UM Honors Blog 2021-2022

     Ever since the Fall, Eve and her female progeny have been left with the stigma of  unreliability because of their apparent ease of being deceived. Even the Apostle Paul backs up his inspired claim towards the role of women in the church in 1 Timothy 2:14 with a reference to Eve's deception... and even as Milton unfolds the results of Man's fall from glory in book ten of Paradise Lost, readers see a subtle finger of responsibility pointed squarely at Eve.      Or is it?       Lines 46 and 47 describe the the fall in God's words (according to Milton):  His free will, to her own inclining left In even scale.  But fallen he is....         Obviously, Milton shows that God, at least the God represented in the text, does not believe that Eve alone was responsible. Both were responsible "in even scale". The writer is only keeping his pronouns for "Man" as he/him, because that's the way it was original...

THUS ENDS THE STATE of Paradise, and thus begins the state of Adam's fall. In Books 10 and 11 of Paradise Lost , the effects of the first transgression are made plain: from Adam and Eve's shameful encounter with God the Son, to the curse on Satan and his legions; from the entrance of Sin and Death into the garden, to the news of man's impending banishment from it; and finally, the vision of the depravity of Adam's descendants. All of these scenes demonstrate that, into God's untainted world, the fall brought sin and misery. In light of the hereditary nature of these hardships, it is easy to understand the conflict Adam and Eve felt in this story about whether or not they should reproduce. The conflict is made evident when Eve says to her husband, "What thoughts in my unquiet breast are risen,...Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring/Into this cursed world a woeful race...Food for so foul a monster [death], in thy power/It lies yet ere conception to prevent...

         Before the fall in Paradise Lost beautiful language is used to meticulously describe the perfection of life before the fall. Milton does his best to make the garden comfortable and at peace while all the rest of creation seems to be in chaos with the constant threat caused by Satans Betrayal. The Garden is a wonderful place, one that nearly everyone would love to live forever in, and when Adam and Eve betray God and get kicked out of the garden, we grieve the lost of what was. However in book 11 we see a different perspective to the betrayal other than our own.       While Eve is put to sleep Michael shows Adam what will become of the Earth. Adam sees his own son murdering another, then other ways of men dying: through disease, war and old age. Adam grieves deaths existence and asks for an alternative, which is an interesting parallel to Jesus in Gethsemane. Adam is shown other visions of Athiests, armies clashing, and Noahs flood. A...

  Milton was sexist . I know people are going to disagree with me but hear me out. Milton was alive in the 1600s which was well before any feminist movements had even started. Socially and economically women were still regarded as property. Women of the time were often not educated and their role was solely that of a housewife. They were supposed to embody the virtues of innocence and morality. If a woman did speak out against any of these issues she would be exiled from the community and possibly even worse. I bring all of this up to show that it was entirely plausible and extremely likely for Milton to be sexist. It would have been not only normal but expected of him.  The reason I decided to do my blog post on this is that it is fascinating to see how cultural views can impact literature. Milton is no different, his sexism is evident throughout all of Paradise Lost. In a previous blog post, I wrote about Sin the character, and how she is an excellent example of how men view...

    In Book X of Paradise Lost, we get to see a first glimpse of Christ as humanity's intercessor. He pleads with God and offers to take their place in punishment, while clothing and comforting Adam and Eve despite their failure. The whole passage is theologically shake-y at best, but I don't want to dive down that rabbit hole because I'd like to focus on book XI. I will concede though that the image of God the Son in the garden is a nice comforting picture, even if it's problematic to take that sequence as resembling reality.      In Book XI, the archangel Michael seeks to offer Adam a piece of hope to carry him through this new difficult life in a fallen world. From Cain and Abel to Noah and his ark, Michael gives Adam an ambivalent view of humanity’s relatively near future. These visions bring Adam fear and regret at first but seeing a glimpse at humanity’s first salvation from judgement brings Adam hope for the future.     ...

