid-19 crisis were possible as well. Mary, the mother of Jesus, stands under the cross, for instance, and sings about how to feel close to someone who can no longer be present: through mutual longing for each other. This could be applied to Jesus, but also to people in quarantine. In the performance, Pilate is the prototype of someone who, like us, is trying to keep control of his life in times of crisis and upheaval. Additionally, when Jesus and his disciples arrive in Jerusalem, the following words are sung: “don’t let my hand go, you don’t have to do this alone”. Repeated appeals are included for people to stand together, to remain positive, and to take special care of people who are at risk. Of course, there are worries and fears, but also many examples of commitment and solidarity—this is what the audience is encouraged to build on in the present crisis.
The title of the 2020 event was derived from an eighties hit by the popular Dutch folk singer André Hazes. Later, the equally famous singer Guus Meeuwis issued a cover version of this song. The original lyrics were written by Michael Kunze for the Austrian singer Udo Jürgens in 1982. The chorus line is: “Now give me your fear, I’ll give you hope in return. Now give me the night, I’ll give you the morning in return.” This brings us to the central artistic device of the passion of Christ on Dutch television: the combination of the gospel and contemporary popular music. That is why we have chosen to analyze the phenomenon from the perspective of intertextuality.
This song was also performed in an earlier edition of
The Passion, and it was reused in 2020. In the earlier production, it already “elicited a lot of emotions during the performance (…). And rightly so. The content of this song is suitable for conveying the story of Jesus’ passion. He took away our fear, so that we can receive hope in its place” (
Koster 2017, p. 16). This message was reinforced by combining footage of the song as it was performed by the risen Christ from the earlier edition with contemporary homemade videos of ordinary Dutch citizens and former actors from
The Passion. At the end, they all sing the song together. The videos featured individuals, but also groups of professionals such as firefighters, teachers, doctors, and geriatric nurses, who played a particularly essential role during the corona crisis. Their commitment was praised repeatedly throughout the broadcast. Additionally, audience members were asked to share their fear of the virus, but also their hope. These texts were then read during the production and selected video messages were shown.
1.2. The Phenomenon Itself
The Passion is a mixed-media project that uses the format of a huge entertainment event, but also includes classic elements of a passion play. The passion of Christ is transferred to the secular domain and there takes on new shape (
de Groot 2019, pp. 418–21). In the process, certain contents and practices of the original context of the story remain, although in an adjusted form.
The Dutch version of
The Passion is organized by the Christian television networks in collaboration with the mainstream churches and the Netherlands Bible Society
(Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap). After a moderately successful start,
The Passion has gone on to become one of the best-watched television programs in the Netherlands. In 2015, it reached the peak of 3.6 million viewers; in 2017, there were 3.1 million viewers, which amounts to a market share of 44 percent (
Mediacourant 2017). The special edition in 2020 was also a success, with 2.8 million viewers and a market share of 42 percent, especially when these numbers are compared with those for the previous year’s edition: 2.4 million viewers and a market share of 40 percent (
Mediacourant 2020). Half of the Dutch population has at one point in time watched an edition of
The Passion, and 40 percent of church members watch it regularly. Even among people who consider themselves to be secular, the percentage that has seen an edition of
The Passion at least once is at a third (
Bernts and Berghuijs 2016, pp. 74–75).
Critics have argued that the combination of popular culture, entertainment, and marketing on the one hand, and traditional biblical and liturgical elements on the other, is skewed to the disadvantage of the latter. Others regard it as religious kitsch (
de Groot 2015). Additionally, orthodox Calvinist groups have protested what they believe to be an inappropriate exploitation of the passion of Christ. They regard
The Passion as a sacrilege.
Although non-Christians give
The Passion a relatively positive evaluation (
Bernts and Berghuijs 2016, p. 76), only few of them report taking a greater interest in the Christian faith after the event. Commentaries about it on social media like Facebook or Twitter are often about aspects like connectedness and togetherness (
Jansen 2017). Only relatively few posts contain references to the passion of Christ itself or to the Bible. Nor has church attendance increased because of
The Passion (
Stassen and van der Helm 2016, pp. 27–29).
