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Zwierlein, A. »Truth shall retire«. . Religionskriege, postlapsarische Epistemologie und Toleranzkonzepte bei John Milton. Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, 63(1), 137-158. https://doi.org/10.3790/ljb.63.1.137
Zwierlein, Anne-Julia "»Truth shall retire«. Religionskriege, postlapsarische Epistemologie und Toleranzkonzepte bei John Milton. " Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch 63.1, 2022, 137-158. https://doi.org/10.3790/ljb.63.1.137
Zwierlein, Anne-Julia (2022): »Truth shall retire«, in: Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, vol. 63, iss. 1, 137-158, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/ljb.63.1.137
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»Truth shall retire«

Religionskriege, postlapsarische Epistemologie und Toleranzkonzepte bei John Milton

Zwierlein, Anne-Julia

Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, Vol. 63 (2022), Iss. 1 : pp. 137–158

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Duncker & Humblot
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3790/ljb.63.1.137
Language
Multiple languages
Pages
22

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Anne-Julia Zwierlein (Regensburg)

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Abstract

»Truth shall retire«: Religious Wars, Postlapsarian Epistemology and Concepts of Toleration in John Milton’s Writings

Taking up Alexandra Walsham’s observations about early modern »cultures of coexistence«, this article sketches John Milton’s concept of toleration against the background of the English Civil War and Restoration, taking into account his (heterodox) Protestantism and political service for the commonwealth under Cromwell. Examining the pronounced if not absolute shift in Milton’s epistemology from his pre- to post-Restoration writings, the article revisits his early Bacon­ian stance towards education as a means of (partially) repairing the biblical Fall and juxtaposes this with his plea in Areopagitica (1644) for searching out the Christian reformed ›truth‹ in active confrontation with – and thus toleration of – hostile religious and political positions. I then turn to Milton’s post-Restoration literary works, focusing centrally on the vision of history offered to Adam by archangel Michael in Paradise Lost (1667/1674). Here a more pessimistic outlook on knowledge formation and Christian reformation is presented via the recurring voice of the »one just man« who defends, and frequently dies in, the cause of ›truth‹. This vision of »suffering« as passive toleration replaces Areopagitica’s optimistic »warfaring Christian« who engages in open intellectual debate. In sum, Milton’s toleration was always conditional: it had a pragmatic function and a temporal dimension, coterminous with a suspension of judgement and avowal of incomplete knowledge – incomplete, that is, until the moment of revelation at Christ’s ›Second Coming‹.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Anne-Julia Zwierlein: »Truth shall retire«: Religionskriege, postlapsarische Epistemologie und Toleranzkonzepte bei John Milton 137
Abstract»Truth shall retire«: Religious Wars, Postlapsarian Epistemology and Concepts of Toleration in John Milton’s Writings 137
I. Toleranzkonzepte im frühneuzeitlichen England und bei John Milton 137
II. »Triall is by what is contrary«: Wahrheitssuche und pragmatische Funktion der Toleranz 142
III. »Daring single to be just«: Eschatologie und temporale Dimension der Toleranz 148
IV. Fazit: Miltons Toleranz als radikale Position 153
Primärliteratur 155
Sekundärliteratur 156

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