Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-294).

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English political thought from 1528 to 1558 was dominated by the question of obedience to civil authority. English Lutherans stressed the duty of obedience to the prince as the norm; however, if he commands that which is immoral one should passively disobey. The defenders of Henrician royal supremacy, while attempting to strengthen the power of the crown, used similar arguments to stress unquestioned obedience to the king. During Edward VI's reign this teaching of obedience was popularized from the pulpit. However, with the accession of Mary a new view regarding obedience gained prominence. Several important Marian exiles contended that the principle that God is to be obeyed rather than man entails the duty of Christians to resist idolatrous and evil rulers for the sake of the true Protestant religion.

The plurality of worlds has had a long history in England, which has not gone unnoticed by scholars. Historians have tended to view this English pluralist tradition as similar to those found on the continent, and in doing so have failed to fully understand the religious significance that the plurality of worlds had on English thought and society. This religious significance is discovered through a thorough investigation of plurality as presented by English natural philosophers and theologians, and in so doing reveals much about England in the seventeenth century. As natural philosophers incorporated plurality within the larger framework of natural theology, it became a weapon of science and reason to be used against the unreasonable atheists of late seventeenth-century England.

This study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his deliberate use of the alchemical metaphor. These themes support the proposal that Milton, a Christian humanist, uses alchemy as a metaphor described in this study as "divine alchemy," which begins with his belief that Christians, inheriting original sin, must submit themselves to a transformative process similar to transmutation to restore right reason and, ultimately, achieve salvation. / by Andrea J. Rutherford. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 201?. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.