Exploring Catholic Faith in Shakespearean Drama

David Torevell is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Liverpool Hope University, UK & Visiting Professor at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland.Brandon Schneeberger is Assistant Professor of English at Montreat College in North Carolina, where he teaches a variety of literature and writing courses.Luke Taylor SJ has taught literature internationally, in both tertiary and secondary institutions. He holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard University (2013).

This volume represents a major contribution to our appreciation of the place of Shakespeare—and, indeed, all great literature—in the formation and training of students, especially Catholics, who live in a post-secular world. The authors masterfully combine careful and original readings of Shakespeare’s major works with insights into their application to human life and the question of God. This exciting collection brings cutting-edge scholarship into conversation with the daily challenges faced by educators who hope to speak religiously to all students, from the skeptical to the devout.Rev. Prof. Brian Dunkle, S.J., Ph.D.Boston College Clough School of Theology and MinistryThis is a book about big themes and profound questions—who are we, what’s right, and who are we called to be. Anyone who has taught literature knows how Shakespeare can move students to think deeply about all the things that make being human so complicated—from love and desire to jealousy and lies. The authors of this volume provide a great service by putting all that into conversation with the richness of the Catholic tradition. I can imagine teachers, not only in Catholic institutions but in all schools committed to the humanities, finding this book especially helpful. Dean Rev. Prof. Mick McCarthy, S.J., Ph.D. Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry

• 1. Introduction 2. Section One: Anthropology 3. Macbeth’s Body: An Anatomy of Evil 4. Education and the Body: Twelfth Night and the Incarnation 5. Who do Students think they are? Nothing(ness) and Identity in King Lear 6. Section Two: Ethics 7. The Passion which causes Evil: Examining Envy and its Siblings in Shakespeare’s Othello 8. How Studying King Richard III Might Assist Students in Recognising Deception in Themselves and Others 9. Section Three: Vocation 10. On St Swithin’s Day: Star-Crossed Lovers and Cosmic Mysteries in Romeo and Juliet and One Day 11. Yielding many Scholars: The Virtue of Virginity in Measure for Measure and Pericles 12. Sacrifice as a Means to Knowing: Marriage and Sacramental Grace in The Merchant of Venice and Cymbeline 13. Section Four: Pedagogy 14. Education and Conversion Towards the Good: A Benedictine Framework and Shakespearean Soliloquies 15. Ignatian Pedagogy and Recognition: from the Bible to Shakespeare 16. Conclusion