What Would the Early Church Say About Hollywood?

What would the early church say about today’s entertainment industry? Would they reference popular TV shows in sermons? Would they write articles recommending their top ten films for the summer on platforms like The Gospel Coalition?

Tertullian, a renowned Christian theologian from A.D. 155-220, likely would have responded with fierce opposition. In his treatise De Spectaculis (“On the Spectacles or The Shows“), he condemned Roman theatre and public entertainment as corrupting influences.

He argued that such spectacles promoted immoral behaviour, exploited vulnerable people, and eroded the moral values of their viewers—valid criticisms that should raise questions about the “entertainment” we consume today.

Tertullian writes:

“Aren’t we told to avoid all forms of indecency? For this reason, we should stay away from the theatre, which is full of immorality. In the theatre, what is considered shameful everywhere else is celebrated. The easiest way to gain favor with the theatre’s gods is to perform crude acts, like the gestures of Atellan performers or comedians dressed in women’s clothes, which destroy any sense of modesty. People are more embarrassed at home than they are during these performances.

“Actors are trained from childhood to lose their sense of shame in order to perform on stage. Even prostitutes, who are already exploited by the public, are put on stage, further humiliating them, especially in front of other women, from whom they would normally hide. These women are paraded in front of audiences of all ages and social classes, and their living situations, earnings, and praises are openly discussed—even in front of those who shouldn’t be exposed to such things. I won’t even mention other things that are so shameful they should remain hidden in darkness, away from the light of day. The Senate and all people of higher ranks should be ashamed of this! Even these poor women, who lose all modesty in their performances, still feel some shame at least once a year when they fear being seen in public.

“If we are supposed to reject all forms of indecency, how can it be okay to listen to things we shouldn’t even say? God condemns all immoral speech, even idle talk. So how is it acceptable to watch things that are disgraceful to do? How is it that things that can corrupt a person when they leave their mouth don’t also corrupt them when they enter through their eyes and ears? Eyes and ears are closely linked to the soul, so the soul can never be pure if what it sees and hears is impure. This is why the theatre is forbidden—because it promotes indecency.

“Additionally, if we regard secular literature as foolishness in God’s eyes, then it’s clear that we should also avoid the plays that come from such literature. If tragedies and comedies are full of violence, immorality, and sinful behavior, it’s not good to even remember such terrible things, let alone watch them. If you reject something in action, you shouldn’t welcome it in words either.”

De Spectaculis, Chapter 17

French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), once said, “All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than the theatre.”

In the theatre, we are far more prone to drop our guard. We tolerate there what we would find intolerable elsewhere. We couldn’t imagine peering through our neighbour’s bedroom window, but we pay to watch men and women undress in staged bedrooms. We might not do any of the immoral things we are observing, but we do, nonetheless, find those things “entertaining.”

With that in mind, the real question is: are these critics of immoral entertainment wrong, or are we wrong for so often consuming it and so readily defending it? Food for thought, anyway.