Milton and Heresy

by Edited by Stephen B. Dobranski , John P. Rumrich

• ISBN13: 9780521100939
• ISBN10: 0521100933
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-05
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

It is distinctly paradoxical that John Milton - who opposed infant baptism, supported regicide, defended divorce and approved of polygamy - should be heard as a voice of orthodoxy. Yet modern scholarship has often understated or explained away his heretical opinions. This volume investigates aspects of Milton's works inconsistent with conventional beliefs, whether in terms of seventeenth-century theology or the common assumptions of Milton scholars. Contributors situate Milton and his writings within his specific historical circumstances, paying special attention to Milton's pragmatic position within seventeenth-century religious controversy. The volume's four sections deal with heretical theology, heresy's consequences, heresy and community, and readers of heresy; their common premise is that Milton, as poet, thinker and public servant, eschewed set beliefs and regarded indeterminacy and uncertainty as fundamental to human existence.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Heretical Theology

Milton on heresy

Milton's antiprelatical tracts and the marginality of doctrine

How radical was the young Milton?

Heresy and Consequences

Milton's arianism: why it matters

'Elect about the Rest': theology as self-representation in Milton

Milton's kisses

Heresy and Community

Licensing Milton's heresy

Milton and the rationale of insulting

Treason against God and state: blasphemy in Milton's culture and Paradise Lost

The politics of performance in the inner theatre: Samson Agonistes as closet drama

Readers of Heresy

Asserting eternal providence: Milton through the window of liberation theology

Milton's transgressive manoeuvres: receptions (then and now) and the sexual politics of Paradise Lost

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