Reflections for 6/27/11

"There is very little religion in Shakespeare, but when he is greatest, he is most religious."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 169)

I certainly have read plenty of Shakespeare in my life.  From British Lit. at MHS, to a whole semester at Grinnell College.  Of course it was probably ruined for me because I had to write a paper on whichever play it was we were reading.  I should probably go back and just read them for pleasure, knowing there's no test or paper to write. Would I see religious themes in the writings now?  Who knows.  I certainly think of the soliloquy in MacBeth, life is but a fleeting shadow, a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing, and I hear echoes of St. Paul.  Our Puck with "Lord What fools these mortals be."

Shakespeare would not be the only author I'd love to go back and read now that I could just read. How much more might I see in some of the other authors I read in high school and college?  I know that reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter Books through the lenses of my vocation, I see very familiar themes.  The end of the Deadly Hallows is almost blatantly Passion/Easter narrative.

So what would you love to read again if you knew you could just read it?  What in your current life experience might reveal some new insight that you hadn't seen before?

Blessings,
Ed