More Things in Heaven and Earth
eBook - ePub

More Things in Heaven and Earth

Shakespeare, Theology, and the Interplay of Texts

  1. 384 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

More Things in Heaven and Earth

Shakespeare, Theology, and the Interplay of Texts

About this book

Shakespeare's plays are filled with religious references and spiritual concerns. His characters—like Hamlet in this book's title—speak the language of belief. Theology can enable the modern reader to see more clearly the ways in which Shakespeare draws on the Bible, doctrine, and the religious controversies of the long English Reformation. But as Oxford don Paul Fiddes shows in his intertextual approach, the theological thought of our own time can in turn be shaped by the reading of Shakespeare's texts and the viewing of his plays.

In More Things in Heaven and Earth, Fiddes argues that Hamlet's famous phrase not only underscores the blurred boundaries between the warring Protestantism and Catholicism of Shakespeare's time; it is also an appeal for basic spirituality, free from any particular doctrinal scheme. This spirituality is characterized by the belief in prioritizing loving relations over institutions and social organization. And while it also implies a constant awareness of mortality, it seeks a transcendence in which love outlasts even death. In such a spiritual vision, forgiveness is essential, human justice is always imperfect, communal values overcome political supremacy, and one is on a quest to find the story of one's own life. It is in this context that Fiddes considers not only the texts behind Shakespeare's plays but also what can be the impact of his plays on the writing of doctrinal texts by theologians today. Fiddes ultimately shows how this more expansive conception of Shakespeare is grounded in the trinitarian relations of God in which all the texts of the world are held and shaped.

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Yes, you can access More Things in Heaven and Earth by Paul S. Fiddes in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Literary Criticism of Shakespeare. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. 1 Shakespeare’s ā€œMore Thingsā€ and Religion
  8. 2 Shakespeare’s ā€œMore Thingsā€ and Spirituality
  9. 3 Shakespeare’s ā€œMore Thingsā€ and Theology
  10. 4 A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Seeing with the Eyes of Love
  11. 5 The Merchant of Venice and the Covenant of Love
  12. 6 King Lear and a Journey to Nothingness
  13. 7 Hamlet, Hesitation, and Remembrance
  14. 8 King Richard II, King John, and the Ambiguities of Power
  15. 9 The Winter’s Tale and the Renewal of Life
  16. 10 The Tempest and the Risks of Forgiveness
  17. Notes
  18. Bibliography
  19. Index