The event itself consists of an approximately 90-minute live broadcast of the passion with orchestra and choir from a central stage in the host city. Prepared shots and live connections are also displayed, on big screens on the spot and on television.
3 The Last Supper, for example, is sometimes staged in a local restaurant beforehand, and footage of this is then shown. There is a procession with a six-meter-high cross that is illuminated with white neon lights. The color white also dominates the scenic design and the musicians’ clothes. This color refers to the Dutch name for Holy Thursday,
Witte Donderdag, meaning “White Thursday”.
The procession is limited to 1000 participants. The cross is carried by volunteers who have applied to do so for personal, often also explicitly religious, reasons (
Klomp and Veldsman 2017, pp. 25–28). The cross is integrated into the events on stage once it arrives there, and it has a strong dramaturgical effect. Furthermore, the cross often dominates media reporting about the program the next day, Good Friday (
Fijen 2015, pp. 38–39). As a result, the central symbol of Christianity is prominent in what is otherwise a strongly secularized public sphere.
There is no depiction of the crucifixion. All elements of suffering as they appear in the biblical passion of Christ, such as the scourging at the pillar or the last hours on the cross, have been excised. At the moment that corresponds to these scenes, details are shown of images of the crucifixion from art history. After the first performances in the Netherlands, viewers criticized the staging of the crucifixion for being too radical. By contrast, the crucifixion had an important function in historical passion plays (
Schulze 2012, pp. 79–82). Ever since the transition from the dominance of images of Christ as the triumphant Pantocrator to that of the suffering Ecce Homo, and with the increasing impact of the cross in Christian spirituality in the 13th and 14th centuries, the pain of Jesus has been explicitly depicted. The passion plays provided an opportunity to feel compassion with Christ (
Barton 2016, pp. 281–306). The aim was to effect a momentous realization of salvation, from which not only the performers, but also the spectators, could benefit by joining in it (
Dauven-van Knippenberg 2003).
During
The Passion, a presenter acts as the evangelist, who not only narrates the passion, but also comments on it and gives an updated interpretation of it (
van den Hemel 2020, pp. 80–81). The text is derived from the comprehensible
Bible in Present-Day Dutch (
Bijbel in Gewone Taal), published by the Netherlands Bible Society. The text does not conform to one single passion narrative, but presents an integrated story in the style of a gospel harmony. That was also the case in many historical passion plays (
Schulze 2012, pp. 80–82).
This makes it possible to omit certain elements of the story and apply new emphases. One example concerns Jesus’ mother Mary, who plays a greater role in
The Passion than she does in the Bible (
den Braber 2012, pp. 39–42). The same can be said of the so-called “Mary’s lamentations” in traditional passion plays (
Schulze 2012, p. 136). These were not derived from the Bible either. Furthermore, the Easter event is staged in
The Passion, a feature that was similarly not unusual in historical passion plays. The appearance of the risen Christ concludes
The Passion in a positive way. The organizers apply different emphases each time by adjusting the dramaturgy (
Klomp 2015a): it makes a difference whether the risen Christ appears somewhere high up, like on a church spire, or whether he presents himself standing among the spectators as a living man.
The biblical texts are mixed with humorous comments by the narrator, which are a consistent element: “Pilate—no, not the inventor of the fitness routine” (Pilates). This creates an ironic distance that puts the story of the passion of Christ into perspective and enables the audience to distance itself from what is happening on stage. That is at least what can be gathered from comments about the broadcast on social media (
Klomp and van der Meulen 2017, pp. 393–97).
The storytelling repeatedly refers to the hosting city and to the current political situation. For instance, viewers associated the orange overalls in which Jesus and Barabbas already appeared before Pilate in the Manchester Passion with the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay or with videos of beheadings by Islamic State (IS) (
Klomp et al. 2018, pp. 210–12). Furthermore, there are real police officers involved in the arrest of Jesus. Before the performance in Germany, the authorities refused permission for this; they did not wish the police to appear as the henchmen of a rogue regime.
