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Animal-Human Drives in Prehistoric Art, Egyptian Temples, and Christian Melodramas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

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Abstract

Research findings in cognitive and affective neuroscience, along with psychology and anthropology, can be used to explore the theatrical benefits and dangers of church/temple performances. They involve animal-human drives as primary and social emotions, expressed through patriarchal, maternal, memorial, and supportive/trickster networks in the brain’s staging of self and Other consciousness. Thus, “inner/outer theatre” (brain and social) networks are reflected in the apparent spirits and divine figures of earlier cultures, which relate to Christian images and performance ideals.

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TDR , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , June 2025 , pp. 172 - 193
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of New York University Tisch School of the Arts

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TDReading

Montelle, Yann-Pierre. 2022. “The Skull Chamber in the Chauvet Cave.” TDR 66, 2 (T254):10–26. doi.org/10.1017/S1054204322000077 CrossRefGoogle Scholar