2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)
2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)
2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)
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E n g l i s h<br />
Free will is an interesting paradox in Milton’s Paradise Lost. At <strong>the</strong><br />
same time, free will is <strong>the</strong> cause of man’s fall since through <strong>the</strong> abuse<br />
of free will, Satan tempted Adam and Eve and <strong>the</strong> two succumbed<br />
to this temptation, but free will also brings grace and deliverance.<br />
God and Christ give man free will and <strong>the</strong>n through Their own free<br />
will devise a way for man to be reunited with God, and man, in turn,<br />
responds to <strong>the</strong> “prevenient grace” given by God and Christ to man,<br />
and repentance and regeneration follow. Milton presents free will as<br />
often in conflict with itself, at once <strong>the</strong> means of damnation and <strong>the</strong><br />
road to healing, at <strong>the</strong> same time a stumbling block and a steppingstone.<br />
It is through free will that man falls, but it is through grace<br />
provided by free will that man is saved. While free will may be a<br />
paradox, it is a glorious one, allowing for all of <strong>the</strong> pain, sorrow, and<br />
ultimately, and paradoxically, joy in <strong>the</strong> lives of men.<br />
Works Cited<br />
Elledge, John. “God.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />
Elledge, John. “The Fortunate Fall.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge.<br />
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />
Fish, Stanley Eugene. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost.<br />
Berkeley: University of California Press. 1971.<br />
Frye, Northrop. “The Story of All Things.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott<br />
Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th edition. New<br />
York. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Footnote. 2021.<br />
Holy Bible, The King James Version. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2000.<br />
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen<br />
Greenblatt. 8th edition. New York. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.<br />
Nicholson, Marjorie Hope. A Reader’s Guide to John Milton. New York: Syracuse University Press. 1963.<br />
Samuel, Irene. “The Dialogue in Heaven.” Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott<br />
Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1975.<br />
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