John Milton and Christian Marital Love

Subject Areas : Christianity

ارسطو  میرانی ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2012-03-07 Accepted : 2012-05-16 Published : 2011-09-23

Keywords: Christianity, John Milton, Marital Relationship, Sexual Relation, Love, sin,

Abstract :

Catholicism, inspired by New Testament, has a dual view about maritallove. On the one hand it regards the union of a man and his wife as thesymbol of the eternal union of Christ and Church deals with it as asacrament, on the other hand, it regards sexual relation as the base ofthis union and accepts its legitimacy only for the purpose ofreproduction without any pleasure-seeking intention. Protestant leadersdenied marriage as a religious sacrament but had a positive view aboutmarital sexual relations. In Paradise Lost John Milton criticizes thecatholic view vigorously. He says love, as emotional attachment andempathy not sexual relation, is the base of marital relationship andbelieves that true marital love has a transcending effect on the lover.Therefore one can say that Milton’s views about marital love are evenmore positive than the views of the leaders of the Reformation.