The Practical Christ: An Analysis of Christ as Expressed in John Milton's Paradise Regained

<p><b>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the unique relationship between scripture and poetry.</b></p> <p>This analysis is primarily conducted through an investigation into the figure of Christ as heappears in poetry outside of scripture, specifically in John Milton’s Paradise Regained. Thepoem is distinctive in its treatment and characterisation of Christ and therefore acts as a uniquecase study with which to study this relationship between scripture and poetry. The mainargument of this thesis revolves around how Milton constructs Christ as a literary character atthe centre of his chosen narrative. The first chapter discusses the Gospels and the scripturalsources that Milton elects to use for his poem. Having analysed the scriptural material and howMilton has chosen to adapt it, the second chapter develops this by investigating the charges ofheresy that have been made against the poem. It is also in this chapter where Milton’s personaltheology is analysed to provide greater understanding of how this theology is expressed withinParadise Regained. The final chapter focuses on the form and genre of the poem,demonstrating that the way in which Milton constructs Christ as a literary figure highlights theintricacies which poets are faced with when it comes to creating a poetic vision of Christ, thusultimately asking: How does the poet reconcile the elements of scripture that cannot be ignoredwith their own artistic liberty? This thesis proposes that Milton is conscious of this conundrumand constructs his poem in such a way where this exact question is baked into the conflictbetween Christ and Satan. Paradise Regained is a poem that is concerned with scripture as acollective social and historical narrative and characterises Christ as a historian of this collectivenarrative. This is done, so as to best articulate the ways in which poetry can be utilised tocomment and build upon how the reader may integrate scripture into their own lives and socialnarratives.</p>

Gorgo: Sparta’s Woman of Autonomy, Authority, and Agency

Claims that Herodotus reveals himself as a proto-biographer, let alone as a proto-feminist, are not yet widely accepted. To advance these claims, I have selected one remarkable woman from one side of the Greco-Persian Wars whose activities are recounted in his Histories. Critically it is to a near contemporary, Heraclitus, to whom we attribute the maxim êthos anthropôi daimôn (ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων) —character is human destiny. It is the truth of this maxim—which implies effective human agency—that makes Herodotus’ creation of historical narrative even possible. Herodotus is often read for his vignettes, which, without advancing the narrative, color-in the character of the individuals he depicts in his Histories. No matter, if these fall short of the cradle to grave accounts given by Plutarch, by hop-scotching through the nine books, we can assemble a partially continuous narrative, and thus through their exploits, gauge their character, permitting us to attribute both credit and moral responsibility. Arguably this implied causation demonstrates that Herodotus’ writings include much that amounts to proto-biography and in several instances—one of which is given here—proto-feminism.

The Practical Christ: An Analysis of Christ as Expressed in John Milton's Paradise Regained

<p><b>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the unique relationship between scripture and poetry.</b></p> <p>This analysis is primarily conducted through an investigation into the figure of Christ as heappears in poetry outside of scripture, specifically in John Milton’s Paradise Regained. Thepoem is distinctive in its treatment and characterisation of Christ and therefore acts as a uniquecase study with which to study this relationship between scripture and poetry. The mainargument of this thesis revolves around how Milton constructs Christ as a literary character atthe centre of his chosen narrative. The first chapter discusses the Gospels and the scripturalsources that Milton elects to use for his poem. Having analysed the scriptural material and howMilton has chosen to adapt it, the second chapter develops this by investigating the charges ofheresy that have been made against the poem. It is also in this chapter where Milton’s personaltheology is analysed to provide greater understanding of how this theology is expressed withinParadise Regained. The final chapter focuses on the form and genre of the poem,demonstrating that the way in which Milton constructs Christ as a literary figure highlights theintricacies which poets are faced with when it comes to creating a poetic vision of Christ, thusultimately asking: How does the poet reconcile the elements of scripture that cannot be ignoredwith their own artistic liberty? This thesis proposes that Milton is conscious of this conundrumand constructs his poem in such a way where this exact question is baked into the conflictbetween Christ and Satan. Paradise Regained is a poem that is concerned with scripture as acollective social and historical narrative and characterises Christ as a historian of this collectivenarrative. This is done, so as to best articulate the ways in which poetry can be utilised tocomment and build upon how the reader may integrate scripture into their own lives and socialnarratives.</p>