We have already addressed another artistic element of
The Passion: the connection between the biblical story and well-known Dutch secular songs that were not written or composed for the event itself. The organizers had recourse to (textually sometimes slightly modified) pop songs to make the message of the production easy to grasp. This builds a bridge “between the suffering of Christ as it is told by the churches and the experiences of a new, often secular generation. This generation is indeed receptive to existential questions, but does not understand the language of church and faith anymore” (
Fijen 2015, p. 38).
Nor are the actors and singers expected to be religious, but they have to be willing to identify with the event, at least in a general sense. Their participation has proven to be an effective advertising strategy. In 2015, for example, there was debate about whether an alleged criminal would be a suitable actor for the role of Barabbas. This was discussed in talk shows, and the biggest daily newspaper of the Netherlands (
De Telegraaf) dedicated a survey to the topic (
van der Meulen 2017). The public announcement, a few weeks before the event, of which prominent stars have agreed to participate in that year’s edition of
The Passion is also part of the marketing concept.
In addition, the event is promoted on social media. This multimedia access permits active co-creation by the audience (
Klomp and van der Meulen 2017, pp. 392–96). Since 2014, it has been possible to take part virtually in the procession of the cross and to share your own personal point of view with others. In 2020, almost 20,000 people made use of this possibility. It acquired a special significance that year, because the procession could not be realized on-site.
During Lent, people are invited to prepare for the event in WhatsApp messages featuring inspiring texts and clips. A special hotline staffed by the Netherlands Bible Society answers queries about the Book of Books. The website of The Passion offers possibilities for people to get to know the Christian faith or to deepen it. Schools are also provided with relevant material for religious education classes. There is a newsletter, and anyone interested can keep informed about all new developments regarding the event via Twitter.
This mediatization makes
The Passion accessible to those who cannot be present at the event on-site. Moreover, the use of social media expands the one-way communication, which is the hallmark of classical electronic media like television. The audience no longer consists of just
consumers, but people can also participate as
prosumers. Additionally, the broadcast is watched by people together in parishes, monasteries, cinemas, or retirement homes. This is sometimes embedded in gatherings or liturgical celebrations (
’t Mannetje 2015). Thus, the event not only uses modified Christian elements, rites, and language. The story of the passion of Christ as transformed in a secular context in this contemporary passion play also sometimes returns to church (
Klomp and Barnard 2017, pp. 249–50).
1.3. Different Approaches to the Event
What are the effects that the program has on the audience and stakeholders, and the benefits it has for them? Typically,
The Passion attracts tiered participation for a variety of motives. The different ways in which the participants perceive it make it a hybrid and altogether fluid event (
Gärtner 2017b;
Klomp and Barnard 2017). Five groups can be distinguished. Firstly, there are the viewers, who watch the program on the television, and the spectators along the procession route or in front of the stage. The latter enjoy the performance as a crowd and can share this experience with others through selfies, videos, or comments on social media. Moreover, it is possible to become a participant on-site, although in a role that, from the perspective of the gospel, is problematic. On the big screens, the audience is encouraged, as a crowd and therefore in the role of the so-called “Jews-
turbae” (
von Fischer 1997, p. 34), to shout “Crucify him!” and to demand the release of the murderer Barabbas.
4Secondly, there are the performers, who talk about the production in the media beforehand and afterwards. They give their views on what
The Passion means to them, but also more generally what the Bible, religion, or spirituality mean to them personally. This is an important contribution to the authenticity of the storytelling. In the past, the morality of different actors who played Barabbas or the explicitly articulated unbelief of a performer who played Jesus caused public debate (
Klomp et al. 2018, pp. 213–14).
Unlike the singers and actors, the third group, consisting of the organizers, sees the event as a means of communicating the Christian faith in a secular society. Moreover, the success of
The Passion is likely to positively affect the image of the Christian television broadcasters, which they need as membership organizations (
Gärtner 2017a, pp. 61–63). The churches may have the same expectations with regard to the event.
