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...
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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
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
pt. I. Heretical theology. Milton on heresy / Janel Mueller -- Milton's antiprelatical tracts and the marginality of doctrine / Thomas N. Corns -- How radical was the young Milton? / Barbara K. Lewalski -- pt. II. Heresy and consequences. Milton's Arianism : why it matters / John P. Rumrich -- "Elect above the rest" : theology as self-representation in Milton / Stephen M. Fallon -- Milton's kisses / William Kerrigan -- pt. III. Heresy and community. Licensing Milton's heresy / Stephen B. Dobranski -- Milton and the rationale of insulting / John K. Hale -- Treason against God and state : Blasphemy in Milton's culture and Paradise lost / David Loewenstein -- The politics of performance in the inner theater : Samson Agonistes as closet drama / Elizabeth Sauer -- pt. IV. Readers of heresy. Asserting eternal providence : John Milton through the window of liberation theology / John S. Bennett -- Milton's transgressive maneuvers : receptions (then and now) and the sexual politics of Paradise lost / Joseph Wittreich
