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The Innovation of Milton’s Machiavellian Son

The Innovation of Milton’s Machiavellian Son The Innovation of Milton’s  Machiavellian Son by Angus Fletcher lassical repu   blicansare    on  the whole  wary  of  religion.So   me,  like  Thomas  j efferson,  are  agnostics who  want  it  rigorously segre-  Cgated  from  public  life. Others, like  NiccolòMachia   velli, are     sus- pected  atheistswho     value  it  only  as  an  extension of  statep   ower.  Even  john  Milton,th   e  rare republican  to  dissent  from  this  secularp   erspec- tive,  seems  unintentionally to     confirm  that  republics  cannot also  be  theocracies.Wh   en  admirers  of  Milton’sp   olitics explore  his  theology,  they  prefer  to  focus  upon  Satan,E   ve,  and  Chaos  as  reservoirs  of  free- dom. For when scholars attend   to Milton’s God, the deity that they  dis- cover  seems  too rule-bound to  permit  the  self-determination necessar   y  for  republicanvirtue   .In     Milton’s Good God,  Dennis  Danielsondescrib   es  Milton’sview     of  libertyby     arguing:  “given  God’s  offer  of  divine  grace,  man  is  free  either to  rejectit     and  use  his  own  innate power  to  sin,  or  else  to  accept  it  and  use  the  power  received  from  God  to  refrainfro   m  sinning.  .  .  .  [S]o far as man is concerned, sin is by commission and  moral virtue by omission.”  j oan  Bennettarriv   es at  a  similar view  by  aligning  For  a  discussion  http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in Philology University of North Carolina Press

The Innovation of Milton’s Machiavellian Son

Fletcher, Angus, --
Studies in Philology , Volume 107 (1) – Jan 13, 2010
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University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 The University of North Carolina Press.
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1543-0383

Abstract

The Innovation of Milton’s  Machiavellian Son by Angus Fletcher lassical repu   blicansare    on  the whole  wary  of  religion.So   me,  like  Thomas  j efferson,  are  agnostics who  want  it  rigorously segre-  Cgated  from  public  life. Others, like  NiccolòMachia   velli, are     sus- pected  atheistswho     value  it  only  as  an  extension of  statep   ower.  Even  john  Milton,th   e  rare republican  to  dissent  from  this  secularp   erspec- tive,  seems  unintentionally to     confirm  that  republics  cannot also  be  theocracies.Wh   en  admirers  of  Milton’sp   olitics explore  his  theology,  they  prefer  to  focus  upon  Satan,E   ve,  and  Chaos  as  reservoirs  of  free- dom. For when scholars attend   to Milton’s God, the deity that they  dis- cover  seems  too rule-bound to  permit  the  self-determination necessar   y  for  republicanvirtue   .In     Milton’s Good God,  Dennis  Danielsondescrib   es  Milton’sview     of  libertyby     arguing:  “given  God’s  offer  of  divine  grace,  man  is  free  either to  rejectit     and  use  his  own  innate power  to  sin,  or  else  to  accept  it  and  use  the  power  received  from  God  to  refrainfro   m  sinning.  .  .  .  [S]o far as man is concerned, sin is by commission and  moral virtue by omission.”  j oan  Bennettarriv   es at  a  similar view  by  aligning  For  a  discussion 

Journal

Studies in Philology – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Jan 13, 2010

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