Paul Fiddes and Paul Edmondson – Shakespeare & Theology?
Event Date: 1 December 2011
The Shakespeare Institute
Mason Croft, Church Street
Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6HP
The Shakespeare Institute
Mason Croft, Church Street
Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6HP
Revd Professor Paul Fiddes (Oxford) and Revd Dr Paul Edmondson (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)
Shakespeare & Theology?
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The Shakespeare Institute
An internationally renowned research institution established in 1951 to push the boundaries of knowledge about Shakespeare Studies and Renaissance Drama. The Shakespeare Institute offers a wide range of innovative postgraduate degrees, including postgraduate research.
During the Autumn and Spring terms, the Institute runs a series of Thursday seminars which are given by members of staff and invited speakers. The seminars start at 2.00pm lasting approximately 45 minutes followed by a question and answer session. University of Birmingham staff and students, and guests are welcome to attend.
The Shakespeare Institute
An internationally renowned research institution established in 1951 to push the boundaries of knowledge about Shakespeare Studies and Renaissance Drama. The Shakespeare Institute offers a wide range of innovative postgraduate degrees, including postgraduate research.
During the Autumn and Spring terms, the Institute runs a series of Thursday seminars which are given by members of staff and invited speakers. The seminars start at 2.00pm lasting approximately 45 minutes followed by a question and answer session. University of Birmingham staff and students, and guests are welcome to attend.
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Introduction by Professor Michael Dobson (Shakespeare Institute) .
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Talk:
PLAY
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Questions:
PLAY
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This panel was a joy to hear. As a Shakespeare lover for half a century, I appreciate the depth of the panelists’ knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays and the profound analysis of the complex theological and political climate in which the great playwright had to work. Shakespeare explores ethical and moral principles applicable to religious persons everywhere, but the breadth of his spirituality cannot be confined to a limited orthodox theology.
I particularly liked the concepts of “a radical re-spiritualization of the world” and a “resource for spiritual reflection” — Kudos to Paul Edmonson and Paul Fiddes.
Helen Heightsman Gordon, M.A., Ed.D.
Author of THE SECRET LOVE STORY IN SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS [2008]
I get something of the conversation between monks about how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. The topic before the scholars was Shakespeare and Theology. Theology has to do with God and the study of God. Shakespeare’s subject matter was man and his thoughts, weaknesses, fears, aspirations. In this sense, Shakespeare does not deal in theology. Christian theology is a sub-text as a basis for belief–or more properly the Christian armature of beliefs–mortality, sin, redemption, deliverance, and indulgence by men and gods. In the end, forgiveness for sin. Shakespeare has more in common with the classical concept of the brevity of life and the absence of godly aid. The Christian system is more a hope than a living reality. As far as Edmundson’s concept that the English Church was Catholic, but not Roman Catholic, then the destruction of the monasteries and nunneries, the murder of thousands of men and women as sinners and witches, did not so ecumenically distinguish. It is therefore an idle thought, perhaps to fudge the Catholic question regarding the Stratford person. Shakespeare’s thoughts were immediately human. They transcended sect. And they were not academic.