(Part 9) Twisting the tale of the boy Jesus in the temple: Bishop Jewell, official book of homilies

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INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html
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Most considerations of a biblical allusion in Shakespeare do well to consider whether, and how, official homilies of the time treated the biblical text. This applies to this series,[1] and Hamlet’s allusion [2] to Luke and the boy Jesus, amazing temple elders and his parents.

People in Shakespeare’s England were required by law to attend church. They would hear Luke 2:46-52 every January on the Sunday after Epiphany.[3]

Only one official homily [4], attributed to Bishop John Jewell, mentions these verses from Luke.
The homily is called,
“OF THE RIGHT USE OF THE CHURCH OR TEMPLE OF GOD, AND OF THE REVERENCE DUE UNTO THE SAME.”[5]

EXCERPT 1:
“In the second [chapter] of Luke it is written, how that the mother of Christ, and Joseph, when they had long sought Christ, whom they had lost, and could find him no where, that at the last they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the doctors. So, if we lack Jesus Christ, that is to say, the Saviour of our souls and bodies, we shall not find him in the market place, or in the guild hall, much less in the alehouse or tavern amongst good fellows (as they call them), so soon as we shall find him in the temple, the Lord's house, amongst the teachers and preachers of his word, where indeed he is to be found.” [6]

EXCERPT 2:
“..whereas our Saviour Christ (as was before mentioned out of St. Luke) could be found no where, when he was sought, but only in the temple amongst the doctors, and now again exerciseth his authority and jurisdiction, not in castles and princely palaces amongest soldiers but in the temple, ye may hereby understand in what place his spiritual kingdom, which he denieth to be of this world is soonest to be found and best to be known of all places in this world.” [7]

THESE EXCERPTS don’t explore meanings of the tale.
Excerpt 1 merely enlists it in a cause of demonizing “the market place,’ “the guild hall,” and the alehouse or tavern” (or the theater?) – as if churches have a monopoly on Jesus.[8]

This contradicts the lesson of Emmaus: Jesus can appear anywhere, as a stranger on the road (or even in an alehouse or theater). Emmaus broadens the possibilities; Jewell narrows them.

Regarding Excerpt 2: When the gospel has Jesus say that his kingdom is “not of this world”[9],
it may mean, “not like what we assume about earthly kingdoms.”

When he says his reign is at hand,[10] it may mean that his kingdom is present in the here and now, so we should seek and live it [11] everywhere.

For Jewell, Jesus’ “kingdom” is “soonest to be found” *only* in the temple. All other glimpses of God’s kingdom are inferior, and realms of princes are strangely insulated from this reign.

Jewell co-opts the possibilities of the Luke 2:46-52 tale and converts it to religious propaganda.

The reformation had accused Catholicism of being self-serving; it was. [12]
Does Jewell make the English house of worship similarly self-serving? [13]


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NOTES:

[1] Posts in this series:

(Part 1) Hamlet as the Boy Jesus among Temple Elders
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-synagogue.html

(Part 2) Hamlet as boy Jesus among Temple Elders: Historical-Artistic Background
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders.html

(Part 3) Hamlet as the boy Jesus among Temple Elders: A closer look
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders_14.html

(Part 4 ) Dissonance and Irony in Hamlet's 3.2 Allusion to Luke 2
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/part-4-dissonance-and-irony-in-hamlets.html

(Part 5) The targets of Hamlet's 3.2 ironic allusion to Luke 2:46-52
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/part-5-targets-of-hamlets-32-ironic.html

(Part 6) Hamlet in 3.2 as the boy Jesus among temple elders: Plucking mysteries' hearts?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-6-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus.html

(Part 7) Hamlet’s allusion in 3.2 to the boy Jesus: Hamlet as Abbott, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as Costellos?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-7-hamlets-allusion-in-32-to-boy.html

(Part 8) Hamlet in 3.2 as the boy Jesus: Why has this been missed?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-8-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-why.html

(Part 9) Twisting the tale of the boy Jesus in the temple: Bishop Jewell, official book of homilies
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-9-twisting-tale-of-boy-jesus-in.html

(Part 10) A Boy Amazing Elders (and audience) in Shakespeare's Macbeth
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-10-boy-amazes-mother-in.html

(Part 11) Cordelia in 4.4 is about her father's business in Shakespeare's King Lear
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-11-cordelia-in-44-is-about-her.html

(Part 12) TRY THIS: One Method for Considering Biblical Allusions
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/05/part-12-try-this-one-method-for.html
INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html
[2] Hamlet 3.2.325-356. All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

See part 1 in this series:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-synagogue.html


[3] See page 95, John H. Booty, ed., The Book of Common Prayer 1559: The Elizabethan Prayer Book. Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 1976.


[4] Before the English reformation, priests in England could write their own homilies, but after the break with Rome, English church authorities feared that priests or presbyters might preach in ways that violated the spirit of the reformation, either by endorsing Catholic views, or more radical Puritan or other views. To prevent that, they published officially approved books of homilies, and these were the only approved homilies to be read by “ all Parsons, Vicars, Curates,” “every Sunday and Holy Day” (4). Bishops could still write their own homilies.
See:
The two books of homilies appointed to be read in churches
(in the Church of England)
Editor: Griffiths, John, 1806-1885
Publication date: 1859
https://archive.org/details/twobookshomilie00grifgoog/page/158/mode/2up?q=luke+2&view=theater


[5] The two books of homilies, pp.153-166 (from book 2, attributed to John Jewell)

[6] The two books of homilies, p.159

[7] The two books of homilies, p.164

[8] If churchmen of the time had this attitude, that the churches had a monopoly on Jesus, then it’s easy to imagine how there may have been some animosity between churchmen and members of acting companies like Shakespeare’s….

[9] John 18:36.

[10] Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15

[11] Matthew 6:33

[12] I have a degree in theology from a Catholic university, and I can safely say that the Catholic church at the time of the Reformation had become too self-serving, corrupt, and in need of reform. It is safe to say that this idea is embraced even by most Catholic theologians and historians. One of the reasons why Pope Francis named a street in Rome after Martin Luther is because it is widely recognized that the Roman Catholic Church was in need of reform.

[13] One way to explain the difference between Jewell’s vision and my own would be to say that our eschatology (understanding of “end times”) and of soteriology (what it means to be “saved”) is at odds: Jewell’s eschatology is more reified (thing-i-fied) and distant (he takes more literally ideas about afterlife and end times) whereas mine is more figurative, immanent and imminent, more focused on the here and now. His soteriology is more based on Protestant church power as a tool for faith and repentance, where people are (at least usually) saved by attending church, whereas mine (in spite of my Catholic upbringing) is more universalist-unitarian, where grace and being “saved” can happen anywhere, no matter one’s religion, and regardless of whether one believes or is an atheist.


IMAGES:
Left: This painting seems somewhat pietistic and sentimental: Note the aura-halo around the head of the boy Jesus, and the relative uniformity of response from the elders, as compared to some other paintings in this series. Because the homily hijacks the meanings of the Luke account of the tale in favor of institutional church propaganda, this image seemed somehow appropriate.
Heinrich Hofmann  (1824–1911), Photo by Elke Walford: "Der zwölfjährige Jesus im Tempel", or "Jesus among the Doctors", 1884. Public domain, via  
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChristInTheTemple.jpg

Right:
Portrait of John Jewell: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/john-jewell-15221571-bishop-of-salisbury-222726
Artist unknown, at New College, University of Oxford.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College/Bridgeman Images, who note, "This and all other known portraits of John Jewell seem to be based on a lost portrait from around 1560–1570." Crop. Fair use.


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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 explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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