Jazz hands for Jesus: Inside Broadway's religious revival

God is so hot on Broadway right now

Broadway religion
(Image credit: Illustration by Sarah Eberspacher | Photos courtesy Facebook.com)

Since 1921, The Nederlander Theater in New York City has housed many heralded Broadway productions — from Julius Caesar to King Lear to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf to Rent. But on June 25, when Amazing Grace opens in its 1,232-seat auditorium, The Nederlander may become known as the place where religion was revived on Broadway.

Amazing Grace tells the story behind "Amazing Grace," the world's most recorded and most popular song. "Amazing Grace" was published by John Newton in 1779 after he barely survived a violent storm at sea — a survival he attributed to his crying out to God for mercy.

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Jonathan Merritt

Jonathan Merritt is author of the book Learning to Speak God from Scratch: Why Sacred Words are Vanishing — and How We Can Revive Them and a contributing writer for The Atlantic.