As Jesus Tends to Divinity in Paradise Regained: Mathematical Limits and the Arian Son

Abstract

M ilton’s version of the Arian heresy has long prompted vigorous debate, nowhere more so perhaps than in the poet’s characterization of Jesus in Paradise Regained. In 1959, William B. Hunter, Jr. provocatively proclaimed that “we may positively assert that Milton was not an Arian,” inviting fierce reprisals from Maurice Kelly, Barbara Lewalski, and Christopher Hill, among others. 1 Whereas anti-Arians, such as C. A. Patrides, defended the orthodoxy of Milton’s religious beliefs (against the evidence in De Doctrina ), Lewalski argued that Milton’s view of the Son in the brief epic is not at all strictly Trinitarian: “The humanity of Jesus is stressed throughout Paradise Regained ” as is “the concept that ‘all men are sons of God.’” 2 In her magisterial biography of Milton, Lewalski maintains: “Milton’s Arianism is central to this poem.” 3 Building on Lewalski, John Rogers argues that the scope of Milton’s religious radicalism in Paradise Regained extends well beyond his Arianism: Milton not only repudiates the Doctrine of the Trinity but also orthodox Christianity in its entirety. 4 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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