University of Toronto Studies Philological Series; Golding's A Tragedie of Abraham's Sacrifice

The Sacrifice of Abraham is a humanistic tragedy by Théodore Beza (1550). Théodore Beza was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer, and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a student of John Calvin and lived most of his life in Geneva. Beza succeeded Calvin as the spiritual leader of the Republic of Geneva, originally founded by John Calvin himself. This tragedy was presented in Lausanne, either at Place de la Palud or in the cathedral. Marked by Calvinist doctrine, the play borrows from both medieval mystery plays and ancient theatre. The play uses the episode of the sacrifice of Isaac from the 22nd chapter of the Book of Genesis. This book presents a translation from French into English of "A tragedy of Abraham's sacrifice" by Théodore Beza by his contemporary Arthur Golding, an English translator of more than 30 works from Latin into English, in 1575. This edition was published in 1906 and contains original French text by Théodore Beza, English translation by Arthur Golding, his biographical sketch.