The Question of Religion: John Milton's Questioning of the Protestant Christian Faith's Absolutes

The Question of Religion:

John Milton's Questioning of the Protestant Christian Faith's

Absolutes

Matthew Kean

Milton and his Contemporaries ENGL 40473

Professor Gil

December 18, 2014

Matthew Kean

Prof. Gil

ENGL 40473

September 20, 2014

The Question of Religion:

John Milton's Questioning of the Protestant Christian Faith's

Absolutes

To a believer of the Christian faith there is nothing more

certain than the fact that there is but one God, and the Bible is

His word to the people. Yet, it is known by all believers that

there are many interpretations of the Bible. For example, the

Christian faith can be divided into two main categories:

Protestant and Catholic. Each of these two divisions can be

further broken down into more subdivisions of course, but

regardless of the division they all claim to worship one God and

follow the Bible. What seems to divide these groups is their

interpretations of the Bible. Any person with literary

knowledge understands that a text can have multiple meanings;

therefore consequently, the Bible, too, can be perceived in

multiple different ways. For John Milton's era, the

interpretation of the Bible mainly was described by Protestant

believers. However, John Milton was slightly skeptical, not of

the Bible itself, but of the beliefs held by the Protestants of

his era. Paradise Lost is Milton's example of skepticism toward the

absolutes held by the Christian faith; again, of course, Milton

is not questioning the validity of the Bible, but rather, he

explores the possibility of these specific beliefs to be false.

With the aide of Aeropagitica and “The Christian Doctrine”, Milton's

Paradise Lost is the quintessential questionnaire of the Christian

faith.

In Gordon Campbell's essay “The Son of God in De Doctrina

Christiana and Paradise Lost”, he posits the differences between the

portrayal of Christ in The Christian Doctrine versus Paradise Lost.

Campbell believes that in the Christian Doctrine, Milton does not

give the Son the equality necessary for him to be the Son of God.

On the other hand, he believes that Milton hands-down gives the

Son the equality of a Godlike figure. Campbell writes about the

two,“Equality disproves co-essentiality to the argument of the

rest of the chapter on the Son , where Milton denies co-

essentiality in order to affirm inequality.” What Campbell,

ostensibly, means is that in Paradise Lost, the Son is worshipped at

the right hand of God; however, in The Christian Doctrine, the Son is

not given the equality of God. Additionally, Campbell writes,

“In The Christian Doctrine, Milton denied to the Son unity in essence

with the Father, omnipresence, and eternity. In Paradise Lost,

Milton restored all of these attributes to the Son.”

Essentially, the Son is stripped of his Biblical status of being

of the utmost high in The Christian Doctrine; but in Paradise Lost, the

Son is given the authority that God has given him as the Son of

God. The contrasting of the two works is a excellent viewpoint

for a topic on the absolutes provided by Christian religion. The

differences make for a perfect questionnaire of the Godhead trio.

Is the Son the same as the Father in terms of equality? Or is as

Campbell puts it, “Milton 'disjoined' his praise of the Father

and Son by elevating the Father at the Expense of the Son.”

Milton's “The Christian Doctrine” lays out Milton's beliefs

on the Bible and how he interprets the Bible. In Milton's mind,

other's opinion of the Bible has no effect on him. He believes

that God purposely gave him a mind to believe whatever he so

chooses to believe through his own reasoning. “God has revealed

the way of eternal salvation to the individual faith of each man,

and demands of us that any man who wishes to be saved should work

out his beliefs for himself” (Christian Doctrine 723).

Essentially, Milton believes that instead of believing someone's

interpretation of the Bible, one should try to understand it

through his own reasoning. By doing this, Milton seems to

suggest that God will provide him with eternal salvation. For

Milton, the way a person stockpiled his treasure in heaven was

through a tireless pursuit of the truth. “God offers all his

rewards not to those who are thoughtless and credulous, but to

those who labor constantly and seek tirelessly after the truth”

(Christian Doctrine 724). Milton believed the truth was

something worth yearning for, which is why one could reason that

Milton questioned these absolutes. Milton states, “I advise

every reader...to withhold his consent from those opinions about

which he does not feel fully convinced, until the evidence of the

Bible convinces him and induces his reason to assent and to

believe” ( Christian Doctrine 725). In hindsight, here Milton

again reiterates the importance of finding one's own truth. If

one is to lean on someone's understanding, that person is

binding themselves to that person's beliefs, therefore, not

allowing their own mind to reason what is true and what is false.

