[Milton-L] The Son's knowledge

[Larry Isitt]

Rich,
The key lies not in III.80ff which have to be pressed to fulfill any sense of omniscience on the part of the Son, but instead is to be located in the angels' hymns in III.372-75, 84-89 which argue strongly for Milton's Arianism. I think there remains a very strong case to be made among Miltonists for his heterodox Son because of the inferior names Milton reserves for him as compared with those he reserves solely for the Father. At no point in the epic, for example, is the Son ever unambiguously called Almighty, Omnipotent, Infinite, a step Milton might easily have incorporated had he been truly orthodox. Or he might even have begun the hymns with "Thee, Father and Son" and then follow with the list he includes and reserves for the Father. The reason the key lies with the angels' hymns and not elsewhere is because these descriptions are explicitly those one finds in theological works of the day and which are components of the descriptions of the Trinity as found in the major confessions of faith of the Reformation, e.g., Augsburg Confession 1530, Articles of Faith 1662, Westminster Confession 1647, to name a few. What Milton in his epic reserves solely to the Father are there explicitly said to be the properties of F, S, and Spirit.
Larry Isitt

From: milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu [mailto:milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Durocher
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 1:51 PM
To: John Milton Discussion List
Subject: [Milton-L] The Son's knowledge

Dear colleagues,

    I wonder if you might be inclined to respond to a question that troubles me.  How is the Son's knowledge in PARADISE LOST best described?  Is it full and complete omniscience, equal to God's?  The alternative, is, simply put, anything less than that- though limited knowledge might occupy a wide range.
    For many years I thought I had a fixed position on this question, thanks to Tom Corns's REGAINING 'PARADISE LOST' (arguing that the questions the Father asks before the Son in III.80 ff.  imply their equal knowledge) and Hugh MacCallum's MILTON AND THE SONS OF GOD and Irene Samuel's classic essay on drama versus dogma.  Now, recent discussions with students lead me to re-open the question.  Responses on- or off-list gratefully welcomed.

   Best wishes,

  Rich DuRocher
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