Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Harvard Theological Review
  4. Volume 67
Journal Home
Refine listing

Refine listing

Access:
Publication date:

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×
< Back to all issues

Volume 67 - April 1974

Contents

Page 2 of 2

Research Article

  • “Holy Name”: A Reading of Paradise Lost

  • Michael Lieb
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. 321-339

  • In its celebration of the Name of God, the Zohar offers a significant way of coming to terms with the apostrophe to Light that opens Book III of Paradise Lost. The Ineffable Name, states the Zohar, “is the source and beginning of supreme mysteries indeed; it is the sphere whence emanate all the burning lights, and where the whole mystery of Faith is centred; this Name dominates all.” Similarly, Milton celebrates “holy Light,” but his “Hail” is immediately qualified by his unwillingness to penetrate too far into the mystery. Whether that “Light” is the “ofspring of Heav'n first-born,/ Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam” (III, 1–2), Milton will not say. However his words suggest the nature of godhead in its association with the Muse, Milton's stance is clear enough. He intends to “keep off with a sacred reverence” the naming of that which might incur blame. Thus, the first two lines of the apostrophe culminate with the all-important question: “May I express thee unblam'd?” (III, 3). Representing a fitting tribute to one who dwells “in unapproached light” (III, 4), this question strikes at the heart of Milton's attitude toward the Name of God. As Milton states in Christian Doctrine (I. 2), if the Divine Name is to be pronounced at all, it had better be “with due reverence” (“modo reverenter”) (Works, XIV, 38, 39).

Notes and Observations

Books Received

Books Received

Front matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 4 Cover and Front matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. f1-f2
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

  • HTR volume 67 issue 1 Cover and Front matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. f1-f7
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Notes and Observations

Back matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 1 Cover and Back matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, p. b1
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Notes and Observations

Back matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 4 Cover and Back matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, p. b1
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Books Received

Books Received

Front matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 3 Cover and Front matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. f1-f2
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Back matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 3 Cover and Back matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, p. b1
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Front matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 2 Cover and Front matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. f1-f2
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Back matter

  • HTR volume 67 issue 2 Cover and Back matter

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    10 June 2011, pp. b1-b2
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • Export citation

Page 2 of 2