Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays

Peter Leithart opens our eyes to various patterns that exist in the lives of famous literary characters as well as in our own life's narrative. Studying excellent literary works such as Shakespeare helps us to recognize and connect with these patterns. We can relate to the virtues and vices of Shakespeare's characters because we've experienced tragedy and triumph in our own lives-the Fall as well as the Resurrection and as Leithart eloquently states, "This sensitivity to the rhythm of life is closely connected with what the Bible calls wisdom."

Home schooling my kids through Shakespeare and this book is STELLAR. I would highly recommend it. Lots of observation, background info, and help for me as the teacher, but also a wealth of help with the discussion questions, thought questions and prompts for papers. Two thumbs up.

Loved this book! It gives SO much more meaning to reading Shakespeare ... from a Christian perspective.

I think this will be a good resource for my Shakespeare class.

One of the best high-school introductions to Shakespeare.

Overall, this book is a wealth of information about the works studied. It is clearly organized, and the historical information and information about Shakespeare's methods and purposes for writing the plays are very clear, and well written. However, there is a fatal flaw in it's assessment of The Taming of the Shrew. In this section, Leithart consistently compares the relationship of Kate and Petruchio to the relationship of Christ to his Church, on the grounds that "He (Jesus) also is the One who sharply denounces the hypocrisy of the Pharisees..." (pg. 210) and says that it is out of love that Petruchio "tames" Kate. However, there is a very clear difference. Rebuke founded in love is far different than abuse. Throughout The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is constantly shouting, blaming whoever is near him for the slightest wrongs, refusing Kate necessary things such as food and sleep, and fighting (usually verbally) at every opportunity. It is hard to believe that anyone could compare this to Christ's idea of love, since, as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.". This is the exact opposite of Petruchio's character. Petruchio demands submission from those around him through tricks and force. Christ calls to his Church with patience. God did not give us free will just to force us into submission to him, but that we might choose to love him. Comparing Christ to Petruchio greatly undermines this important value of love. Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. If you are considering this book for a Shakespeare study, the information is well presented and well written. However, do not blindly accept the theology it presents at face value. Examine it for yourself.

This was an excellent resource, which I used with my homeschooled high school students to help them better understand Shakespeare's plays, especially from a Christian perspective.

I have used this text several times when teaching a high school homeschool literature class. Almost all of my students were "forced" to take my class by their parents and did not expect to learn anything. They began the class hating Shakespeare even though the majority of them had never read any Shakespeare before this class. That all changed with this text. The manageable bites of work, the questions and even the essay suggestions made for interesting discussion, strong debate, and wonderful comparisons to God's Word.On several occasions, students have returned after a year or two of college and commented that this course was one of the most helpful high school classes for preparing them for college.I highly recommend this text and encourage users to find several students to include in the study. The discussions are the best!

I ordered it for my high-school aged sons. They find it very useful.