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"Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ... For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5: 17-18, 20 (King James Version)
Christ's Sermon on the Mount may not be William Shakespeare's language, but a literature professor and theologian who will speak in Bangor next week believes that the values espoused by the Bard and the themes of his plays are rooted in Christian teachings.
The Rev. Peter Leithart, who teaches at New Saint Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho, will analyze Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" in a public lecture Monday.
The Rev. Brian Nolder, pastor of Pilgrim Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Bangor, invited Leithart to Maine.
Nolder and Leithart grew up in the same Columbus, Ohio, suburb but did not know each other. They met about 15 years ago when Leithart visited Westminster Theological Seminary outside Philadelphia while Nolder was a student there.
"A lot of people think that the Christian faith is just for the religious slice of our...