 In book ten Milton alludes to the Bible in lines 190-196. He alludes to the Bible by stating the idea that the wife must submit to her husband. Although most of the book is an allusion to the Bible I find this allusion in particular more interesting. I find it more interesting due to the fact that it was Eve that first ate the fruit and the consequence of eating of the fruit was the loss of innocence and the opening of eyes. It is because of the eating of fruit that Adam and Eve realized they were naked. This makes me question if eating the fruit is the reason that wives must submit to their husbands? Is it possible that it is because of this incident that women have never been equal to men and still aren't today? I think it is possible that it is possible that eating the fruit caused women to be unequal to men and are commanded to be submissive to their husbands. He also alludes to the bearing of children in these lines when he talks about multiplying. This is affected by the eat...

    In Book Ten of Paradise Lost, we see the sorrow and guilt that the fall has brought upon Adam and Eve. Adam is wailing and upset over the fall. Eve tries to hard to console him, but he will not have it. She tries to suggest killing themselves in order to avoid passing the curse to their offspring, but Adam talks her out of it, explaining that their offspring will one day destroy the enemy.      It is interesting to me how the blame from earlier has shifted from blaming another person to blaming themselves. Adam earlier blamed Eve for the fall, even blaming her in front of God. Now, he blames himself. He even understands that generations will blame he for their suffering. "Who of all ages to succeed but, feeling/ The evil on him brought by me, will curse/ My head: 'ill fare our ancestor impure,/ For this we may thank Adam.' " (Paradise Lost, Book 10: 733-736). Eve also feels guilty, wanting to end it because of their deeds.      ...

      I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure how to approach this blog. It's 10:31 and I have hit quite the wall. If anyone read my ( our ) last blog, you might understand when I say I don't know how to write like "Song." Do I forgo the usual formalities and write as myself? Or do I play pretend as pursual and write as our main host does? I wish this was the only problem of its kind I have faced today, but I have can't say it is. I was reading Haylee Lynd's post and the passage she had caught my attention more so than when I read it. "Why comes not Death // Said he" (845-855 in book X). My immediate thought was, "wow, our host who usually writes these blogs would 100% talk bout how that's relatable and go on a tangent about suicide awareness and depression." I could easily follow the same course, but I would then be pretending. While reading a book about the fall of man, would heaping on another lie for comfort's sake really b...

          Throughout these two books, Jesus is constantly referred to as our intercessor and mediator between humanity and God, but although this is an extremely Biblical concept, it made me wonder about the place of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity of Milton’s world. I was immediately reminded of Romans 8:26, which states that when we do not know what to pray for “…the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”. Milton uses very similar language in lines 32-33 of Book 11 when Jesus says that man is “unskillful with what words to pray, let me/ interpret for him”. This is not necessarily a heretical position, but contrasting these two passages made me consider the role of the Holy Spirit throughout Paradise Lost more than I had before.             We already know that Milton branches out of Biblical territory with the creation of Jesus, but why did he not follow this with the creation of some...

           When the forbidden fruit is eaten, the age of mankind's innocence is over. Mankind now understands the concept of evil, and succumbs to it. Furthermore, when mankind is confronted by Jesus with their sin, they acknowledge that they have done wrong, but try to shift the blame away from themselves. When Satan returns to Hell, he discovers that his progeny have built a bridge to earth. Satan unleashes Sin and Death upon the earth, providing literal representation of the completeness of mankind's fallen state. However, though this should be a victory for the demons, they are unable to celebrate it, as they are turned into the form of the serpent, which was Satan's instrument of doom. This shows that although innocence has been lost, and the demons seem to have won, God is still in absolute control.     Mankind lost their innocence by sin entering the world, but it is also displayed in another way. Adam and Eve are taken from the g...

 Compared to the books we have read so far, these two have been the easiest to follow but saddest to read. Ten is the book I want to focus on, though. The added conversation between Adam and Eve after God confronts them over their sin doesn't go how I thought it was going to. Adam laments greatly over his sins and the consequences of them for many lines. Though it is when Eve speaks up that strikes me the most. From lines 914-935, she states the deepness of her sorrows over her actions. Eve ends her statement with the idea to return to her spot of transgression to end her life. She finds herself thinking she is more guilty than Adam because she has sinned against him and God; her choices affected more than just her relationship with their heavenly father. Adam goes into a touching response where he leads their thoughts away from death to living in repentance under God's mercy which has already been displayed to them. He ends his response by proposing they go back to where they ...

