Fifth Day of Christmas, Paul and Agrippa, Dec 29 (Series, Part 5.c.)
Paul and Agrippa, not Becket? Fifth Day of Christmas, December 29: Bible readings for morning and evening prayer in Shakespeare’s England followed their own schedule, unrelated to feasts such as St. Thomas Becket (removed by Henry VIII and the English Reformation) [1]. Morning: Psalm 29 - Geneva Introduction: “The Prophet exhorteth the princes and rulers of the world (which for the most part think there is no God.)” [2]. Lesson 1: Isaiah 61 speaks of God’s anointed (which Christians interpreted to be Jesus) setting prisoners free. - At least six Shakespeare plays involve prisoners, real or figurative, some set free only in death [3]. - The point here is not that each of these plays alludes to Jesus as liberator of prisoners, but that the Bible readings in English churches (where Shakespeare’s attendance was required by law) shaped and influenced the development of religious and literary motifs related to prisoners and their liberation. Lesson 2: Acts 26 - Prisoner St. Paul encoun...