Center for Faith & Culture at William Jewell College
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral is one of the churches in the greater Kansas City area partnering with William Jewell College’s Center for Faith and Culture. We are excited to be a part of this program! We hope you will take advantage of this learning opportunity by signing up for one or more classes, whether at the Cathedral or at one of the other partner churches.
Registration is required. Use the coupon code GRACE to register for free.
Spring 2024
Shakespeare, Religious Identity, and Human Flourishing: The Merchant of Venice
Wednesdays, Jan. 17, 24, 31, Feb. 7 • 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Presented by Dr. Sara Morrison, Professor of English, William Jewell College
In the early modern period, drama, travel literature, and international commerce introduced England to the Mediterranean world not only through firsthand contact with but also more broadly through representations of different cultures and religions. Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, which is set in a major European port city, features a cosmopolitan cast of characters whose personal, religious, and mercantile interests overlap. In this course, we will read Shakespeare’s play and watch clips from film adaptations to investigate the ways in which they characterize Christians, Jews, and Moors, taking into consideration historical context and the cultural significance of theater on ideas about religious identity and human flourishing. Reading the play will enrich participants’ experience in the course.
Sara Morrison is Professor of English and Associate Dean for the Core Curriculum at William Jewell College. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Raised in Kansas City, Morrison attended All Saints Episcopal Church; returning to Kansas City in 2005 to begin her career at William Jewell, she became a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Liberty. Her teaching and research interests include adaptations of Shakespeare, film, and intersectional methodologies for teaching early modern literature.