CATECHIZED BY PARADISE LOST

This work proposes to demonstrate how John Milton’s epic English poem Paradise Lost, a product of the contentious religious climate leading up to and surrounding its production, operates as a Christian catechism, or manual of belief. Spurred by the Protestant Reformation, the production of catechisms by Catholics and Protestants burgeoned during the century leading up to the composition of Paradise Lost.
Catechisms structured as dialogues containing questions and answers were especially popular during that time, and the several dialogues that exist within Paradise Lost serve as dialogue catechisms, which closely mirror the content and language of contemporaneous Reformed catechisms. Within the poem, implied readers are represented by characters, who elicit and provide lessons for real readers of the text. In this way, Paradise Lost catechizes its audience through dramatic dialogues, which introduce popular topics of theological inquiry and present answers the poem would have the reader accept, bringing the reader to a “proper” understanding of Christian faith through active and responsive reading.