Exploring Catholic Faith in Shakespearean Drama: Towards a Philosophy of Education

This pioneering study investigates the connection between Shakespeare and Catholic education. Its authors contend that Shakespeare’s plays explore Catholic understandings of human life in ways that remain relevant for Catholic educational institutions today. Through chapters focusing on ethical and existential themes – love, desire, the body, marriage, virginity, evil, finitude, jealousy, and lies – the authors demonstrate Shakespeare’s wide-ranging engagement with early modern Catholic belief and practice. At the same time, they argue that Shakespeare’s treatment of Catholic faith, through imaginative literature rather than magisterial discourse, and dramatically rather than didactically, provides a pedagogical model for contemporary teachers. The first volume to trace the relationship between a philosophy of Catholic education and Shakespearean drama, it will appeal strongly to all those working in Catholic educational settings, particularly those tasked with strengthening the mission of their institution, as well as to scholars and researchers of literacy education, religious education, and to those interested in the dynamic between education and drama.