The Two-Part Trinity /// Bug Olsen

 

        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 type of Holy Ghost? The Trinity, and the role the Holy Spirit plays in it, is obviously an extremely important part of Christianity to understand, and Milton had the perfect opportunity to present his opinion on the matter when recounting his epic version of the creation story. Thus far he has only specifically mentioned the Father and the Son, but perhaps he will mention the third member of the Trinity in the final book (though I doubt this is the case). This emphasizes Jesus’s role in creation and salvation more, but I would like to have seen Milton’s thoughts on the Holy Spirit and what he could have used it for in his version of creation. Maybe this is his way of promoting his view by saying he does not believe in a third member of the Trinity (whether created by God or not), or it was not a large enough theological dispute in his time and area for him to waste time writing about. Either way, I found this to be a very interesting theological point that I had not noticed before reading these two books.

            I commented on Isabelle Ferguson’s and Elijah Mahn’s posts.

Comments

  1. Breanna PooleSeptember 28, 2021 at 8:12 AM

    I loved your post! Milton neglecting to mention the third member of the Trinity is something I myself hadn't really grasped until now, and I think it is an interesting question to ponder. I believe maybe it's because Milton might have simply not have had time to fit in -- this is a very long poem, and to include an entire passage on this would be challenging to do. Though maybe their is a large reason, such as you suggested. --- Breanna Poole.

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