On Reason, Faith, and Freedom in Paradise Lost

In the world represented by Paradise Lost, no human action can be freely performed unless it is grounded in reason's governing the will. Since the belief in God that Milton calls "faith" is a freely performed human action, it is not independent of reason, as Stanley Fish and others claim, but grounded in an exercise of reason. This does not mean that in commanding Adam and Eve to abstain from the Tree of Knowledge, God commands them to perform an act they cannot freely perform. For Adam and Eve's obedience of this command is, like all of their other freely performed actions, grounded in an exercise of reason.