 So many times we do things that we know are wrong, but reason in our heads why it is okay "just this one time." I am not even talking about serious issues, just small decisions we make in our day to day lives. We convince ourselves that because the thing we did was small and only we know about it then it couldn't be that wrong. If Milton's rendition of the Fall in Book XI teaches us anything, it teaches us that small mistakes can have major, long term consequences.  Michael the angel shows Adam the effect of his and Eve's decision. He sees death, pain, suffering, and ultimately the downfall of what God originally called good. Michael allowed Adam and Eve see the horrors that erupted from their one, small, wrong decision. Not only did it affect their relationship with God, it affected every human being's relationship with God. Many times, myself included, we do small things that we know are wrong, and over time we actually start to believe that those things we...

 "...perswuasion in me grew That I was heard with favour; peace returnd Home to my brest..."     In this section, we see that Adam and Eve are praying to God after they had sinned by eating the apple. Later we know that Jesus advocates for them after seeing and hearing their heart poured out. They feel guilty for what they have done and desperately seek forgiveness for it. It is said that Adam could feel God listening to what he was praying and he felt his prayers were approved and a peace was upon him.      When Adam and Eve's prayers get God's attention and He listens to them, I feel that it is deeper than what immediately comes across. I know when someone hurts me, it is incredibly difficult for me to hear them out, let alone truly understand what they have to say. Therefore, the fact that God so easily listens to them and approves of what they have to say, shows a true and intense love. On top of that, God sends them peace. When Adam and Eve c...

     I'm gonna forego the demons in Paradise Lost  literally turning the Earth into a hell-scape for a moment, so I can jump straight to poor, pitiful Adam. His point of view is really heartbreaking, and, even if you feel no sympathy, I feel like everyone at least pities him. The paradise that Eden was, really was only a paradise because he and Eve didn't know hell. They were purely innocent until they ate that apple. It's interesting that everything seemingly normal to us wasn't normal for Adam and Eve. They were the rulers and caretakers of Eden. The plants always grew, the weather was always perfect, and the animals were always friendly. Now, he and Eve are watching the world go to war with itself. The most heartbreaking thing, is that they caused it and they cannot fix it.      Milton seems to be a fan of  hindsight in his flawed characters. Adam looks back with guilt on his time in the garden before all hell literally broke lose. He knew the ...

 In Book 11, we see the angel Michael coming to tell Adam and Eve that they must leave Eden because of the sin they have committed. Michael says that “To remove thee I am come / And send thee from the garden forth to till / The ground whence thou wast taken, fitter soil.” (Book 11, lines 259-262) Milton writes that Adam could not say a word because he was so shocked. Eve on the other hand says, “O! unexpected stroke worse than of death! / Must I leave thee, Paradise? Thus leave / Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades, / Fit haunt of gods, where I had hope to spend / Quiet though sad the respite of that day / That must be mortal to us both?” (Book 11, lines 268-273) To which Michael responds with “Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign / What justly thou hast lost nor set thy heart / Thus over-fond on that which is not thine.” (Book 11, lines 287-289) This is the part where I believe Adam and Eve truly realized the consequences of what they had done; they had sinned and mus...

      "On the ground / Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground, and oft / Cursed his creation, Death as oft accused / Of tardy execution... / ...Why comes not Death, / Said he, with one thrice-acceptable stroke / to end me?" (X.850-856)     In Book X, Adam is laying on the ground where I imagine him just yelling at the sky. He has ate of the forbidden fruit. Jesus has come down to earth and declared the curses which will now be on the serpent, on man, and on woman, and Adam has observed everything, including the weather change for the worse.  He is feeling every kind of anxiety and negative emotion because he has been told that he is supposed to die, yet he has not died. He agonizes about his situation for 142 lines before Eve does her best to comfort him. Because Adam is so stressed and angry, however, he responds only by yelling at her. The dialogue involves both of them, at some point, considering suicide and having to talk themselves or each other out o...

