In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary
In lively, forceful, and at times witty language, Michael Lieb has written an illuminating study of the figure of God as a literary character in the writings of John Milton. Milton’s God has always been a provocative and controversial figure, and Lieb offers a fresh way to look at the relationship between the language of theology and the language of poetry in Milton’s works. He draws into the discussion previous authors on the subject—Patrides, Hunter, Kelley, Empson, Danielson, Rumrich, and others—resulting in a dynamic debate about Milton’s multifarious God. By stressing God’s multivalent qualities, Theological Milton offers an innovative perspective on the darker side of the divinity. Lieb allows us to see a Miltonic God of hate as well as a God of love, a God who is a creator as well as a destroyer. Lieb directly confronts the more troubling faces of God in a manner richly informed by Milton’s own theology. Against the theoretical framework for the idea of addressing God as a distinctly literary figure, Lieb presents Milton in the historical milieu prior to and contemporaneous with his works. More cogently than others, Lieb clarifies Milton’s theology of the godhead and the various heresies, such as Socinianism and Arianism, that informed the religious controversies of the seventeenth century. He does so in a manner that exemplifies how literature and theology are inextricably intertwined.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Copyright
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. p. vii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  2. pp. ix-x
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. NOTES ON CITATIONS
  2. p. xi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. pp. 1-12
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Part I: The Discourse of Theology
  1. ONE. Doctrinal and Discursive Contexts
  2. pp. 15-49
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. TWO. The Ontological Imperative
  2. pp. 51-86
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. THREE. The Signatures of Deity
  2. pp. 87-124
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Part II: The Poetics of Deity
  1. FOUR. The Theopathetic Deity
  2. pp. 127-162
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. FIVE. The Odium Dei
  2. pp. 163-183
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. SIX. “Our Living Dread”
  2. pp. 184-210
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Part III: The Heresies of Godhead
  1. SEVEN. The Socinian Imperative
  2. pp. 213-260
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. EIGHT. Arianism and Godhead
  2. pp. 261-278
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. NOTES
  2. pp. 279-338
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. INDEX
  2. pp. 339-348
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.