Posted on 08/07/2008 7:37:07 PM PDT by annalex
LOL Complex doesn't begin to describe Henry's marriage(s). Certainly believable that Mr. Shakespeare was a Catholic...although, except for Measure for Measure, I don't see his beliefs showing that much.
I’ve long believed Shakespeare to have been a Catholic.
I saw an interview with Pearce on EWTN. He was most convincing, most convinced after pursuing his research for some time. He did not start out convinced.
Of course Shakespeare was Catholic! And Abraham Lincoln was gay and Jewish, too.
That’s what I heard too. There’s actually been a growing amount of evidence discovered and marshalled over the years.
Henry VIII broke with Rome when the pope wouldn't agree to his divorcing Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. The other five marriages happened after the break with Rome.
I recall reading, though I cannot now recall the source, that there was evidence Shakespeare’s father was a crypto-Catholic.
I question this statement by Achorn: “All this, of course, must seem anathema to academics who wish to embrace Shakespeare as the spokesman of secular modernity.”
The Renaissance (and modern humanism) began in Italy, among Catholics. I don’t see how if Shakespeare was Catholic that would have prevented him from being as secular as his C of E friends. I think in that regard there proably was little difference between the two religions in sixteenth century England.
Have you read any of the books out there about Shakespeare being Catholic? There are a number of them. Rather than just dismiss them, why not read one of them.
As Stephen Greenblatt wrote in his biography of Shakespeare, called Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare:
Shakespeare’s religious beliefs have excited heated debate among scholars. What is in little dispute is that some of Shakespeare’s family and acquaintances — including his schoolmasters — had connections to English Catholicism and to the missionaries sent secretly to England by the Catholic Church to bring that country back to the fold. Many of these missionaries, including the Jesuit scholar Edmund Campion, were arrested and executed by the authorities. There is also evidence — in the form of a Catholic religious testament found in the 18th century in a house that once belonged to the Shakespeare family — that Shakespeare’s father remained a Catholic during Shakespeare’s youth.
Claire Asquith, Shadowplay:
You’ve been getting your history from too many teflon-suited Rev. Billies.
There is nothing un-Catholic about Renaissance, which was, after all, deeply religious. Modern humanism was a parasitic philosophical movement that exploited the Renaisance for its own satanic ends.
I can see a connection between Shakespeare and Catholic Renaissance, but to connect him to the likes of Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot is a long stretch.
to connect him to the likes of Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot is a long stretch.
I didn’t.
I doubt the gay part. but I do know he was Jewish. After all he got shot in the Temple. Bada Bing! Thank you I’ll be appearing at Schmucky Schmucksteins on Tues. no cover 2 drink minimum.
I about fell off my exercise bike when the PBS movie: “In Search of Shakespeare” suggested as much.
I should clarify that the movie conclude one way or another but suggested it was possible. I had never heard this or the reasons why so it made quite an impression on me.
This was only talked about in passing but from the content I remember it was pretty likely that his father was in fact Catholic.
Another interesting thing from this DVD was a very brief appearance of Patrick Stewart aka Jean-Luc Picard as Hamlet.
http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-in-search-of-shakespeare-dvd—pi-1452173.html
“I should clarify that the movie conclude one way or another but suggested it was possible.” should be:
“I should clarify that the movie DID NOT conclude one way or another but suggested it was possible.”
All that aside, wasn’t that a well written article?
Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford, was a Catholic for much of his life, until he renounced his faith in front of Queen Liz.
Therefore, the REAL “Shakespeare” was an ex-Catholic.
This is the second time I have come across this notion. Really something to ponder. I had never really thought about it at all.
v, Stephen Greenbalatt bump!
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