One downfall of the Christian belief, ostensibly, is that there

are many people of the faith who claim their faith to be the

utmost truth. However, logically this does not make sense. In

Milton's eyes, the people are the ones who askew the Bible, not

the text itself. “Hence, they sometimes violently attacked the

truth as error and heresy, while calling the error and heresy

truth and upholding them not upon the authority of the Bible but

as a result of habit and partisanship” (Christian Doctrine 725).

In Milton's day, the Protestants held a belief that anything that

was not the Bible was against the Bible. Whether it being

clothing, art, or even other texts, all of this was considered

against God. However, Milton refutes this with his belief on the

idea of free will. In essence, God gave man the ability to think

freely, therefore, God gave man the free will to do as he

pleases. Though Milton does not believe that one should go

against the Bible, however, he does believe that when it comes to

texts a man should be able to believe whatsoever he pleases based

on that person's reasoning. “I intend also to make people

understand how much it is in the interests of the Christian

religion that men should be free not only to sift and winnow any

doctrine, but also openly to give their opinions of it and even

to write about it, according to what each believes” (Christian

Doctrine 726). Milton states that he believes it is in the best

interest of the Christian faith to allow people to freely peruse

other texts. These people should be allowed to make educated

decisions based on their own free will. The Christian absolute

of free will was put into a more progressive manner by Milton.

In Milton's Aeropagitica, he furthers this concept of free will.

In Milton's mind, a man is given free will to do as one

pleases; this gift was given to us by God. What Milton believes

is that with this free will, he is allowed to search for his own

truth through his own reasoning. In Aeropagitica, Milton primary

subject is his defense of freedom of the press, but he also

shines some light onto his search for the truth. At the time of

Aeropagitica's writing, the English people were not allowed to

produce whatever writing they so chose. Furthermore, the English

people were bound from their God-given free will. Milton writes

in reference to these people, “They are the troublers, they are

the dividers of unity, who neglect and permit not others to unite

those disserved pieces which are wanting to the body of Truth”

(Aeropagitica 264). By hiding the 'Truth' from the English people,

they are being bound to the absolutes that are taught to them

from the pulpit. Instead of learning for themselves what to

think, they are strapped to an ignorant chair thereby causing

them to live by another's version of the Christian faith instead

of their own. Milton makes a reference to the golden rule of

theology to make his next point. “To be still searching what we

know not by what we know, still closing up truth to truth as we

find it (for all her body is homogeneal, and proportional) that

is the golden rule in theology as well as in arithmetic, and

makes up the best harmony in a church; not the forced and outward

union of cold, and neutral, and inwardly divided minds”

(Aeropagitica 264). The golden rule states loosely to do unto

others as you would have them do unto you. Milton's mind

thoughtfully alludes this to the closing up of the English church

to the doctrines (non-religious) of others. Essentially, if the

preacher is allowed to place his ideas onto the church, the

people of the church should be allowed to think whatever way they

desire. In Milton's eyes, by allowing the people to fabricate

their own ideas, the church body will be able to live more

educated, harmonious lives. This directly goes against the

preconceived notion that what the preacher believes is what the

body of the church should believe as well. Milton's ideas go

against what the church says and believes. “A man may be a

heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his

pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing

other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he

holds becomes his heresy” (Aeropagitica 261). One perhaps could say

that Milton's ideas are heretical in nature. Forwardly thinking,

could Milton's ideas in Paradise Lost, too, be heretical? Could the

characters depicted in the epic poem be against the typical idea

of the church? Milton's grandest questions of the Christian

faith's absolutes are found within the pages of Paradise Lost.

The questions foretold in Paradise Lost are beautifully

mastered and written in code so that the reader must think

subjectively. Paradise Lost is an epic poem of the fall of man told

through the eyes of several characters: God, the Son, Satan, Adam

and Eve and a slew of smaller roles. One of the most significant

roles is Raphael, an angel who aides Adam in his understanding of

heaven and other ethereal things. In one incident, Adam

questions Raphael about what angels eat. Raphael's response

seems to truly be that of Milton's own mind. Raphael states, “If

not deprav'd from good, created all such to perfection, one first

matter all” (Paradise Lost 5.471-472). Here, Milton's monistic and

heretical viewpoints take flight. Raphael is saying that all

things are made out of the same material. Milton believes there

was a raw material that created everything, which rejects the

Christian idea of dualism. If everyone is created from the same

material then perhaps the idea of the body and soul being

separate things is false. The reason, ostensibly, that this

could be false is based on the fact that the soul is made of the

same substance as the body. Therefore, if the body were to die

off, so, too, would the soul. This idea goes against the

Christian ideological concept of the soul being separate, which

is heretical in nature, too.

