While recently reading
The Current Introduction to:
" Paradise Lost " - written by
David Hawkes; a Professor of English at Arizona State University; I read the following quite interesting statement:
" It often comes as a surprise to new readers of Milton to discover that he was not, in any orthodox sense, a Christian. Among many other heresies, Milton denied the trinity, and he did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the only incarnation of Jehovah.
He took from Christianity, as from classical polytheism, only those elements that he found congenial to his own system of thought. That system was heavily influenced by the political and personal events of his life, and his historical view of truth suggested that the ideas expressed in ancient texts were inevitably subjected to a process of constant revision.
For example, Milton often alludes to the war of the Titans against the Olympian gods, as it is described in Hesiod's Theogeny. He suggests that this pagan myth is primitive and inexact, but he also treats it as an alternative expression of the same conflict that monotheism represents as taking place between angels and demons. " - Introduction VI.
Which, of course, really started me thinking about exactly how often I have heard others explaining that:
" So And So [ Fill In The Blank ] Isn't Really A Christian; Since He ( Or She ) Doesn't Believe Whatever It Is That We Do "....
Bear in mind, however,
' My Own Purpose Within This Article Is Not To Defend John Milton Or Any Of His Own Specific Theology '; nor, in fact, either to condemn it; but, rather, to further examine something that is ( in general ) far more important to ourselves.
You see, dear brothers and sisters, we are always very quick
To Make Arbitrary Judgments based upon our own poor understandings at the time; and, indeed, we are often even quicker to speak upon them authoritatively - as if, we ( quite truthfully ) know what it is that we're honestly talking about.
And, in all true honesty...
Do We Really?
Consequently, therefore, I must ( in all honesty ) now ask you:
" What Is Your Own Definition Of A Christian "?
