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Shaw's Beliefs and Theories

Religion / Philosophy

Shaw and Nietzsche

The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God

Religion / Philosophy

See also Androcles and the Lion, Back to Methuselah, The Devil’s Disciple, Major Barbara, Man and Superman, Saint Joan, The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet

Abbott, Anthony S. Shaw and Christianity. NY: Seabury Pr., 1965. 288 pp

Achilles, Jochen. ‘Funktionen der Religion in der irischen Kultur der Jahrhundertwende: Moore, Shaw, Yeats and Joyce.’ Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch 37 1996 193-211

Adler, Henry. ‘The artist philosopher.’ Adam International Review 255-56 1956 17-23

Albert, Sidney P. ‘Bernard Shaw: the artist as philosopher.’ Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 14 1956 419-38 (‘the philosophy in his art, and the art in his philosophy’)

Appasamy, S. P. ‘God, Mammon, and Bernard Shaw.’ Commonwealth Quarterly 2 vii 1978 98-112

Baker, Stuart E. Bernard Shaw’s remarkable religion: a faith that fits the facts. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2002. 263 pp (in much-revised form, incorporates ‘Shavian realism.’ SHAW 9 1989 79-97)

-----. ‘Is the Holy Ghost a scientific fact? Why Shaw’s Creative Evolution might become the scientific religion of the twenty-first century.’ SHAW 23 2003 59-64

Barr, Alan P. Victorian stage pulpiteer: Bernard Shaw’s crusade. Athens: Univ. of Georgia Pr., 1973. 188 pp

Batson, Eric. ‘The religion of Bernard Shaw.’ Aryan Path 34 1963 113-18

Beckson, Karl. The religion of art: a modernist theme in British literature, 1885-1925. Brooklyn, NY: AMS Press, 2006, 31-54: ‘Bernard Shaw’

Berst, Charles A. ‘In the beginning: the poetic genesis of Shaw’s God.’ SHAW 1 1981 5-41

-----. ‘“Some Necessary Repairs to Religion”: resurrecting an early Shavian “sermon.”’ SHAW 1 1981 77-97; introduction, 77-81

Bissell, Claude. ‘The Butlerian inheritance of G. B. Shaw.’ Dalhousie Review 41 1961 159-73

Castelli, Alberto. ‘Bernard Shaw e la religione.’ Scuola Cattolica 79 1951 163-70

Cheyette, Bryan. ‘Superman and Jew: semitic representations in the work of Bernard Shaw.’ SHAW 12 1992 241-60

Ciarletta, Nicola. ‘Filosofia sociale e religione in George Bernard Shaw.’ Indagine 1 1947 169-80

Collis, John R. ‘Religion and philosophy.’ Pp 79-93 in Holroyd

-----. ‘Religious problems in the plays of Bernard Shaw.’ Aryan Path 15 1944 162-67

Couchman, Gordon W. ‘Bernard Shaw and the gospel of efficiency.’ Shaw Review 16 1973 11-20 (links this ‘gospel’ to Creative Evolution)

Cox, Robert. ‘John the Baptist: a Shavian role model.’ Independent Shavian 24 1986 15-18

D’Amico, Silvio. ‘L’irreverente Bernard Shaw.’ Nuova Antologia 411 1940 169-89

Deane, Barbara. ‘Shaw and gnosticism.’ Shaw Review 16 1973 104-22

Demaray, John G. ‘Bernard Shaw and C. E. M. Joad: the adventures of two Puritans in their search for God.’ PMLA 78 1963 262-70

Dietrich, Richard F. ‘Shaw and the uncrucifying of Christ.’ SHAW 8 1988 13-38 (from Passion Play on)

-----. ‘Was Shaw a fundamentalist Christian?’ Shavian 10 ii 2006 17-32

Donaghy, Henry J. ‘Chesterton on Shaw’s views of Catholicism.’ Shaw Review 10 1967 108-16

Dunkel, Wilbur D. ‘Bernard Shaw’s religious faith.’ Theology Today 6 1949 369-76

Dutli, Alfred. Der Kosmos eines Ketzers: die religiöse Bedeutung des Evolutionsgedankens bei Bernard Shaw. Zurich: Artemis, 1950. 141 pp

