The Chester Plays | Kathleen M. Ashley (essay date 1978)
Kathleen M. Ashley (essay date 1978)
SOURCE: "Divine Power in Chester Cycle and Late Medieval Thought," in The Chester Mystery Cycle: A Casebook, edited by Kevin J. Harty, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1993, pp. 48–68.
[In the following excerpt, first published in Journal of the History of Ideas in 1978, Ashley contends that the dominant theme of the Chester cycle—the idea of divine power—is a reflection of "the philosophical and theological preoccupations of its day."]
Scholars have often noted the enlightened portrayal of human emotion and detail in late medieval religious art, a phenomemon which appears to grow out of Anselmian theology, Bemardian devotion, and Franciscan interest in Christ's humanity. Among the English Mystery cycles, York and Towneley are most influenced by the trend. Chester cycle accommodates less easily to generalizations about late medieval devotionalism or realism; on the whole, most readers of...
[The entire page is 6113 words long]
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