               In Book Ten , God ordered that the angels alter the universe so that it is no longer in its perfect state. The earth could no longer be viewed as perfect since sin had corrupted it. Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God and decided to eat from the Forbidden Tree, sin ruined humankind. The mistake of just two people heavily altered the universe and the course of humankind forever. No matter how much sorrow they felt toward their actions, they could not undo them and they were to live out the rest of their days regretting their sin.                 "... The sun Had first his precept so to move, so shine As might affect the Earth with cold and heat" (Milton, 10 651-652)               If just Adam and Eve's one sin affected others so greatly, imagine how much our sins could have affected others' lives. As humans we are flawed and sin daily. Have yo...

The most intriguing aspect of how John Milton writes the fall of man is the consequences of it. The main themes of the fall that I noticed are blame and shame, no rhyme intended. When God confronts Adam and Eve in the garden, He finds them hiding behind a bush. They are afraid of God and they are embarrassed because of their physical nakedness. It is so interesting to me that their need to cover their bodies is a direct result of their fall. This is a clear implication that before sin entered the world, there was nothing to be ashamed of when it came to our physical bodies. This is also biblical, not only part of Milton’s narrative. The second theme that is seen after the fall is blame. There is a clear chain of blame. God confronts Adam and Eve and makes it clear that he blames them for their own fall. When these accusations come, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent or Satan. According to this narrative, blame seems to be a result of sin entering the world. A symptom of sin is...

 I had not expected for Milton to go into showing other Biblical events through visions to Adam, as this is a retelling of Creation and not of the whole Bible. But Milton, ever brilliant Milton, is not one to neglect the other events of Genesis and he retells them in a heartbreaking fashion. I can see why the Romantics loved Milton, as part of Romanticism is not only about the idea of nature and respecting it but also the beauty of emotion. And Milton captures the emotional side of Genesis in a way that humanizes these historical figures.  For Adam to watch as his own sons kill the other and be the first example of death, that certainly was horribly heartbreaking to read. Cain and Able is a story of tragedy but so often the way they are presented is often of a stock story, without really much emotion applied to it. It's almost ironic that this vision was shown to him as a way to give him hope for humanity and so Adam did not fall into despair. Of course the vision goes on to s...

      To start this blog off, I want to define what collateral damage means. Collateral damage is harm done to something unintended. So you may be wonder what this has to do with Paradise Lost ? Well in Book X Jesus is giving out the different punishments for Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. In these punishments there was one thing made clear, these punishments did not just affect them. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they knew that the had the punishment of death, so they went and hid like any kid does after he does something wrong to not get caught. When Jesus found them, he gave out the proper punishment for them which was not only death. Eve and all women after her will have a painful experience during child birth, and Adam along with everyone who works with plants will have to deal with an uncooperative ground and work in general will be hard. Also all of their offspring will die as well now. Adam and Eve knew that they would be punish but they would have never inte...

As Adam and Eve adjust to life in a fractured, post-Fall world, they come to terms with the reality of sin, and their new knowledge of evil along with the good. In Book 10, Adam, who barely acknowledged Satan's reality when Raphael warned him, now addresses him by name and in reference to his own troubled conscience:            "To Satan only like both crime and doom.              O conscience, into what abyss of fears             And horrors has thou driven me; out of which            I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!" (10.841-844) This horrible self revelation is not the first that occurs, and it reveals that Adam's former peace of mind is now the same "Hell within" that Satan experienced. It's also one of the first realizations of "evil" knowledge; rather than showing the former curiosity and wish to gather information, Adam is now...

 In Book XI of Paradise Lost , Milton writes about many visions that Michael let’s Adam experience. Most if the visions that occur reveal to Adam the sinfulness of the future generations and the corruption that became evident among the people as a result of his sinfulness. The last vision, however, shows Adam God’s promise in the form of the rainbow to show how there is still hope despite everything that had become of humanity.  This section of Paradise Lost  really stands out because the reader can infer the shame that Adam felt for his sinfulness. This thought is relatable because we as individuals also experience this same type of guilt and shame, but we do not always see the consequences ahead of us. This brought me to think about how people usually try to block out the thought of consequences. When people sin, they either do it blindly or knowingly, but either way there is a certain disregard for what will become of the situation due to fear or apathy. If we actually...