Eastman, Fred. Christ in the drama: a study of the influence of Christ on the drama of England and America. NY: Macmillan, 1947, 42-60 (stresses Androcles and the Lion and Saint Joan)

Einsohn, Howard I. ‘Economies of the gift: Shaw, Ricoeur, and the poetics of the ethical life.’ SHAW 25 2005 27-51

-----. ‘Ideology, Utopia, and faith: Shaw, Ricoeur, and the passion for the possible.’ SHAW 15 1995 105-21

Gershenowitz, Harry. ‘Bernard Shaw’s “Life Force.”’ Religious Humanism 13 ii 1979 87-89

-----. ‘Mencken’s misinterpretation of Shaw’s position on evolution.’ Menckeniana 93 1985 7-10

Gibbs, A. M. ‘Shaw and Creative Evolution.’ Pp 75-88 in Robert Welch, ed. Irish writers and religion. Gerrards Cross: Smythe, 1992

-----. ‘G.B.S. and “the Law of Change.”’ SHAW 27 2007 28-41

Gillis, James M. ‘What Shaw really taught.’ Catholic World 163 1946 481-89

Grene, Nicholas. ‘Shaw and conversion.’ SHAW 27 2007 59-68

Hale, Piers J. ‘The search for a purpose in a post-Darwinian universe: George Bernard Shaw, “Creative Evolution,” and Shavian eugenics: “the dark side of the Force.”’ History & Philosophy of the Life Sciences 28 ii 2006 191-214

Hickin, R. A. ‘The Christian debt to Bernard Shaw.’ London Quarterly and Holborn Review 179 1954 46-50

Hodess, J. ‘George Bernard Shaw and the Jews.’ Zion Magazine 2 i 1950 1-14; repr. in California Shavian 5 vi 1964 13-17 (reminiscences)

Inge, William R. ‘Shaw as a theologian.’ Pp 110-21 in Winsten

Joad, C. E. M. Shaw. London: Gollancz, 1949, 172-206: ‘Shaw’s philosophy’; repr. on pp 57-76 in Winsten and on pp 184-205 in Kronenberger; repr. as ‘Shaw the philosopher’ on pp 233-49 in Joad

Jones, W. S. Handley. The priest and the siren, and other literary studies. London: Epworth Pr., 1953, 44-60: ‘One of our conquerors’; 61-78: ‘The works and faith of Bernard Shaw’ (first publ. in London Quarterly and Holborn Review 174 1949 10-19, 136-45)

Lawrence, Kenneth. ‘Bernard Shaw: the career of the Life Force.’ Modern Drama 15 1972 130-46

Leary, Daniel J. ‘Too True to be Good and Shaw’s romantic synthesis: a religion for our times.’ SHAW 1 1981 183-203

-----. Voices of convergence. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1969, 1-32: ‘The heralds of convergence: Teilhard and Shaw’; repr. on pp 304-33 in Otten (from ‘The evolutionary dialectic of Shaw and Teilhard: a perennial philosophy.’ Shaw Review 9 1966 15-34)

Levin, Gerald. ‘Shaw, Butler, and Kant.’ Philological Quarterly 52 1973 142-56

McDowell, Frederick P. W. ‘The world, God, and world bettering: Shaw’s Buoyant Billions.’ Boston University Studies in English 3 1957 167-76

McKinley, R. D. ‘George Bernard Shaw and the atonement.’ Dalhousie Review 46 1966 356-65 (his ‘Crosstianity’)

McMillin, Scott. ‘G.B.S. and Bunyan’s Badman.’ Shaw Review 9 1966 90-101 (Shaw’s annotations on his copy of Pilgrim’s Progress)

Mills, Carl H. ‘Shaw’s theory of creative evolution.’ Shaw Review 17 1973 123-32

Morilia, Roberto. ‘G.B.S. o dell’amor platonico.’ Letterature Moderne 5 1954 466-70

Nathan, David. ‘Failure of an elderly gentleman: Shaw and the Jews.’ SHAW 11 1991 219-38

Nathan, Rhoda B. ‘Bernard Shaw and the inner light.’ Shaw Review 14 1971 107-19 (Shaw as a species of Quaker)

