<p>"This English translation of the 2009 Italian edition broadens Boitani's examination of the Christian themes found in Shakespeare's later work. . . . This book is intended for a general audience and includes thorough plot summaries and many quotations from the plays. However, it is not an introductory text. Boitani's study will be appreciated most by readers who are already familiar with the work discussed here." —<i>Library Journal</i></p>

<p>"This charming translation from the Italian edition . . . is an elegant, unabashed case for the overtly Christian elements of the plays, culminating in the argument that from <i>Hamlet </i>forward, Shakespeare consciously sought to develop his own gospel, using the Bible as 'signpost.' Highly recommended." —<i>Choice</i></p>

<p>"Piero Boitani, a professor of comparative literature who has written books on the Bible, Homer, Dante, Boccaccio and Chaucer, wants to persuade us that, from Hamlet's return in the fifth act through <i>King Lear</i> to the four Romances, Shakespeare was 'engaged in developing his own Gospel,' parallel to the Gospels of the New Testament, but proposing a redemption that is this-worldly, however mysterious, and has to do with love, forgiveness and reconciliation." —<i>The Times Literary Supplement</i></p>

<p>“A short and intriguing book, Piero Boitani’s <i>The Gospel According to Shakespeare</i> is written by a major scholar for everybody: for scholars, for non-scholars, for us all. . . . There really is a ‘Gospel according to Shakespeare’ in these six plays, and Boitani explains it with clarity and elegance.” —<i>America</i></p>

<p>"In this wonderful, cultivated, even wise treatment of Shakespearean allusion to the Bible, Boitani retells the stories of six plays, commenting upon their gospel verbal echoes to show us a Shakespeare who, whatever his actual beliefs, casts his human actions with a divine, distinctly Christian light." —<i>Sixteenth Century Journal</i></p>

<p>“Sprinkled bountifully with terminology grounded in the conventions of classical rhetoric, Boitani’s book also ably demonstrates his knowledge of literary traditions and meaningful interpretive analysis, coupled with keenly observed overt and embedded scriptural references throughout the plays.” —<i>Catholic Library World</i></p>

<p>“In <i>The Gospel According to Shakespeare</i>, Piero Boitani offers a close critical look at William Shakespeare’s ‘re-scripturing’ of the Gospels in his work. For Boitani, Shakespeare’s works are a meditation ‘on providence, on forgiveness, and on goodness and happiness’ and this is achieved ‘in Christian terms'. . . Boitani argues that Shakespeare, particularly in his plays after <i>Hamlet</i>, is engaged in creating his own Gospel.” —<i>Parergon</i></p>

<p>“A singular act of appreciation and testimony by a great scholar with a pan-European grasp of literary and scriptural traditions.” —<i>Studies in English Literature</i></p>