 As we read Paradise Lost, we continue to see and comment on Satan's overall human characteristics. He's jealous of humanity and the perfection that they have in the garden of Eden. He is hungry for more power that he cannot have. In a way, Satan is the picture of sinful man. The events of book 10 continue to illustrate this point.  One thing that struck me when reading book 10 was the fact that even when Satan's plan was accomplished, it backfired. Adam and Eve's fall had been orchestrated and Satan thought the world was in his hand, he still didn't gain anything.  Think about this: Eve ate the fruit. She shared it with Adam. Both of them fell into a state of lust and shame. The curse of their sin was cast over them and the rest of the earth. Satan brought all of this about and boasts that he is wiser than God; that he ruined God's plan for Eden.  "Thine now is all this world, thy virtue hath won/ That thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gained...avenged/ Ou...

     When reading Book 11, I noticed a theme of illusions that Adam entertains that can still confuse Christians to this day. First, Adam despairs at having to leave the garden for good, concerned that he will not be able to reach God and have his prayers heard. While his lamentation at being forced to leave the specially designated garden of plenty is valid, Adam seems to doubt that he and Eve will ever be in the presence of God again. However, Michael assures him that "Heav'n His and all the Earth, not this rock only: His omnipresence fills land, sea, and air and every kind that lives" (11.335-337). I feel like this was a convicting passage for me to read. Amid the business of everyday life, it can be easy to forget that God is always there with me. It is always a comfort when I am reminded of this fact, however. Similarly, Adam seems relieved to find that, though what once was has now been marred by his and Eve's actions, there is still hope.      A...

 I'm going to be in Book X for this post, and as a continuation of my post from last week, let's see how things turned out for Adam shall we? For starters, he fell victim to the very things highlighted previously; though I must say, I could not have anticipated his eagerness to die with Eve so soon and to the deep extent he loved her. After Christ comes to judge man & beast and ascends again into heaven, Adam spends the majority of the book distraught & beside himself about the whole ordeal. I think its also importance to note that this is the first time Adam has probably ever experienced anything close to grief or regret before, so his reaction is kind of expected. Regardless, his emotions caused his downfall, & they continue to be here as well. As expected from someone who is stricken with mass amounts of grief, Adam begins to "vent" to himself, and really has a ton of dialogue to unpack: "Of Paradise dear bought with lasting woes! Did I request The...

Throughout the narrative of Paradise Lost , books 7 and 8 especially, the theme of relationship remains constant. One of the earliest examples of this fact in Book 7 is presented in the relationship between the persons of the Godhead. The Father's relationship with the Son is first shown in how God tells Him of His plan to create another world, and "out of one man a race/Of men innumerable there to dwell" (lines 155-156). Second, It is shown by Their cooperation, along with the Holy Spirit, in the creation process. And finally, this divine relationship shows itself in the rest both Father and Son enjoy together on the first sabbath. In Book 8, one can see how the divine bond of fellowship is reflected in God's newly-formed creation. First, The animals that present themselves before Adam come, "each bird and beast behold!/Approaching two and two" (lines 349-350). If only in a base semblance, God had created them with a desire for relationship among their kind...

      When reviewing my notes from Book 7, something struck me about Adam's reaction to Raphael's warning tale about Satan and the rebel angels' fall from Heaven. "He with his consorted Eve the story heard attentive...things to their thought so unimaginable as hate in Heav'n...But the evil soon back redounded" (7.50-57). At first glance, this seems to be a positive thing. Adam does not allow any potential doubt of God's sovereignty to infiltrate his mind. He does not ponder any possibilities behind why Satan might have decided to turn against God. It appears that he is shunning thinking too deeply about this matter in order to shield himself from any sin and because he believes Satan's actions to be unquestionably wrong. However, what is most concerning is how quickly he turns his mind from Raphael's urgent message. Even though he consciously suppresses the doubts that arise in him, he treats the situation like it is trivial by quickly changing the...

