Will & Love

“What if Shakespeare’s deepest inquiries into love were receptions of the Augustinian inheritance, according to which love is a divine and human motion within us? In close readings of four plays, Dyck shows the next step in theological readings of Shakespeare, demonstrating the multifaceted ways these plays test and transform received ideas about God and creatures. This is a brilliantly conceived book.”
—Anthony D. Baker, Seminary of the Southwest

“As a believer in intellectual history, I am glad to see Darren Dyck’s Will & Love. It is a lucid and forceful genealogy of Augustine’s conceptual impact on Shakespeare, by way of Dante, Petrarch, and Chaucer. It is one of those works that recovers a whole atmosphere of thought, bringing ideas to life through accomplished readings of major texts.”
—Lee Oser, College of the Holy Cross

“By carefully close reading some of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays, Dyck persuasively situates Shakespeare within the theological romance tradition. The book tracks Shakespeare’s career-long engagement with love as it develops across comedies, tragedies, and ‘problem plays’. It is an ambitious task, but Dyck succeeds.”
—Andrew Moore, St. Thomas University

“In this rich work of literary history, Darren Dyck uncovers an Augustinian tradition of ‘theological romance,’ which sees love as the moving force of human will and agency. Dyck shows how this theological understanding of love animates the psychology and action of some of Shakespeare’s great lovers. The book makes a compelling case for reading Shakespeare in conversation with the literature and theology of the Christian medieval tradition.”
—Ben Myers, Alphacrucis University College