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Milton Unbound: Controversy and Reinterpretation

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I was a friend of John Rumrich's as a graduate student at the University of Virginia. He is a genius and this book explains why. He is now a distinguished Milton scholar at the University of Texas, and this book is the culmination of his scholarly work. A must for any lover of Milton, or great scholarship for that matter.

In attempting to "re-invent" John Milton, Rumrich actually commits some of the same mistakes he accuses other critics of making. In refuting Milton's supposed Oedipal complex he re-analyzes Milton to be suffering from some sort of Maternal womb envy (to over simplify the argument). Rumrich claims that critics who argue that Milton suffers from an Oedipal complex are actually revealing more about themselves than about the poet -- so why would this theory not in turn apply to Rumrich himself? His idea that Milton desired to be some sort of hermaphrodite was interesting, but somewhat far-fetched. The digression Rumrich goes on in discussing the similarity between Newton's and Milton's religious beliefs is so completely unintrinsic to the argument he's attempting to make (that Milton held unorthodox religious beliefs) that it becomes quite perplexing as to why he's spending so much time on the views of Sir Isaac. So what if he and Milton shared this belief? And the concluding chapter on Chaos is quite fitting, as this book is a complex and confused amalgamation of ideas that fails to coalesce into any real coherence. Perhaps Rumrich's biggest mistake is stating that Paradise Lost reveals that God is Chaos. Simply b/c chaos is the womb of God and is essential to his existence, does not imply that Milton was saying God is chaos. Rumrich's illustration of Milton's disbelief in the trinity should be applied here: God the son is not the same or even equal to God the father. Duh. Extend Milton's reasoning here to refute your claim.
But all this being said, the book is certainly thought prevoking, and it is very, very important to realize that Milton was not simply a supporter of the standard religious dogma. He was a unique, and complex thinker, who examined his beliefs on almost every level.