John Milton's Christian Doctrine reveals a number of doctrinal opinions clearly in disagreement with the orthodox Christianity of his day. His four major heresies, his monism itself, his theory of creation ex Deo, his anti-Trinitarianism, and his mortalism, form a logical system, developed in accordance with his monistic conception of the cosmos.Milton's monism denies the Platonic dualism between matter and spirit. He presents a world which is a continuum in which that which is usually called material is merely further removed from God than that which is normally called spiritual. This monism serves as the basis of his concepts of the universe, God, and humanity.Since Milton sees God as the total of reality, the things of this world cannot have their source in anything outside God. They cannot be created either from a preexistent prime matter or from nothing. His monism requires that they somehow be created ex Deo, from God's own substance.Milton's monism denies the possibility of the traditional concept of the Trinity. The Son is neither coeternal, co-essential, nor co-equal with the Father. The Holy Spirit is even less important, subordinate to both Father and Son. Since Christ must also be a unity, Milton presents a unique concept of the Incarnation, in which two total persons are mysteriously combined into one new person.His monism requires that the human being also be a unity. Two heresies result: (1) Traducianism, in which the soul is generated by the parents just as is the body; (2) Thnetopsychic mortalism, in which the entire human being dies together and then is resurrected to either reward or punishment.Through a study of monism, Milton's reader can find a key to the phenomenon of John Milton. He uniquely combines his monism with a staunch Biblical literalism, presenting himself as a Christian, but a Christian with a difference-a Christian who will allow no outside authority of any kind to define his faith. As a part of Milton's general application of a monistic cosmos to all his thought, the monistic continuity of the Miltonic heresy can clearly be discovered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/179330 |
| Date | 03 June 2011 |
| Creators | Padgett, Jeffrey Lynn |
| Contributors | Adrian, Daryl B. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 427 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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