The prominence of the host city and the connectedness of the citizens with the city is the central motive for the hosts of
The Passion. The broadcast uses prominent sights in the city as its setting. The performance itself is an additional source of income for the local economy and an opportunity for marketing. Each year, there are multiple side events, both of a commercial and of a non-commercial nature, such as the so-called After Passion organized by local churches (
van den Hemel 2020, pp. 84–91).
Fifthly, there are the virtual and real participants in the procession. They have reported personal motives for doing so including explicitly Christian convictions: “By engaging in this procession ritual, participants very often turned out to actively connect themes related to the procession (e.g., suffering, pain, cross, sacrifice, death) to events they (have) experience(d) in their personal lives (…). In doing so, they may have encountered the divine in a new way” (
Klomp and Veldsman 2017, p. 29).
These different types of participation can come into conflict with each other. For instance, the question was raised whether the financial support that the host city offers to the performance of the passion of Christ does not in fact undermine the separation of church and state. The organizers’ point of view, that the event is a missionary opportunity for the Christian faith, seems irreconcilable with the religious neutrality of the Dutch state. Despite the fact that the event had a positive effect on the reputation of the city involved, there were also critical voices from local entrepreneurs (
Hoondert and Klomp 2014, pp. 323–27).
Even within the groups mentioned, reasons for taking part are multi-layered. In other words, there is not one single perspective on this passion play that all people in the same group share. People have their own view on what is shown on stage and create their own interpretation of the performance. This is stimulated explicitly by the artistic and dramaturgic design of The Passion, for instance by situating the event in the everyday world, by ironically reframing the biblical narrative, or by the references to contemporary history.
Different approaches are apparent, especially within the group of spectators. The spectators’ motivations for participating are very diverse, ranging from wishing to take part in a catechetical opportunity, searching for spiritual experiences and curiosity, to wishing to enjoy a free outdoor concert. The visitors on site perceive
The Passion as a collective experience, while each one has their own individual perspective on it: “The common ground is the collective (but not uniform) participation in the event, while the appreciation and appropriation are very different and the meaning is multi-layered” (
Klomp 2012, p. 52).
Similar nuances occur when it comes to deciding whether or not to join the procession. This is sometimes “an expression of attachment to the tradition of one’s parents and grandparents, to which one is not linked personally. It is about community with other people who are also participating in
The Passion. It is about a connection with the history of someone ‘who was a good man’ (Jesus), to express that one wants to do good. It is about commemorating deceased relatives in the form of a special nocturnal walk (‘Grandma, I love you and I know that you are looking down on me from heaven’). It is a silent demonstration against pointless violence in society, the experience of ‘the other’ that is bigger than us, or it is an experience of beauty. And it is
also still a modern way of remembering Jesus, his suffering, death and his resurrection” (
Klomp 2015b, pp. 137–38). As empirical research has shown, these are some of the motives people have to actively participate in the procession of the cross (
van den Hemel 2020, pp. 70–96;
Klomp and Veldsman 2017).
Passion plays are an opportunity to transcend everyday reality during the performance (
Schütz 2020). In a post-secular society, such transcendental experiences are framed in multiform, individualized, and selective ways. The framing is no longer simply religious, and it is also less traditionally Christian than it was in the past. The resulting pluralism strengthens the hybrid and liquid nature of the event (
Klomp and Barnard 2017, pp. 245–50).
The organizers contribute to this effect by giving the story of the passion a different focus each year. In 2020, the emphasis was on helping to overcome the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands. Something similar happened in Enschede in 2015, when the performance recalled a fireworks disaster that occurred in that town 15 years before. In other editions, the passion of Christ was staged as a conflict between the established order and the supporters of the Nazarene who longed for change, or it was about migration, the core message being that prejudices in society should be overcome. This was, among other things, expressed through a song about someone being stabbed on the street. This song is the only one that is sung every year during
The Passion. Like the repetition of other elements, this contributes to the ritualization of the event (
Fijen 2020). During the scene of the trial against Jesus, Jesus and Pilate together sing about leaving behind all black and white contrasts. They appeal for an alternative way of thinking, “with the color of the heart”.