Afterword

Abstract

The genesis of this book took place in a political climate markedly different to that of contemporary Western religio-political discourse. Although the historical criticism of the 1980s began with some groundbreaking studies of Renaissance religion in the work of Jonathan Dollimore, Alan Sinfield and Stephen Greenblatt, new historicism and cultural materialism in the 1990s seemed unable to sensitively explore the intense theological uncertainty of the early modern period, or to deal with the challenges posed to the materialist historicist project by that level of “spiritual” intensity. In the uncertain intellectual climate of the new millennium, I began the early stages of the project which would become this book with a desire to recuperate the study of religion and early modern drama, but to undertake that enquiry in the spirit of a historical materialism which could engage with ritual, theology and, to some extent “spirituality”, on an intellectually generous and sophisticated level. The events of 11 September 2001, of course, propelled religion into the global media spotlight in a way which could not have been anticipated. Religion suddenly became hot intellectual (and, one must say, pseudo-intellectual) property: the extent to which Anglophone Western culture has seen the dismantling of many of its secular liberal bases as a result of a political messianic fervour has been both astounding and alarming. The direct effect of 9/11, the “War on Terror” and the media spotlight on religious violence and alterity on early modern studies, however, is hard to pinpoint.