「聖俗理論」是羅馬尼亞著名宗教現象學學者依利亞德（Mircea Eliade, 1907- 1986）的 重要理論：宗教是 “「聖」與「俗」兩種層次內涵的組合 ”。當聖顯（hierophany）出現時產 生“ 神聖性與世俗性並存的二元現象＂，建立起「非同質」結構的神聖空間，與不受限於歷 史主義的神聖時間。 英國著名當代作曲家布列頓（Lord Benjamin Britten）歌劇《Peter Grimes》的第二幕第 一景隱含著許多神聖與世俗並存的象徵意涵。藉著調性象徵、動機形象以及重唱形式等音樂 戲劇的表現素材，布列頓將神學救贖觀點與對當時社會寫實現況的批判同時鋪設在這一景當 中。 使用依利亞德宗教美學方法來解讀歌劇此場景，代表神聖與世俗的象徵符號得以清楚的 浮現，劇中寫實的題材呈現出「無時間觀」（Zeitlosigkeit）的概念，亦符合了依氏的「永恆 回歸」（Eternal return）宗教論證。布列頓在歌劇中所採用悲劇形式透過對於神學本體論證的 闡釋，將悲劇昇華至神聖的層次。

The eminent learned man for “Religious Phenomenology”, Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), among his theories, one of which paid most attention to just was the concept “hierophany” since Eliade deduced the “Sacred” and “profane” form human experience. The phenomenology is established as “non-homogeneous” structure in space of the sacred, not limited in the temporal historicism. This article attempts mainly inquiring into the opera of Benjamin Britten(1913-1976), who is known for the contemporary composer, Peter Grimes on the basis of Act 2 scene 1, which stands the symbolic connotation of coexistence in the sacred and the profane . It implies that the action appears to profound presentation by means of tonal symbol, motive image and ensemble. The concept of “redemption in Theology” by Benjamin Britten presents the social realistic materials. At the right moment the scene in this opera matches thus to the principle of Eliade’s religious esthetics that myth express a kind of principle of the hermeneutic for the symbols- the sacred and the profane. The concept that uses “Zeitlosigkeit” in this plot conforms to religious dialectic in “Eternal return” carried out by Eliade. As the opera is interpreted through the form theological ontology, Britten sublimes tragedy to the level of Holiness.