Milton and Arianism Reconsidered

Abstract

A re-examination of a few key verses in Paradise Lost and portions of De Doctrina Christiana along with an evaluation of the many collected views of scholars will, this paper believes, demonstrate a development that shows a logical quasi-Arian position and simultaneously strengthens Milton's own unique theological dogma. First, to Arius God the Father is utterly incommunicable and all is created ex nihilo; Milton, however, asserts God's direct involvement in both the origin and the history of the created order, and the universe Milton maintained was produced ex Deo. Second, Arius believes that the Son is liable to change and sin; to Milton He is the spirit of God Manifested in the Cosmos. Third, the Word to Arius is a creature Whom the Father had brought into existence by decree; He to Milton only differs from the Father in degree certainly not in kind. Fourth, Arius thinks that the Son and the Father are utterly alien and dissimilar in substance or essence; Milton agrees with Arius in De Doctrina Christiana but in Paradise Lost he affirms equality between the Father and the Son. Fifth, Arius says that the Son knows the Father in the same way and with the same measures as we know by our own powers; to Milton the Son is the "effulgentia" of the Father, but He is not omniscient. Sixth, to Arius the Father is only true God and the Holy Spirit does not share the same substance with the Father; Milton does not deny the Holy Spirit's existence but he has no great belief in the Holy Spirit, exhibiting a quasi-Arian stand.