The role the angels play in Paradise Lost is one of great

importance – it furthers Milton's idea of angels and humans being

made of the same matter. In Karma DeGruy's essay “Desiring

Angels: The Angelic Body in Paradise Lost”, the angels in Paradise Lost

were essential to understanding their purpose in Milton's

worldview. “As God's only other rational creations, angels are

essential for understanding the nature and potential of embodied

being in Milton's monist materialist universe.” For Milton,

humans and angels were different, but were made of the same

substance. Milton did not address this head-on, but rather

approached it from a side angle. “Milton has placed these

contradictions at the center...not to resolve them but instead to

highlight the imperfect, unfinished nature of paradoxical

existence and thus the importance of temperance for all rational,

sensitive creations, angelic as well as human.” Interestingly

enough, the idea that humans and angels are made of the same

matter is rather different than the Christian belief of humans

being different than the supernatural. According to DeGruy, “In

his view, Milton intends differences to complement each other in

peaceful hierarchy and mutual interdependence.”

What about the idea of hell? To the Christian faith, it is

a place of suffering that a lost soul will go after the human

body dies, yet it also questions the idea of free will given to

humans. In Wilma G. Armstrong's essay “Punishment, Surveillance,

and Discipline in Paradise Lost”, she makes comparisons of medieval

imprisonment and punishment to the punishments that Satan,

Belial, Adam and Eve are given in Paradise Lost. However, in this

case, one must focus on the religious portions of the essay. She

begins with her assessment on Satan's punishment: eternally

imprisoned in hell. The reason Satan is imprisoned is not

because of God's will, but his own free will. “Satan knows that

the price of repentance and pardon is submission to the will of

God... the eternal nature of Satan's punishment results,

therefore, not from God's will but from his own.” In Belial's

case, he hopes that with time, God will forgive them for their

transgressions, and they will eventually be brought back to

heaven. Yet, because they acted deliberately against God with

their own free will, they will not be forgiven and God does not

forget. “Since both time and space are meaningless to God who

sees everything at once, Belial's hope for parole are also

unfounded and meaningless.” According to Armstrong, Satan and

the demons, “choose their own government of tyranny and

punishment because they have left in-governed their own

dissensions, jealousness, outrages, rapine and lust”. Because of

God-given free will Adam and Eve will suffer their own

consequences forever. “Adam and Eve's punishment...is inscribed

on their bodies: Adam will feel the sweat on his brow and Eve the

pains of childbirth as a reminder of their offense against God.”

One could make the argument that because one has the ability to

choose freely, one must be able to receive one's punishment. In

a religious sense, if one does not follow the word of God,

perhaps, one, too, could receive punishment for all eternity.

Quite the absolute rendered by the ideology of Christians

everywhere.

In addition to the Christian idea of hell comes along the

idea of Satan. The Christian faith believes Satan to be the

deceiver of men, the serpent who tempted Eve into the Fall. Yet,

in Paradise Lost, one could argue that Satan was a hero. It was him

and his armies that “in dubious battle on the plains of heaven,

and shook his throne” (Paradise Lost 1.104-5). The idea of Satan being

a hero is against the Christian faith's absolute that Satan is

the ultimate evil. If it is true that angels and humans are made

of the same substance, as Milton pondered, then could it not be

argued that Satan and the demons were made of the same ethereal

substance? Milton thought so, it seems. “That were an ignominy

and shame beneath this downfall; since by fate the strength of

gods and this empyreal substance cannot fail” (Paradise Lost 1.115-6).

As humans and angels were made in God's image, it too, can be

argued that the demons are made of the same substance. Yet, as a

Christian, this seems preposterous. A Christian is taught to

believe that demons are evil, and logically, what is evil must be

ugly, right? As Milton believes, we are all made from the same

substance, therefore, we cannot be ugly. On another note, it is

known that Satan was a beautiful angel that was very close to

God. Yet, Satan tried to parallel himself with the omnipotent

God, and with his demons aide he, “set himself in glory above his

peers, he trusted to have equalled the most high” (Paradise Lost 1.39-

40). Milton does not disagree with the idea that Satan tried to

be like the God. However, Satan's God-given free will, which

Christians possibly could argue that Satan was destined to rebel

against God, was Satan's downfall. “All is not lost; the

unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and

courage never to submit or yield” (Paradise Lost 1.106-8). Milton's

ostensible portrayal of Satan being a hero might go along with

Milton's idea of logic. It could stand to reason that Satan was

only thinking logically instead of maliciously. If God was so

powerful, why did he not spite Satan and his army the moment he

rebelled? After the battle of heaven, the spirits of the

condemned were not broken, nor were they fully downtrodden about

their defeat. “As far as gods and heavenly essences can perish:

