If you read my earlier post on the Gospel at Colonus, you may enjoy this very detailed review. The author did a fairly good job of tying together the gospel experience and Greek drama. The former aspect of the play has always intrigued me, but I feel like I have never fully grasped it. The impenetrability of the gospel experience to outsiders reminds me of some of the reasons why classics fascinates me.
The study of Greek and Latin holds examines two societies right on the boundary between local and global (or what passes for global when rowboats are your most sophisticated means of transportation.) A truly local society possesses a sense of community without constantly making a big deal about it; everyone 'gets' the cultural references, the jokes, etc. Romans and Ancient Greeks could be immersed in their local culture in a way that is difficult for us to imagine. At the same time, Rome and Athens were at various periods the most important cities in the western world, and this was a counterforce that pulled them in the direction of the foreign and novel. There is something deeply satisfying about contemplating that eternal tug of war.
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