Despite the presence of hundreds of Biblical allusions in Shakespeare, this is the first book to explore the pattern and significance of those references in relation to a selection of his greatest plays. It reveals the Bible as a rich source for Shakespeare's uses of myth, history, comedy, and tragedy, his techniques of staging, and his ways of characterizing rulers, magicians, and teachers in the image of the Bible's multifaceted God. This book also discloses the ways in which Shakespeare's plays offer both pious and irreverent interpretations of the Scriptures comparable to those presented...