                 I t’s clear very early on in Paradise Lost that one of man’s greatest desires is simply to acquire knowledge. That concept shouldn’t be foreign to Honors English students in the information age, and here it is presented as man’s greatest weakness. This conclusion makes at least some deal of general sense (considering the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” literally has the word “knowledge” in its name) and I think we can see a lot more of Milton’s Tertullian influence in this sentiment. However, we see Milton use some weird examples and draw some strange conclusions here to back up his points.             Adam desires to coax more information on creation from Raphael, more specifically on the heavens and how the heavenly bodies interact, but Raphael almost admonishes him for seeking the answers to such questions. Some things, Raphael posits, are not meant ...

            When looking at the differences between the Biblical creation story and the story Milton depicts in books seven and eight, the concept that stood out to me the most was the fact that Adam asked God for a companion. According to Genesis 2, God is the one who decides man should not be alone and forms Eve without any discussion with Adam, whereas in Book Eight Adam whines and complains until God agrees to give him an equal mate. This doesn’t mean that this was part of God’s original plan, but it does present another interesting view on whether it was Adam or Eve’s fault that the fruit was eaten. If Adam asked God to create Eve, and Eve in turn ate the fruit, would not the blame ultimately fall back on Adam? Obviously the Bible shows that both are at fault, since Adam was with Eve and also ate the fruit, but in Milton’s creation story I believe this solidifies Adam being the one to blame for the fall.        ...

       In Book 7 of Paradise Lost, we see Raphael explain creation to Adam after he asks about celestial things, craving knowledge. I loved seeing how Raphael explained creation in Book 7. Milton, through Raphael's words, is able to bring such life to the story of creation. The imagery he uses really shows you how active creation was.      Reading the story of creation in Genesis is a very different feeling. It simply states what was made on what day, not giving much detail except explaining the animals as either being land, sea, or sky. Milton takes this story and really expands it. When explaining how land animals were created, Raphael states: "The Earth obeyed and straight,/Op'ning her fertile womb, teemed at a birth/ Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,/ Limbed and full-grown." (Paradise Lost Book 7: 453-456). The imagery of Mother Earth really sticks in your mind.      For me personally, I love when authors expand o...

       I feel now I've come to the point where Milton and I would no longer get along. These long extended conversations between Adam and Eve and the angels do not have any point in which they can be drawn from in the text but are fully added from Milton's own mind. This poem is drawing upon the style of the epic poems of old as a retelling creation story. My issue comes not in the embellishing to further the point but the addition. In sermons, today pastors use commentaries pulling straight from the text and expounding on the meanings of words, culture, and history of the time the bible was written to better understand it. They also relate biblical stories to current-day stories with similar contexts to help us understand them. In these two books (and the one before it), Milton adds entire conversations between God and his angles, the angles, and man and man and woman that infer so many things nowhere to be found in the biblical narrative.       ...

 One of the main sections in Paradise Lost  Book VII contains the conversation between Adam and Eve and Raphael about how God created the world. Adam and Eve are very intrigued about the subject and are hungry to know more and more information. Raphael warns them that knowing everything would not necessarily be beneficial, which stirred some thought in me about the ways God reveals himself today.  It is a common theological and apologetic question how if God really wanted us to believe in him, then why would he not reveal himself to us completely? There is so much left that we as human beings do not know and understand thoroughly. Why does God leave much of himself a mystery? The answer is, he truly reveals more to us than we will ever know. This passage had me thinking of the different ways God actually shows himself to us and the purpose of having faith in general. After all, look at the universe around us and the intricate design and beauty of it all. There are million...

     I was struggling to come up with an idea for this blog post when I realized that I could make a correlation between Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and Paradise lost. Although I knew this was a brilliant idea I had to find a strong enough connection between the two. The most intriguing storyline from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was that of the character Angel. I love his character and his story arc. As I was making different comparisons I found one that makes a lot of sense. Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer represents Humanity. In Paradise Lost Milton described the innocence of mankind before the fall. After mankind fell into sin they became broken. Angel was once a human without blood on his hands. However, he too fell into sin when he was turned into a vampire. He went into a rampage and took many innocent lives. Eventually, Angel upset the wrong people and was cursed with a human soul and all the remorse he’d been lacking. Now, similar to humans, Angel is broken a...

