From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.

I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.

So much of Shakespeare's writing is timeless, but of course it was all written in a specific milieu,

a time and place with distinct attitudes and politics.

As a keen observer of his world, Shakespeare incorporated all of these surroundings into his plays.

The period when Shakespeare was writing was one torn by disagreements over the proper method of observing Christianity in England.

Protestantism was at war with Catholicism and the Church of England often employed

coercion and even violence to enforce its place. The way Shakespeare handled these divisions

is the topic of this conversation. Our guest is David Scott Caston, George M. Bodman,

Professor of English at Yale University, who explores these questions in his book,

Will to Believe, Shakespeare and Religion.

We call this podcast, there are more things in heaven and earth

than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

David Kasten is interviewed by Neva Grant.

What do we know, if anything, about Shakespeare's religious habits?

I mean, do we know, for example, that he attended church religiously? Religiously. That is the question.

No, we don't know very much. We know that unlike his father and unlike his daughter, he never was fined for not going to church,

but that's not necessary evidence that he did go to church.

We know he was baptized in Holy Trinity Church, and we know the date.

We know a few other things about him, but we don't actually

know what he himself felt, believed, thought, but we want to. We want to desperately. Yeah, I should

add that you can, you know, reading the book, you can really pick up on the, on the scholars'

...