The Practical Christ: An Analysis of Christ as Expressed in John Milton's Paradise Regained

<p><b>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the unique relationship between scripture and poetry.</b></p> <p>This analysis is primarily conducted through an investigation into the figure of Christ as heappears in poetry outside of scripture, specifically in John Milton’s Paradise Regained. Thepoem is distinctive in its treatment and characterisation of Christ and therefore acts as a uniquecase study with which to study this relationship between scripture and poetry. The mainargument of this thesis revolves around how Milton constructs Christ as a literary character atthe centre of his chosen narrative. The first chapter discusses the Gospels and the scripturalsources that Milton elects to use for his poem. Having analysed the scriptural material and howMilton has chosen to adapt it, the second chapter develops this by investigating the charges ofheresy that have been made against the poem. It is also in this chapter where Milton’s personaltheology is analysed to provide greater understanding of how this theology is expressed withinParadise Regained. The final chapter focuses on the form and genre of the poem,demonstrating that the way in which Milton constructs Christ as a literary figure highlights theintricacies which poets are faced with when it comes to creating a poetic vision of Christ, thusultimately asking: How does the poet reconcile the elements of scripture that cannot be ignoredwith their own artistic liberty? This thesis proposes that Milton is conscious of this conundrumand constructs his poem in such a way where this exact question is baked into the conflictbetween Christ and Satan. Paradise Regained is a poem that is concerned with scripture as acollective social and historical narrative and characterises Christ as a historian of this collectivenarrative. This is done, so as to best articulate the ways in which poetry can be utilised tocomment and build upon how the reader may integrate scripture into their own lives and socialnarratives.</p>

Entanglements of art and memory activism in Hungary’s illiberal democracy

This paper explores how art contributes to the articulation of memories that counter the official historical narrative of Hungary’s self-proclaimed political and ideological system, illiberal democracy. Amid deepening polarization between Europe’s post-colonialist and post-socialist countries, the Hungarian government promotes a Christian conservative national identity against the “liberal” values of Western Europe. Systematic appropriation of historical traumas is at the core of such efforts, which largely manifests in removing, erecting and reinstating memorials, as well as in the re-signification of trauma sites. Insufficient civic involvement in rewriting histories generates new ways of resistance, which I demonstrate through the case study of a protest-performance organized by the Living Memorial activist group as a response to the government’s decision to displace the memorial of Imre Nagy in 2018. I seek to understand the dynamics between top-down memory politics, civil resistance and art within the conceptual apparatus of the “memory activism nexus” (Rigney 2018, 2020) and “multidirectional memories” (Rothberg 2009). I argue that artistic memory activism has limited potential to transform the dynamics of memory in a context where a national conservative political force has gradually taken control over historical narratives, triggering inevitably polarizing responses in the society. Although profoundly embedded in local histories, the case-study may offer new ways of negotiating traumatic heritages through the entanglement of art and memory activism.

Problems of Criticism of the Communist Poland’s Security Service (SB) Files as Historical Sources