 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:1-2). "On Heav'nly ground they stood and from the shore/ They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss" (Milton, 7. 210).  Milton's account of creation from book seven of Paradise Lost  follows the narrative of the Bible. However, Milton embellishes the story to the point of creating a new narrative. While the Bible begins with God's creation, Milton offers a sort of prologue to the creation story. In Milton's story, God says with irony, "'At least our envious foe hath failed...Heav'n yet populous retains...'" (Milton, 7.139, 146). It seems as though God creates humanity simply in spite of Satan. Since human beings would one day fill the ranks of Heaven where the other angels had fallen, Satan didn't destroy as much of ...

Wisdom is constantly a thing that we as humans strive to have. We always want to learn more about higher things. Christians always (or should at least) strive to learn more about God and how to be more like Him but in order to do that, we must have wisdom. Sometimes, I think we need to realize (and I’m speaking to myself more than anything) that it’s ok for us not to know everything about God and it’s ok for us not to be able to understand God because our brains, however advanced they might be, cannot fully comprehend God. In Book 8, Raphael tells Adam  “Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid. / Leave them to God above. Him serve and fear! / Of other creatures as Him pleases best, / Wherever placed, let Him dispose… Heav’n is for thee too high / To know what passes there.” (Milton Book 8, lines 166-173) Basically, Raphael is telling Adam that if God has hidden things, leave them alone. It’s impossible for us as humans to fully comprehend how Jesus was fully God while also being ...

 Raphael the angel brings the warning to Adam and Eve to watch against Satan in Books 7-8, but he also brings a different warning I was not expecting. He speaks a rather specific warning directly to Adam:           Enough is left besides to search and know.          But knowledge is as food, and needs no less          Her temperance over appetite, to know          In measure what the mind may well contain,           Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns          Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind. (7.125-130) This fascinated me, especially since Raphael repeats the warning in Book 8: "... joy thou / In what he gives to thee... heav'n is for thee too high / To know what passes there; be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being" (170-174). It is interesting to compare Eve...

  "What higher in her societie thou findst Attractive, human, rational, love still; In loving thou dost well, in passion not Wherein true Love consists not;"      Love the things you find in her worth loving. Passion isn't love. It will only bring you trouble. Passion is not the same as love. You can have love with no passion and passion with no love. Passion with no love is a very dangerous thing, and we can see this in chapter eight. At the end of Adam and Raphael's conversation they get on the topic of Eve and how he feels about her. Adam gets stuck on the aspect of her beauty and charm. Raphael warns about the dangers of this and how it can take his eyes off God. Above all, he needs to obey God and his commands and not get caught in his "passion". I think it is interesting that Adam says that he struggles to say no and tell Eve what he thinks is right. I think this will come into play when Eve gets tempted by Satan. This is the sign that PASSION is overw...

      I simply detest Milton's depiction of Eve. I actually get kind of angry reading of her vanity and her weaknesses. They are so greatly highlighted, while Adams's weaknesses are highlighted much less. Milton makes Eve appear so much lesser, especially as he highlights Plato's divided line.      Plato's divided line is a way to visualize the distinction between different states of mind and to understand which states of mind are more reliable than others. Plato distinguishes between a visible world and an intelligible world. The visible world is perceived by our senses; it is less reliable. In contrast, we are able to take place in the intelligible world because of our ability to reason. It includes things like the forms. That which is in the intelligible world is best.        In Milton's Paradise Lost, God would be in the intelligible world. He would be the ultimate good. He would be the best. Thus, the further one delineates from God...

 I love how much Milton brings outside characters into the Genesis story. Just as in Book VII Raphael is speaking to Adam. In this encounter we are able to see how Milton expertly weaves different figures and divinities into the story. I think it shows that writers have a type of artistic leeway that allows them to mold already told stories into something new. Sometimes, they come out even more interesting and thought provoking. This is most definitely the case with Milton's work. Not only does he use outside sources to retell an age old story, but he tries to shine a light into the already established characters of the story such as Adam. We get to see his curiosity, his wonder, and his desire to learn and know. More than anything it lets us connect on a deeper level as humans with the first two humans. We know the basic narrative that we find in Genesis but Milton uses his creative liberty to help us see and understand more than we normally would.  I commented on Elijah Mahn...

