Question

Reread the Stage Manager's comments on page 87 from "Now there are some things . . ." through the stage directions on page 88, "He looks at the audience a minute . . ." Note what he says about "eternal." Compare I Cor 15:51-54: Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. How do the Stage Manager's (and thus Wilder's) thoughts agree or disagree with the Bible passage?

Answer 1

The quotation you're being given is from a letter written in the middle of the first century C.E. by St. Paul to a specific group of Christians in Corinth (a city in Greece). He is describing one of the beliefs of the new religion of Christianity, the belief that at the end of the world ("the last trumpet" or "last trump"), dead people will be restored to life in new and perfect physical bodies that will last forever.