Milton and early Mormonism, with John Rogers [MIPodcast #79]

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2018

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Americans in the early nineteenth century loved the writing of John Milton. Milton’s embrace of liberal individualism, meritocracy, and his championing of the right to free speech made him an easy sell to anti-British Americans. His epic poem Paradise Lost was a bestseller.

Something like twenty editions of Paradise Lost were produced in America during the first half of the nineteenth century, which is right when Mormonism came on the scene. Milton also held some controversial views on the nature of the godhead, creation, and even polygamy.

In this episode, Yale professor of English John Rogers discusses parallels and differences between Joseph Smith’s revelations and John Milton’s theology.

Rogers recently visited BYU where he delivered a Maxwell Institute Guest Lecture called “Latter-Day Milton: Early Mormonism and the Political Theologies of Paradise Lost.” You can check that lecture out on the Institute’s YouTube channel.

About the Guest

A professor of English at Yale University, John Rogers is the author of Matter of Revolution: Science, Poetry, and Politics in the Age of Milton, a book awarded prizes by the Milton Society of America and the Modern Language Association. He is also author of several articles on Renaissance (mainly seventeenth-century) English literature and religious culture. His current projects include a book on the reading of the seventeenth-century poem Paradise Lost in the spiritual hothouse of nineteenth-century America, tentatively titled Latter-day Milton: Paradise Lost and the Creation of America’s God.

The post Milton and early Mormonism, with John Rogers [MIPodcast #79] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Blair Hodges, your host of the Maxwell Institute podcast.
0:03.0	And before we dive into the latest interview, I have an exciting announcement.
0:07.0	The Neely Maxwell Institute is teaming up with the Faith Matters Foundation
0:11.0	to bring you a new series of video interviews as part of the Maxwell Institute podcast.
0:16.0	This new video series is called Maxwell Institute Conversations.
0:19.0	LDS scholar Terrell Givens will host these fascinating
0:22.4	conversations, and they'll appear in your podcast feed right alongside your regularly scheduled
0:26.8	episodes of the Maxwell Institute podcast. You can watch for the first episode of Maxwell Institute
0:31.6	Conversations coming in May. Also, I wanted to thank Bree Eva for leaving a five-star review of our show in iTunes.
0:38.6	Here's what she had to say.
0:40.6	I've had some of my most provocative and meaningful gospel conversations with friends and family, begin with,
0:45.8	did you catch the latest Maxwell Institute podcast?
0:48.3	I believe it's a valuable tool for the educated person of faith who yearns for a slightly more complex but thoughtful and edifying gospel-centered
0:55.0	dialogue. Thank you, Bree, Eva. I appreciate that review. You can rate and review the show in iTunes.
1:01.0	We always read the reviews and we appreciate every one of them. And now on with the show. It's the early 19th century
1:22.9	loved the writing of John Milton. Milton's embrace of liberal individualism, meritocracy, and his
1:29.4	championing of the right to free speech made him an easy sell to anti-British Americans. His epic
1:34.7	poem Paradise Lost was a bestseller. Something like 20 editions of Paradise Lost were produced
1:40.0	in America during the first half of the 19th century, which is right when Mormonism came on the scene.
1:45.0	Milton also held some controversial views on the nature of the Godhead, creation, and even polygamy.
1:51.0	In this episode, Yale Professor of English John Rogers joins us to talk about parallels and differences between Joseph Smith's revelations and John Milton's theology.
2:00.0	Rogers recently visited BYU, where he delivered a Maxwell Institute guest lecture called
	...

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