Apostasy and Phenomenology of Desire in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus

The present article posits that the employment of sacred language by Faustus can be interpreted as a manifestation of his existential defiance of both theological determinism and the narrative of salvation. Faustus’s work is characterised by a juxtaposition of two contrasting figures: Christ’s sacrificial submission and the self-authored descent into damnation. Within this framework, Faustus constructs a pseudo-theological temporality that effectively collapses the eschatological promise of Christianity. The present study draws on exegetical interpretations of John 19:30 to explore how Faustus’ selective and distorted use of scripture constitutes a wilful rejection of grace. The study goes on to situate Faustus’ trajectory within both doctrinal and phenomenological frameworks, examining his descent into despair through Gerard H. Cox’s theological model of sin against the Holy Ghost (1973) and Edward W. Snow’s ontological account of subjectivity and lack (1977). In this way, Faustus emerges not only as a figure of intellectual and spiritual hubris but also as a tragic cipher of early modern secularity, suspended between the collapse of metaphysical certainty and the unfulfilled promise of agency. The analysis contributes to contemporary debates in theology, Renaissance tragedy and phenomenology by tracing how the undoing of salvation in Doctor Faustus reveals the limits of free will, the aesthetics of despair, and the unresolved tension between divine order and human desire.