Shakespeare and the Forms of Religion: Seminar, SAA Denver, April 2026

It was a great pleasure to attend the April 2026 conference of the Shakespeare Association of America in Denver, Colorado, and to participate in a 9 am Thursday seminar on April 2 titled “Shakespeare and the Forms of Religion,” along with an exceptional group of scholars.

These included (top, left-to-right):

Sean M. Benson (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor), who wrote about holy fools in a number of Shakespeare’s comedies, drawing on Erasmus and his idea of folly;

James E. Berg (Middlebury College), who wrote about the Buddhist idea of “no mind” as a lens through which to view Romeo and Juliet;

Paul Adrian Fried (yours truly), on often-overlooked biblical allusions or plot echoes in 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵 and their implications for expanding a taxonomy of such references;

and (bottom, left-to-right):

Trina Hyun (SUNY University at Buffalo), who wrote about Golding’s (mis-?) translation of Ovid and the idea of grace in Antony and Cleopatra;

Joseph Navitsky (Champlain College, Saint-Lambert), who wrote about the use of religiously polemical language in Twelfth Night; and

Amanda K. Ruud (Valparaiso University). Amanda and Trina were the leader/moderators for the group.

I was already a fan of Sean’s book, “Shakespearean Resurrections: The Art of Almost Raising the Dead,” but it was nice to meet him the night before the conference and have dinner. We all shared a lunch on Thursday after the seminar to continue discussion.

Each of my colleagues’ papers had excellent insights and invited thinking in new ways, and the opportunity to discuss our ideas with such an excellent group deepened our insights.


IMAGES, TOP (L-R):

Sean M. Benson, photo via Linkedin.
James E. Berg, photo via Middlebury College.
Paul Adrian Fried, photo by Mary Beth Youngblut.

IMAGES, BOTTOM (L-R):

Trina Hyun, photo via LinkedIn.
Joseph Navitsky, photo via West Chester University.
Amanda K. Ruud, photo via Valparaiso University. 


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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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