      Adam is shown as being innately curious, wanting to know more about the universe and his place in it. This shows that mankind had the desire for knowledge and understanding from the beginning, but was innocent of all evil.  This shows that, while man may have been innocent, he was not naive. Instead, man was incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable, to the point of philosophizing with angels of God's court. In paradise lost, man was aware of the fall of Satan and its consequences, meaning he was not naive to the concept of sin either, he was simply innocent of it.     It can also be seen that man wants more knowledge than the angels are willing to provide, as the angels tell him to be content with what he has. This seems to imply that the entirety of the scenario of the garden of Eden can be summarized as follows: curiosity killed the cat. Mankind seems to always want what they cannot have, and strive for what is beyond reach. God most likel...

                 "Be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being. Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there Live in what state, condition or degree, Contented that thus far hath been revealed Not of earth only but of highest Heav'n." (Milton 9, 173-178)                In Book 8 , Raphael explains to Adam that he is not meant to understand everything about God's creations and that he should just trust in God no matter what. If we know about God and the eternal life in Heaven that awaits us, then we need nothing else. The knowledge of the small things in life does not matter in the grand scheme of things. We are humans on Earth that are trying to end up in Heaven. We need not know for certain about everything that is to come in life. Our faith and trust in God should be more than enough for us to be content in life.               This is ...

     I would like to preface this post with a reference to what I said last class. Reading this is like watching a horror movie. The audience knows the serial killer is in the room the protagonist is about to enter, and we are screaming our heads off with the hopes that they don't go in there. We can scream until our vocal cords give out, but we all know what's gonna happen. It is FRUSTRATING!      God  knows temptation is coming for His children. I can't hep but get the picture of a parent watching their child in any aspect of life. They're always wondering if they should help their child to save them the pain of failure or let them struggle to learn valuable life lessons. It's sort of a testament to how humans are created in God's image. God tries to prepare Adam and Eve without fully intervening in their test with temptation. He has literally raised them up in the way they should go, so they shouldn't depart from it. By sending Rafael with knowledge...

       Both book VII and VIII are about Adam asking Raphael questions. The types of questions Adam is asking is what I would imagine to be expected from someone who is only a few days old. Adam is wanting to know about the world around him and what his purpose is for God. A side note here, we should be asking some of these same questions too which is what philosophy is and its what we’re doing in honors but I just wanted to say it. Anyway, Raphael eventually just stops talking in the beginning of Book VIII without Adam realizing it. Adam continues to ask questions searching for answers, or should i say the truth, causing Raphael to respond saying, “To ask or search I blame thee not, for heaven / Is the book of God before thee set” (Milton 182, lines 66-67). Raphael essentially told Adam that he is not wrong for asking questions but instead continues to give Adam the answers he’s looking for.     After reading this I thought of the Acts 17:11 where it says t...

     With Book Seven of Milton's Paradise Lost, Raphael is continuing his exposition on Satan's apostasy. The plan is to expose Adam and Eve to the wretched fate of those who cross God's will. The more he shed's light on the subject, however, the more Adam is inclined to ask for more information. He wants to know everything about the subject, as well as God and His creation.      However, while the taste of such knowledge leaves Adam yearning for more, there are boundaries. It is like a toddler eating a cookie... and eventually begging her mother for the rest of the jar. Is it a coincidence that the one thing Adam and Eve are not to touch is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Most readers know how the story ends: these toddlers are never going to be content with a few cookies. They're going in for the jar.   There is a statement in the Bible that is constantly being repeated throughout the Old Testament: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of ...

 The thing that stuck out to me the most in this reading, was the conversation between Raphael and Adam about the plants and stars. Raphael explains that it does not matter if the Earth revolves around the sun or vice versa, because in the end humans are not meant to have the answers to everything. Instead, Adam should focus on what he already knows and being content with it, as man was not meant to know and understand all of God's creation as they are not God but rather one of the creations.  I think this is interesting, as it serves as a warning to both the reader and to Adam. We know what will happen, that Adam and Eve will become greedy for knowledge and eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their is nothing that can stop that eventuality from happening, and it is interesting to me that Adam reveals that he already had the foreknowledge of the animal's names and that he was aware when Eve was created despite being asleep. I had never considered that Adam might h...