Biblical Seeds of Secular Shakespeare Bias (Part 4: Religious Bias in Shakespeare Scholarship)

I have written recently about various forms of bias in Shakespeare scholarship, including that of those who prefer a secular or seemingly post-Christian Shakespeare.

But it would be good to recognize the biblical seeds of a secular (non-religious) outlook. One could argue that the Jesus of the gospels had something resembling what would later be called a secular humanist streak, and disliked religiosity for its own sake.

A few examples:

The first appears in each of the synoptic gospels [1]. Consider Matthew 22:35-40, read in Shakespeare’s lifetime at morning prayer every 24th of January and May, and every 21st of September, and on the 18th Sunday after Trinity (which varies, but which fell on 3 October, 2021):

Jesus is asked by a Pharisee what is the greatest law. He replies with *two*: First, to love god with all one’s heart, soul, and mind. Then he says the second is “like unto” the first: To love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

It’s curious and important that Jesus claims the second is “like unto” loving God. Love of God may seem other-worldly, religious and metaphysical, but loving neighbor as self is concrete and secular.

The second example appears in Matthew 25:31-45, read in Shakespeare’s lifetime at morning prayer every 28th of January, 27 of May, and 24th of September, but not scheduled to be read at any Sunday communion service (perhaps because of the Protestant emphasis on being saved by faith alone and not by works, a glaring omission?):

Jesus speaks of how, when the “Son of Man” comes into “glory,” he will judge, separating the lambs from the goats, the just from the unjust. He gives examples of hunger, thirst, strangers, naked, sick, prisoners, and says that whatever one does to the “least of these” one does to him.

In other words, if one wants to be authentically religious, the path and test is a secular one that lies in how one treats “the least of these.” Just as God is “other” and transcendent, invisible and inscrutable, one’s neighbor and “the least of these” are also “other” and transcendent in a more immediate sense. If it’s hard to love an unseen God, then try charity for what is close at hand and secular.

In this way, one could say that the seeds of a secular bias were already present in the Christian gospels, and repeated on a regular basis in churches during Shakespeare’s lifetime.
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[1] Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:35-40, Luke 10:27. The second part, love of neighbor, is based on Leviticus 19:18 "Thou shalt not avenge, nor be mindful of wrong against the children of thy people, but shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord."

Leviticus 19 is important because of how it links a prohibition on revenge to the "golden rule" of loving one's neighbor as oneself.

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Series on Religious (and a few other) Biases in Shakespeare Scholarship:
1. Biases & Assumptions Influence What We Notice, Seek, or Neglect - 11 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/biases-assumptions-influence-what-we.html

2. Religious Bias in Shakespeare/Hamlet Scholarship - 18 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/part-2-factors-contributing-to.html

3. Victors Wrote the Histories of Shakespeare and Francis of Assisi - 25 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/victors-wrote-history-of-shakespeare.html

4. Biblical Seeds of Secular Shakespeare Bias - 1 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/biblical-seeds-of-secular-shakespeare.html

5. Catholic Bias in Simon Augustus Blackmore - 8 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/catholic-bias-in-simon-augustus.html

6. Nietzschean & Christian-Mythical Bias in G. Wilson Knight - 15 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/nietzschean-christian-mythical-bias-in.html

7. Roland Frye's Protestant Bias - 22 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/roland-fryes-protestant-bias.html

8. Gatekeeping and Religious Turns in Shakespeare Scholarship - 1 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/gatekeeping-and-religious-turns-in.html

9. Honigmann, Hammerschmidt−Hummel, and Moses' Shoes - 8 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/taking-off-shoes-in-presence-of.html

10. Protestant Bias in Arthur McGee's 1987 book, "The Elizabethan Hamlet" - 15 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/protestant-bias-in-arthur-mcgees-1987.html

11. Catholic Bias in Clare Asquith's 2005 book, "Shadowplay" - 22 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/catholic-bias-in-clare-asquiths-2005.html

12. Protestant and authoritarian bias in Roy W. Battenhouse - 29 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/battenhouses-authoritarian-protestant.html


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to point out how the Bible and religion may have influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

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https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

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