Christopher Marlowe's Use of the Bible

This study considers the various sources of Christopher Marlowe's Biblical knowledge, examines 1037 specific references to Scripture that Marlowe made, and surveys an additional 500 general ones. After classifying Marlowe's Biblical references on four levels of definiteness, Cornelius discusses the following aspects of Marlowe's stylistic use of the Bible: quotations, paraphrases, imitations of Biblical style, individual words, sensory imagery, figures of speech, reversals, and inaccuracies. The relationships of repeated Biblical themes, such as judgment and Christ parallels, to the meaning of Marlowe's works are also explored, and the matter of Marlowe's so-called «atheism» is evaluated in the light of his Biblical references. A lengthy Appendix lists his specific Biblical references alongside their possible sources and gives textual and critical annotations for significant entries. This work also contains eight illustrations, two tables, a bibliography, and an index.