밀턴의 자연관: 현대 신학자들의 자연 이해와 비교를 중심으로

Abstract

This thesis is to understand Milton’s view of nature in his poems. With the understanding of Milton’s nature we find the ways to overcome the view on nature distorted after the industrial age. At the Age of the Enlightenment, to which Milton belonged, human beings began to separate themselves from the nature and to subdue nature. Milton, however, did not approve the placement of nature in his time. After the industrial revolution, the destroyed nature and the eco-system and the human-centered thought have raised serious problems. Moltmann, Tillich, Pannenberg, and Griffin proposed understandings on nature which surpassed the limitations of the theism. In order to grasp Milton’s nature, we reviewed his idea under the light of the modern theologians. Milton’s poems showed the view of nature similar to the modern theologians; the power of self-recovery of nature, the paradisiacal elements, and the inherent significance independent from the human power. This thesis focuses on three aspects of Milton’s nature. Firstly, the nature has sovereignty free from human beings. Secondly, nature and human being in Milton share same prospect. Thirdly, we appraise nature in the apocalyptic dimension. Milton’s view on nature gives us important perspectives on the recovery of the ecology in the 21st century, which propose inspirations and the direction to consolidate the Christianity and other religions for the ecological recovery.