for the mind and spirit remains invincible and vigour soon

returns” (Paradise Lost 1.139-40). If God's throne was able to be

shaken, could it not stand to reason that with time and strategy

that Satan could prevail? Satan states, ”to do aught good never

will be our task, but ever to do ill our sole delight, as being

the contrary to his high will whom we resist” (Paradise Lost 1.160-2).

Satan was left to think for himself from the start; Satan's free

will got him into his predicament, in Milton's mind. The fact

that Satan was involved in a war is beyond understanding, as Adam

tried to decipher how the war in heaven was possible.

War on earth represents two different sides having disputes

over land, boundaries, and even women (Helen of Troy), yet what

about a supernatural war? Adam questions Raphael about the war in

heaven. Raphael poses this question, “though what if earth be

but the shadow of Heav'n and things therein each to other like

more then on earth is thought?” (Paradise Lost 5.574-576). Raphael

questions whether the thought process of man is a 'shadow' of the

thought process of heaven. For a monist, such as Milton, they

believed that everything is accessible, therefore, humans could

understand it all, including things that went on in heaven. What

is heretical in this idea is that the church believes that the

acts of God are beyond human understanding. For the church, this

quite possibly could be considered blasphemous, but to Milton,

this seems to be illogical and through reason, he should be able

to understand God's works. To further this idea, during the

narrator's invocation to the Muse the speaker. If we are all

made of the same matter as Raphael had said, could it not be that

we may be able to understand unearthly things? Monist believed

that we have the ability to pull things because we all are made

of the same thing, which is stated in the invocation. “Shine

inward, and the mind through all her powers, irradiate, there

plant eyes, all mist from thence purge and disperse, that I may

see and tell of things invisible to mortal sight” (Paradise Lost

3.52-55). Again, Milton challenges the Christian absolutes by

asking permission to clear his mind so that he may see unearthly

things. This is inconceivable to someone of the Christian faith

because not only is he believing he can see unearthly things, but

also he is asking something other than God for this unearthly

sight. Milton's counter probably was his heretical and monistic

viewpoints, which question whether the Christian faith is correct

in its understanding of the Bible and not the validity of the

Bible.

Milton seemed to be at the forefront of thought during his

era. Milton's ideas were not only controversial, but also

progressive. Milton sought after truth through reason, logic,

and his own personal knowledge; through these, Milton was able to

deduce that not everything that the people of his day taught in

church was accurate. Milton believed one could produce his own

truth through his own free will – by studying the Bible

independently, he was able to conjure his own Christian thought

process which he wrote in the “Christian Doctrine”.

Additionally, Milton's Aeropagitica provided his defense of the

freedom of the press in which he juxtaposes his challenge of the

Christian absolutes of his era. Furthermore, with the aide of

these two doctrines, one could comb through the beautifully

sculpted Paradise Lost and discover Milton's questionnaire hidden

within the text itself. Through these texts, one deduces that

Milton was not in full agreement with the Christian church and

its beliefs, not necessarily the Bible, per say, but rather

Milton challenges the validity of the churches interpretation of

the Bible, and the validity of their opinions.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Wilma G. “Punishment, Surveillance, and Discipline

in Paradise Lost” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Vol 32. No. 1.

The English Renaissance. Houston: Rice University Press.

Campbell, Gordon. “The Son of God in De Doctrina Christiana and

Paradise Lost”. The Modern Language Review,. Vol. 75, No. 3.

Jul, 1980. Pp 507-514.

DeGruy, Karma. “Desiring Angels: The Angelic Body in Paradise

Lost”. Criticism Winter 2012. Vol. 54. No. 1. PP 117-149. Detroit:

Wanye State University Press., 2012.

Milton, John. Aeropagitica. John Milton: The Major Works. Eds.

Johnathan Goldberg and Stephen Orgel. New York: Oxford

University Press. 1991. 236-273.

Milton, John. “Christian Doctrine”. John Milton: The Major Works.

Eds. Johnathan Goldberg and Stephen Orgel. New York: Oxford

University Press. 1991. 723-733.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. John Milton: The Major Works. Eds.

Johnathan Goldberg and Stephen Orgel. New York: Oxford

University Press. 1991. 355-618.