Christianity and Renaissance Spirit in the Elizabethan Age: A Scrutiny of Selected Works of William Shakespeare

Abstract

In the Christian world, Jesus Christ is the supreme figure. As far as the historical evidences regarding the accuracy of the gospels are concerned, there are myriad of opinions diverging independently in numerous directions. One of the reasons for this diversity is that the sermons and preaching of Jesus were preserved for several decades only in the form of oral literature. Also, there was a lapse of forty years or more between the crucifixionand the competition of the earliest gospel. The common people were illiterate and superstitious so thepossibility of the additions on their part to the teaching of Christ may also not be denied. But in spite of all the diversions, one thing was common in all the times that the teachings of Christ inspired the common masses to have a firm faith in the positive aspects of human life. William Kingsland remarks in this regard that, “However irrational Christian dogmas may be in the light of our modern knowledge. . . they do if genuinely believed in, service to keep the average individual more or less on a straight path of moral rectitude,, and they offer him a certain amount of comforting assurance that he is not a lost sinner”(Kingsland 12).