Milton's Theology
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
| Welcome to the English Department Knowledge Base at the University of California, Santa Barbara. |
|---|
John Milton was the grandson of a Catholic and the son of an Anglican; though he was destined for the church, Laud's disciplinary measures made him a Puritan. In 1640 he was Presbyterian in his sympathies... Relying on scripture and trying to discredit his opponents' use of early church history, Milton urged the abolition of bishops and the substitution of presbyters; he argued that until this was done the Reformation in England would not be complete... But though he was defending the official Presbyterian position, his future break with Presbyterianism was implied in his hostility not simply to bishops but to all hired priests.
The break came (although Milton never officially acknowledged it) as a result of attacks on his divorce pamphlets. Parliament's printing ordinance seemed a revival of Laudian censorship, and Milton immediately joined the toleration controversy. Religious liberty now became his overriding interest. In Areopagitica (1644) he argued that the licensing of the press inhibits the spread of Christian truth; the proliferation of sects, which the Presbyterians regarded with horror, seemed to Milton a sign of healthy, an essential means of testing truth. He moved into attack on the Presbyterian clergy for their support of the king...
Milton lost all interest in external church reform in the 1650s ad hoped instead for complete disestablishment; he envisaged ministers being elected and voluntarily supported by their congregations... (Rivers 310-11).
From Isabel Rivers, "Political and Religious Issues in the Time of Milton," Paradise Lost, ed. Scott Elledge (New York: Norton, 1993) 307-313.
