The Judaization of Christianity in Felipe Godínez's Ester plays

Felipe Godínez, priest, doctor of theology and dramatist, was tried by the Inquisition for Judaizing in his everyday-life, in his theology, in his sermons, and, most importantly for us, in his dramatic output. What makes Godínez singular in the context of the Spanish Golden Age is that he justified theologically his everyday Judaizing, and translated his theology into artistic expresssion in La reina Ester and Amán y Mardoqueo. He was found guilty of heresy, but received an unusually light sentence. After a brief biography, I proceed by putting him in the context of Golden-Age Spanish society, in which descendants of judeo-conversos after many generations still perceived as Jews by most cristianos viejos. This perception created an especially severe identity problem for judeo-conversos, which they tried to solve in various ways; Godínez created his own solution, which is the principal subject of this essay. (AH)