 of which was needed in the days before large-scale government social programs.
To modern Christians, the term "religious theater" tends to conjure up images of terrified but cute kids wearing dishtowels on their heads at Christmas time, or silly-looking adults playing guitars and singing with puppets. Because the feast being celebrated is named for the body of Christ, the York plays emphasize the importance of that body, dwelling on its actions, its symbolic significance, and, of course, its death and resurrection. Many Protestants will be uncomfortable with the play's presentation of Christ's suffering, as well as the implied and direct significance of "the body of Christ" and its relationship to the bread and wine offered during Christian worship.
A colleague of mine recently rolled his eyes and moaned in mimicry of traditional paintings of Christ's passion, calling such images "offensive" to an Evangelical Protestant mindset. During the Reformation, all artistic reminders of the medieval church, and the public's lingering attachment to them, constituted grave threats to the new Protestant order, prompting Protestant reformers to act quickly to suppress them (see Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400-1580). As a result, many protestant denominations have all but lost what was once a popular and powerful devotional tradition: affective piety -- a religious zeal which affects the emotions, by way of statues, images, and devotional legends which expound upon core religious messages. (See "Affective Piety," below).
Every Easter in the Philippines, pious volunteers carry crosses through the streets and actually allow themselves to be temporarily crucified (with stainless steel nails sterilized in alcohol) in order to fully understand the grief and pain which Jesus underwent on the cross. Religious devotion which encourages the faithful to meditate deeply upon the physical and emotional sufferings of holy figures is called "affective piety." The Philippines example may be 