Music Review: Jesus Christ Superstar - Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

As many people know, the Bible isn't a book written by a single author over a period of a few weeks or months. Instead, it is a collection of writings spanning hundreds of years, written by different people in different languages. Even the Gospels, which all focus on the ministerial years of Jesus, were chosen from a large number of existing stories and accounts long after He had preached in the Holy Land.

Technology aside, I wonder what the compilers of the Bible would've thought about Jesus Christ Superstar? Although it likely wouldn't have made the cut way back then, here in the 21st century its story is hard to ignore. A local preacher, Jesus, starts building a following for his teachings of love and tolerance, but many of his opponents (and at least one of his disciples) think the Roman occupiers would react with military action if he becomes too influential with the people. Consequently, he is betrayed by one of his followers, Judas, condemned and crucified.

In Jesus Christ Superstar, the musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Jesus performs no miracles and doesn't even come back to life after three days. He's simply buried and the audience is left to make up their own minds as to whether the Resurrection ever took place or not. As a character, he is clearly stressed. He's emotional and doesn't hesitate to let people know what he really thinks. He may be God, but he most definitely has the emotions of a human being.

Therein lies the problem for some Christians: a story that focuses on Jesus' humanity necessarily denies his Godliness. This is further complicated by the writers not sticking to the accepted canon for their storyline. Judas, one of a dozen disciples of Jesus, is not particularly special otherwise in the Bible accounts. In JCS, if anything, he is the voice of reason, a conservative who wants to go about helping the world in the usual way. Compared to Judas, Jesus is the radical – he’s the one who chases the merchants and moneylenders from the temple and who reinterprets Judaic law into what would later become the basis of Christianity.

Article Author: JC Mosquito

JC Mosquito spends most of his day keeping the wolves from the door. When he's not occupied with this pasttime, he's interested in all things rock and roll, which may or may not have died back in the late '50's, the late '70's, or the early '90's …

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