Milton and Heresy [Hardcover]

Stephen B. Dobranski (Editor), John P. Rumrich (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521630657 | ISBN-13: 978-0521630658 | Publication Date: September 28, 1998

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 collection of essays investigates aspects of his works inconsistent with conventional beliefs, showing how Milton, as poet, thinker and public servant, eschewed dogma and regarded indeterminacy and uncertainty as fundamental to human existence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"These outstanding essays dislodge the tenacious assumption that Milton's religious thought is orthodox." John Childs, Albion

"...splendid..." Larry R. Isitt, Church History

Book Description

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 collection of essays investigates aspects of his works inconsistent with conventional beliefs, showing how Milton, as poet, thinker and public servant, eschewed dogma and regarded indeterminacy and uncertainty as fundamental to human existence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521630657
• ISBN-13: 978-0521630658
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of the 1999 Irene Samuels Award, October 21, 2001

By 

Rick Capezza (Spokane, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Milton and Heresy (Hardcover)

Dobranski and Rumrich have gathered an eclectic array of authors from around the world. The work includes authors from Wales, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Dobranski and Rumrich note that modern critics of Milton often either explain away Milton's unconventional beliefs so as to create an orthodox Milton. Contributors in this work seek to place Milton within his historical context, whether in political or theological terms (Dobranski 1). All contributors have the common assumption that Milton wrote de Doctrina Christiana (6-7). The collection is separated into four parts: "Heretical theology," "Heresy and its consequences," "Heresy and community," and "Readers of heresy."

The first section seeks to define heresy. Janel Mueller's "Milton on Heresy," examines Milton's use of the word heresy. Mueller notes the first century use of the term. "The binary that constitutes the term `heresy' in its first-century Christian sense is not truth/error but church/sect, with the further associated oppositions of wholeness versus divisiveness, community versus splitting into groups" (25). Mueller argues that Milton uses the word heresy to refer simply to "choice" early in life (22-23). However, Milton changed his view of heresy later in life to fit shifting needs. The other articles in this section round it out well.

The second section, "Heresy and consequences," laments the downplay of Milton's heresy in recent critical works. The Introduction states that each chapter of this section "focuses on a single heresy-Arianism, Arminianism, and monism" (13). Rumrich exposes Milton's Arianism in his compelling article "Milton's Arianism: Why it Matters." Rumrich asks the question, "[. . .] how is it that so many early readers identified the epic as Arian, when most twentieth-century readers, despite the added evidence of de doctrina, have accepted the claim that Paradise Lost conforms to orthodoxy?" (77) He lists several people who identified Milton's Arianism previous to the finding of De Doctrina Christiana in 1825. Among these people are Daniel DeFoe and Thomas Macauley (76). Rumrich concludes that Milton's silence is due to Arianism carrying civil penalties, including burning at the stake.

Stephen. M. Fallon's `Elect Above the Rest': Theology as Self-representation in Milton" examines Milton's shift from his Calvinist upbringing toward Arminianism. Fallon employs limits those terms to describe opposing views of soteriology. Fallon proves how Milton's Armianism goes against the grain of the 1619 Synod of Dort. The synod, defending orthodox Calvinism, "warned against `curiously scrutinizing the deep and mysterious things of God'" (93). Fallon shows how Milton believed that, aided by the Holy Spirit, man could use reason to understand these deep mysteries. Fallon errs in a passing comment about Paul Sellin, another critic. Fallon writes, "He writes de doctrina Christiana is supralapsarian-and thus closer to Calvin than Arminius [. . .]" (98). Fallon falls prey to the common error that Calvin was supralapsarian. On the contrary, Calvin was an infralapsarianist, although the infralapsarianism/supralapsarianism debate occurred after his lifetime. In addition, all major Reformed creeds are explicitly infralapsarian.

The final article in this section, William Kerrigan's "Milton's Kisses," is a beautifully written and entertaining piece on lyrical kissing in the seventeenth century.
A sample of this prose will help express the style. "I think of Milton in Book 4 of Paradise Lost as a great film director. Satan has arrived. The camera has discovered Adam and Eve. It is time to shoot the kiss" (126). The problem with this essay is it fails to explicate what the Introduction says it does: monism. Lyrical kissing is hardly heresy.

By the time one reaches the second half of the book, organization begins to break down. However, Stephen B. Dobranski's article fits well into the third section entitled "Milton and Heresy." The article, "Licensing Milton's Heresy," examines Milton's career as a licenser. Dobranski shows how Milton was very tolerant for the seventeenth century by analyzing what books Milton chose not to censor. Dobranski notes Milton's participation of passing the The Racovian Catechism. The Racovian Catechism explicitly adopts the Socinian heresy. Dobranski suggests, "Perhaps Milton's announcement to Parliament that he approved The Racovian Catechism, as reported by Aitzema, was a conscious attempt by the poet/secretary to create the perception of himself as an independent freethinker" (148). However, Dobranski does not believe his own suggestion. Furthermore, widening the scope of heterodoxy would eventually lead to the acceptance of Milton's own heresies. "Milton may have nominally served as a licenser, in other words, but he still objected to pre-publication censorship and would have helped to draft the new, more lenient registration" (148).

Part four, "Readers of Heresy," contains only two chapters. The first chapter, Joan Bennett's "Asserting Eternal Providence: John Milton Through the Window of Liberation Theology," seems irrelevant to the book. Although Bennett does not call Milton a liberation theologian, she implies it. This article explains how liberation theology contains many inconsistencies and focuses on political action. So does Milton. The article is by far the longest in the book, but also speaks of Milton the least.

Joseph Wittreich's "Milton's Transgressive Maneuvers: Receptions (Then and Now) and the Sexual Politics of Paradise Lost," demonstrates the variety of reaction in early Milton critics and contemporary Milton critics. He gives particular focus to the sexual politics of contemporary criticism. Wittreich notes that contemporary critics assume universalism in their criticism. "Typically, Bennett's allies presume that Milton's values are identical with their own, though occasionally a voice is heard saying that, whatever the enlightened values may be today, Milton's were the values of yesterday. In this latter regard, especially when the issue is Milton's misogyny, both sides in the debate [. . .] can agree" (255-256). Wittreich's impeccable logic exposes the biases of modern critics by laying bare their claims of neutrality.

In addition to sometimes having chapters that do not seem to fit, the book does contain a few typographical errors. Quoting Milton, Corns uses "perfeted" for "perfected" (47). In addition, William Kerrigan uses the word "entirety" where "entirely" should be used. Despite these errors, Milton and Heresy is an entertaining and informative collection.