Скачать или смотреть Oaths, Vows, and Christian Liberty in Milton’s De Doctrina Christiana

Jason Kerr, PhD | English Department, Brigham Young University

Mid-17th-century England was a minefield of competing oaths and vows, interweaving religion and politics in ways that entangled many consciences. In his De Doctrina Christiana, John Milton attempted to extricate oaths from questions of conscience by focusing instead on the liberty of those swearing oaths and potential abuses of power by those imposing them. For Milton, however, liberty is a human capacity, and popular support for a return to monarchy is the mark of a people unable and unwilling to be free. Milton’s framework raises urgent questions about disability and the foundations of human communities, political and religious.

Sponsored by the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program.