Milton and Isaiah: A Journey through the Drama of Salvation in "Paradise Lost</I> (Seventeenth-Century Texts and Studies)

This book compares Milton s Paradise Lost and the Book of Isaiah, by illustrating that both reflect the essential points of the whole Bible rebellion, retribution, repentance, and restoration. Thematically, Milton s epic can be called a drama of salvation, which not only re-creates the Genesis story of the Fall of man, but also connects that first episode to the final restoration through Christ. What this study finds in Isaiah and Milton are theological themes and doctrines as the prophetic voice, the providential view of history, disobedience, the saving remnant , the leader who is paradoxically a Suffering Servant, and the key virtue of humility. In this reading of Paradise Lost, Milton moves beyond the privileging of political activism to a position in which he gives absolute value to the reformation of the individual soul or, as the author terms it, the inner self .