
Speaking of Shakespeare
Conversations about things Shakespearean, including new developments in Shakespeare studies and Shakespearean performance and education across the globe. These talks are also available on YouTube under the search term, 'Speaking of Shakespeare'. This series is made possible by institutional support from Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) in central Tokyo and is also supported by a generous grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Speaking of Shakespeare
SoS #33 | Alex Ryrie: The English Reformation and Shakespeare
This is a talk with Alec Ryrie, FBA, of Durham University about the relationship between Reformation religion and Shakespeare and Marlowe. In this talk Alec reflects on drama and emotion in Protestantism during the 16th and 17th centuries in England and on purgatory, ghosts, souls, atheism, and church ritual.
Alec is a historian of Protestant Christianity in general and of religion in early modern England and Scotland in particular. He has written extensively on the English Reformation and the history and impact of Protestantism in England and Scotland and across the globe. His most recent book is ‘Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt.’
He has spoken on the cultural, social, political and emotional history of religion and on other subjects, including faith and doubt; martyrdom, violence and religious warfare; magic and deception; moderation and radicalism; childhood religious experience; and liturgy and prayer. Alec is also a reader (lay minister) in the Church of England and serves as a Gresham College Professor of Divinity.