THE SHAKESPEARES and “THE OLD FAITH”

Old stock. Intro by Fr. Stanley L. Jaki.

The Shakespeares and ‘The Old Faith’ is a doctoral dissertation with outstanding merits. Its author, John Henry de Groot (1902-1974), was professor of English at Brooklyn College from 1946 until 1967. His original training was, however, for the Presbyterian ministry. It should therefore seem all the more surprising that it is to de Groot that we owe a full-scale investigation and convincing demonstration about a much-ignored fact concerning the greatest man of letters, William Shakespeare. He was not only born and raised a Catholic, but kept a basic attachment to his Catholic faith throughout very turbulent times, political and personal. Such is the perspective within which his many references to Christian religion and his fondness for biblical expressions obtain their genuine meaning.