Nelson, Raymond S. ‘Shaw’s Heaven, Hell, and redemption.’ Costerus 6 1972 99-108; ‘Shaw’s Heaven and Hell.’ Contemporary Review 226 1975 132-36

-----. ‘Shaw: turn-of-the-century prophet.’ Arlington Quarterly 2 1969 112-19 (his views on God, sin, and salvation)

Nethercot, Arthur. ‘Bernard Shaw, philosopher.’ PMLA 69 1954 57-75 (charts his references to philosophers)

Oatridge, Norman C. Bernard Shaw’s God: an Anglican looks at the religion of GBS. Haywards Heath: P. Smith, Boltro Pr., 1967. 174 pp

O’Donnell, Norbert F. ‘Shaw, Bunyan, and Puritanism.’ PMLA 72 1957 520-33

Orage, A. R. ‘The philosopher.’ Shaw Review 22 1979 3-12

Pagliaro, Harold E. Relations between the sexes in the plays of George Bernard Shaw. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Pr., 2004, 167-206: ‘The sexuality of Shaw’s prophets’

Pettis, Ashley. ‘G.B.S.: in tune with the infinitesimal.’ Catholic World 171 1950 266-71

Pharand, Michel W. ‘Shaw’s Life Force and Bergson’s élan vital: a question of influence.’ Cahiers Victoriens & Édouardiens 33 1991 87-101

Poitou, Marc. ‘Shaw et le Diable.’ Cycnos 10 ii 1993 63-73

Postlewait, Thomas. ‘Bernard Shaw and science: the aesthetics of causality.’ Pp 319-58 in James Paradis & Postlewait, eds. Victorian science and Victorian values: literary perspectives. NY: Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences, 1981

Rao, M. V. Krishna. ‘George Bernard Shaw as a humanist.’ Brahmavadin 3 1968 26-48

Reidinger, Otto. ‘Ethelbert Stauffer und George Bernard Shaw: Major Barbara in theologischer Auslegung.’ Monatsschrift für Pastoraltheologie 51 1962 360-67

Rodenbeck, John von B. ‘Bernard Shaw’s revolt against rationalism.’ Victorian Studies 15 1972 409-37

Roy, Emil. ‘World-view in Shaw.’ Drama Survey 4 1965 209-19

Roy, R. N. Bernard Shaw’s philosophy of life. Calcutta: Mukhopadhyay, 1964. 165 pp

Santos Gaynor, Juan. ‘El credo de Bernard Shaw.’ Revista de la Universidad de Buenos Aires 46 no. 340 1950 567-79

Sawadski, J. A. ‘Die philosophischen Dramen Shaws und die moderne Theaterästhetik.’ Kunst und Literatur 15 1967 482-88 (translated from Voprosy Philosophii); repr. on pp 384-94 in Otten

Schöler-Beinhauer, Monica. ‘George Bernard Shaw und das Wunder.’ Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 2 1969 149-58 (his undogmatic attitude toward miracles)

Schonauer, Franz. ‘G. B. Shaws Puritanismus.’ Eckart (Wittenberg) 25 1956 312-20

Schwartz, Scott C. ‘The Victorian ethos of evolution.’ Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry 33 i 2005 225-34 (his ideas related to those of Darwin, Freud, and Horney)

Singh, Devendra K. The idea of the superman in the plays of G. B. Shaw. New Delhi: Atlantic, 1994. 93 pp

Sloan, Gary. ‘The religion of George Bernard Shaw: when is an atheist?’ American Atheist Magazine Autumn 2004 online: <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OBB/is_4_42/ai_n8695811> (equivalent of 8-10 pages)

Smith, Warren S. Bishop of everywhere: Bernard Shaw and the Life Force. Univ. Park: Penn State UP, 1982. 191 pp; 150-67: ‘Postlude with a nun and The Black Girl’ (from SHAW 1 1981 205-22); book also incorporates ‘Bernard Shaw and the Quakers.’ Bulletin of the Friends Historical Association 45 1956 106-18, ‘The bishop, the dancer, and Bernard Shaw.’ Shaw Review 3 i 1960 2-10, and other articles that deal with plays

-----. ‘Introduction.’ Pp xiii-xxiii in Smith, ed. The religious speeches of Bernard Shaw. Univ. Park: Penn State UP, 1963; probably incorporates ‘The religion of Bernard Shaw.’ Christian Century 80 1963 1266-69

