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Milton's Arianism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

J. H. Adamson
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Extract

Since Maurice Kelley's unequivocal statement in This Great Argument that “Paradise Lost is an Arian document,” scholars have generally consented to call Milton an Arian. Professor William B. Hunter's recent article has effectively shifted the burden of proof. I should like to provide some supporting evidence for Mr. Hunter's thesis, and one qualification.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1960

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References

* Research for this article was carried out under a grant from the University of Utah Research Fund to which grateful acknowledgment is made.

1 This Great Argument (Princeton University Press, 1941), p. 122.Google Scholar For a discussion of the various views, see especially n. 86, p. 118. Cf. Muir, Kenneth, John Milton (New York, 1955), pp. 164165.Google Scholar

2 Although Mr. C. S. Lewis defends Milton as being more orthodox than has generally been thought, he nevertheless says, “Milton was an Arian.” A Preface to Paradise Lost (5th printing, 1946), p. 84.

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4 The Athanasian Creed was a relatively late solution, the main elements of which were Augustinian. See Harnack, Adolph, History of Dogma, trans. Buchanan, Neil, et al. (Boston, 18991901), IV, p. 134.Google Scholar

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8 All quotations from Paradise Lost are taken from Merritt Hughes’ Odyssey Press edition.

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10 In all theologies there is only one “uncreated essence,” and that is the “hidden God,” the Divine Ground. The bright effluence of the Divine Ground is the Logos under the image of Light. Thus Milton, in Samson Agonistes refers to light as the “prime work of God.” (V. 170.)

11 The Works of John Milton, ed. Patterson, F. A., et al. (New York, 19311938), XIV, p. 193. For a summary of Arius’ views, see Harnack, IV, pp. 15 ff. Arius said that the Son had only a relative knowledge of the Father. Cf. Milton's lines above.Google Scholar

12 See Questions and Answers on Genesis, trans. Marcus, Ralph, in Philo, Supplement I, Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press, 1953), III, 5 (p. 188); IV, 152 (p. 434).Google Scholar Cf. Wolfson, H. A., Philo (Harvard University Press, 1947), I, pp. 140143.Google Scholar

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