Despite the passage of 20 years since the opening of the archives of the former SB, historians have not developed the principles of criticism of SB files as historical sources, which is conducive to the so-called playing with folders, and consequently the destruction of historical narrative and social life. Among researchers and publicists, an affirmative attitude towards the SB files has been created, causing their criticism to be ignored. Researchers ignore the requirement to separate the theoretical-ideological and rhetorical layers of SB operational files. They also neglect to study the credibility of their authors. Rafał Łatka gave a justification for the affirmative attitude to the SB files. It has been shown that this justification is logically erroneous, and the affirmative attitude to the SB files is contrary to the rational concept of the historical source and to the examples of the lack of credibility of these files. Several ways of creating questionnaires to examine the credibility of SB files were proposed. The first question that was proposed: Was the work of officers and their superiors in the field of interest to the researcher focused on efficiency or on the statistics of results? Further proposals suggest questions about the internal control of the case under investigation. It was justified that it is not enough to state the fact of registration of a given person by SB as a collaborator, because it is necessary to demonstrate specific cooperation. It was justified that the reliability of a note decreases exponentially as a function of the number of intermediaries between it and the facts. The need to ask about the intentions of the officers doing reports, which could be related to their professional careers, the expectations of superiors, the need to demonstrate results, etc., was indicated. The need to investigate deviations of the examined case from the ideal instructional pattern was also indicated. Studies of the reliability of files have their ethical aspect. Studies that may threaten good name of the persons concerned should meet the highest methodological standards and be guided by the principle of in dubio pro reo.

Evolutionary Theism of Henryk Levittoux in Polish and International Context

Henryk Levittoux (1822-1879) is currently best known as the model of Jan Matejko who posed for him as Nicolaus Copernicus. Less known, however, is his concept of evolution, which he presented as a part of his philosophical system and which caused a heated debates among Polish intellectuals in the second half of the nineteenth century. Levittoux's theory, which was trying to combine religious dogma with the achievements of contemporary science, breaks out of the popular historical narrative, in which it is assumed that the discussions about the evolutionism were dominated by creationists and pro-Darwinian positivists. The aim of this article will be to present Levittoux's theory of evolution and to show how he combined the ideas of evolution with the concept of Divine creation. Secondary focus of the article will be to place his theory in the broader context of scientific and philosophical changes, that took place in the nineteenth century. Attention will be paid to the way in which the professionalization of science affected natural philosophers, such as Levittoux, who were refusing to accept the rigorous positivist methodology. It will also be shown how Levittoux’s evolutionism became part of the so-called "developmental evolutionism" which promoted a completely different vision of evolution than Darwinism. The non-Darwinian nature of Levittoux's evolutionism was inspired by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s theory. Levittoux adopted his idea that species evolve thanks to the environmental stimulus which affects their ontogenesis. However, this idea will be extrapolated in Levittoux’s writings to the whole Earth. So, he will conclude that the Earth is the equivalent of the womb in which, like the fetus, all Life develops. All changes of species, in his opinion, are additionally controlled by a universal principle which he called the law of attraction-repulsion. This law was also the tool by which God created the world. The Levittoux’s concept is one of the first attempts to create a synthesis of evolutionism and religious thought in the Polish post-Darwinian philosophy of nature. Levittoux, as a continuator of Saint-Hilaire's thought, is also an interesting example of an attempt to instill in Polish philosophy French evolutionist thought.

Elite Political Culture as Problematic for Liberal Democracy in Pakistan: A Critical Study

The elite political culture of Pakistan is comparatively feudalistic in nature as the base of power in the state. Political culture may be defined as how many people participate in the political procedure. It is a system of beliefs upon which a large majority of people agree. The history of the political culture of Pakistan has witnessed the domination of multiple elite groups. These major elites had influences on the political system. Gaetano Mosca, the founder of the Italian school of elitism enumerated the personal traits of these ruling elites, operating centrally as direct power holders of the body politics, The purpose of this research is to critically study the elite political culture and problematics created by this group for liberal democracy. This research will present the concept of elite political culture and how it emerged in the politics of Pakistan. It will also conclude that how elite political culture distorted or eclipsed specifically the smooth functioning of the liberal democratic political system of the state and society in general. For the completion of the proposed study, both primary, as well as secondary sources, have been used. While undertaking any research a peculiar methodology is applied to obtain the objectives of the study. Historical, narrative, descriptive, analytical and conceptual research methodology is applied. This is a descriptive analysis of elitism and presents this concept through different authors who treated this subject in different manners.