-----. The London heretics, 1870-1914. NY: Dodd, Mead, 1968, 270-79; revised on pp 333-41 of Smith; adapted on pp 51-69 in Rosenblood 2

Stokes, E. E. ‘Bernard Shaw’s debt to John Bunyan.’ Shaw Review 8 1965 42-51

Turco, Alfred. Shaw’s moral vision: the self and salvation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1976. 297 pp

Weales, Gerald. Religion in modern English drama. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr., 1961, 54-79

Wilson, Colin. Religion and the rebel. London: Gollancz, 1957, 242-89: ‘Bernard Shaw’

Wisenthal, J. L. ‘Shaw and Ra: religion and some history plays.’ SHAW 1 1981 45-56

Yorks, Samuel. The evolution of Bernard Shaw. Washington: UP of America, 1981, 127-53: ‘Shaw and religion’

Zabrouski, Monica A., & Robert P. Kirschmann. ‘The ungendered will and the Shavian Superman.’ SHAW 26 2006 79-99

Zirkle, Conway. Evolution, Marxian biology and the social scene. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr., 1959, 337-46 (Creative Evolution as ‘Marxian biology’)

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Shaw and Nietzsche

Bridgwater, Patrick. Nietzsche in Anglosaxony: a study of Nietzsche’s impact on English and American literature. Leicester: Leicester UP, 1972, 56-66: ‘Man and Superman: H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw’

DiPietro, Carl. Shakespeare and modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006, 18-25

Grimm, Reinhold. Echo and disguise: studies in German and comparative literature. Frankfurt: Lang, 1989, 79-120: ‘Shaw and Supershaw: Shavian Nietzscheanism reconsidered’; also on pp 81-124 in Volker Dürr et al. Nietzsche: literature and values. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Pr., 1988 (from Studi Germanici 59-64 1983-84 223-38)

Levine, Carl. ‘Social criticism in Shaw and Nietzsche.’ Shaw Review 10 1967 9-17

Macarnish, Noel. ‘Baylebridge, Nietzsche, Shaw: some observations on the “new nationalism.”’ Australian Literary Studies 7 1975 141-59

Morgan, Margery M. ‘Shaw, Yeats, Nietzsche, and the religion of art.’ Komos 1 1967 24-34 (compares the play with Yeats’s Resurrection via Nietzsche’s Birth of tragedy)

Poitou, Marc. ‘Du pèlerin de Bunyan au surhomme de Nietzsche: la curieuse généalogie du héros shavien.’ Pp 97-106 in Vivante tradition, sources et racines: évolution de quelques formes et forces en littérature et civilisation anglaises. Paris: Centre d’Histoire des Idées dans les Iles Britanniques, 1982

Rix, Walter T. ‘Forschungsbericht: Nietzsches Einfluss auf Shaw: ein Beitrag zum Verständnis der Shawschen Geisteswelt.’ Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 4 1971 124-39

Solomonson, Michael. ‘Man and Superman: the Shavianizing of Friedrich Nietzsche.’ Independent Shavian 34 1996 54-59 (his radical alteration of Nietzsche’s ideas)

Thatcher, David S. Nietzsche in England, 1890-1914. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1970, 175-217: ‘George Bernard Shaw’

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The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God

Holroyd, Michael. Bernard Shaw, volume III: 1918-1951: The lure of fantasy. NY: Random House, 1991, 279-82, 322-27

Hugo, Leon H. Bernard Shaw’s The Black Girl in Her Search for God: The story behind the story. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2003. 169 pp

Lorenz, Paul H. ‘The Shavian gospel as revealed in The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God.’ Publications of the Mississippi Philological Association 20 2001 15-25

Manista, Frank C. ‘“The gulf of dislike” between reality and resemblance in Bernard Shaw’s The Black Girl in Search of God.’ SHAW 23 2003 117-35

Morrow, Sean. ‘The missionary in The Black Girl.’ SHAW 6 1986 5-12

Smith, Warren S. Bishop of everywhere: Bernard Shaw and the Life Force. Univ. Park: Penn State UP, 150-67: ‘Postlude with a nun and The Black Girl’ (from SHAW 1 1981 205-22)

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