'I Can Affirm Eternal Providence,Say No to Plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay and vindicate God's ways to men. (Book I, II. 25-26, p. 4) It would be strange for any reader to understand that John Milton's most famous work, Paradise Lost, is a deeply religious text, simply by glancing eye to its title; when one reads the epic, it suggests that Milton felt convinced of his faith as a Protestant Christian given the effort, time, and numerous references to the Bible found within it. However, whatever Milton's beliefs about religion, his famous words found above also show that there was a certain sense of "failure of religion" at the beginning of the long 18th century. Why does he need to “justify the ways of God toward men” (emphasis added)? If God's ways are to be justified, such justification is surely first and foremost a reaction to doubts and criticisms leveled against God and religion. John Bunyan also begins his most famous work, The Pilgrim's Progress, by recognizing that a sense of unease toward religion was not uncommon. In an attempt to empathize with the audience, Bunyan asks, "Would you read the riddles and their explanation, / Or would you drown in your contemplation?" (p. 7). Although both works support Christianity, both works appear to be a response to difficulties faced within Christianity, and I will discuss this case with particular regard to the divisions within Christianity as well as the growing popularity of atheism with the rise of science. Both authors lived through the Civil War, from 1642 to 1651, caused in part by conflicting views on religion. As Pauline Gregg argues in King Charles I, there were "dissensions within the Reformed Protestant religion itself", and Charles's marriage to Henrietta Maria, a Roman Catholic, in 1625 added to the tensions seen in the within the Protestant government. As Nigel Yates also argues, "it was the policy of religious integration that was a major factor in the outbreak of the civil wars of the 1640s and the temporary abolition of the monarchy in Britain." Both authors had grown up in a country in which "the established churches of the British Isles had, at no time since the Reformation, enjoyed a complete monopoly on religious belief and practice... From the early years of the 17th century, religious groups » Protestant dissidents had seceded from established churches which they considered insufficiently pure in their Protestantism. Obviously, the "failure of religion" could be seen as due to the lack of stability and unity within Christianity which led to a nine-year civil war. Milton seems to have responded to this failure of religion by attempting to emphasize the similarities found in all denominations of Christianity. After all, Milton focuses primarily on the fall of humanity, hence the title, which is a belief shared by all Christian denominations, and paraphrases Genesis, a book familiar to all Christian denominations, in the book VII, II. 243-534, beginning with God's famous command "Let there be light" (pp. 175-183). Milton's thoughts on "intestinal warfare" seem to reflect the civil war in Britain, the "grim war" being unnecessary when one considers the peace that would ensue if all worshiped God unanimously, just as, inBritain, if all worshiped God as one man. then a civil war could have been avoided (VI, 259, p. 149). Milton's emphasis on God's justice, with his "eternal providence", seems to address the divisions in Christianity by suggesting that there is simply one God, who saved humanity from its "first disobedience" with the grace of Christ (I, I. 25, p. 4, I, I.1, p.3). Bunyan, on the other hand, responded to this particular failure of Christianity in a different, more aggressive way. Bunyan may have taken a more aggressive stance because he was "arrested and convicted on an ecclesiastical charge for refusing to hear divine service and receive the sacrament." In examining Bunyan's attack on paganism and Catholicism, Bunyan notes that "two giants, the pope and the pagan, dwelt in ancient times, by whose power and tyranny the men whose bones, blood, ashes, etc. lay there, were cruelly put to death” (p. 65). Bunyan makes it clear that the Christian denominations are, in his view, very divided and, unlike Milton, his response to this particular failure of Christianity is to condemn the different denominations, in order to emphasize the rightness of his own Protestant beliefs. and the “traditional view that the Pope was the Antichrist.” Not only were there conflicts between religious denominations, but there was a growing sense of skepticism toward religion and a growing sense of the right to question God's justice. Méric Casaubon's work, The Original Cause of Temporal Evils (1645), attempted to oppose the two ideas concerning the origins of evil, either that God was of an envious nature, pushing him to abandon humanity, or that God is not omnipotent and could not prevent the fall. autumn. Either scenario presents God in a very questionable light. Milton seems to defend the potential failures of religion in Paradise Lost; The argument of Book V notes that “God, to make man inexcusable, sends Raphael to warn him of his obedience, of his free state, of his close enemy” (V. p. 115). Adam and Eve are fully aware of the command not to eat of the forbidden fruit, but they both commit this act anyway. Milton also states that God is omnipotent and omniscient; he knows that humanity will fall before it, because he “foretells the success of Satan in the perversion of humanity”; rids his own righteousness and wisdom of all imputation, having created man sufficiently free and capable to have resisted his tempter,” six books before this happens in Paradise Lost (p. 61). God notes that "I have done it just and just, / Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall," for "Unfree, what proof could they have given sincere / Of true allegiance, faith or constant love” (III, II. 98-99, 103-104, p.64). However, Milton also points out that although humanity fell because God allowed them free will, God also sacrifices his own son, Jesus Christ, to provide salvation. Christ's offering of himself is emphasized as the greatest sacrifice God can make, for Christ is his "only goodwill!" and for humanity, he “spares you / from my breast and my right hand, to save, / By losing you for a moment, the whole race has lost” (III, II. 276-280, p. 69 ). Milton's emphasis on the rightness of giving man free will and the precious sacrifice that God makes, both show God's unquestionable benevolence as well as his omnipotence to offer redemption despite the "first disobedience" of man (I, I. 1, p.3). While Milton emphasizes God's benevolence, Bunyan seems to adopt a position in whichGod's intolerance of evil. All the characters, several in number, whose names represent a sin, participate in the pilgrimage, such as Mr. Mony-love, Mr. By-ends, Mr. Hold-the-world and Mr. Save-all. , all of whom “fell into the pit”, tempted by Demas, the son of Judas (p. 108). God is just, in The Pilgrim's Progress, by allowing only the righteous, such as the faithful, to enter heaven, and Bunyan notably emphasizes God's omnipotence and justice by using the characters' one-dimensional names to show that God is without a doubt. rightly by rejecting Sloth, for example, or by never letting the atheist find heaven, but instead letting him wander for twenty years in search of it (p. 135). It is clear that such people are unworthy of the glory of God, and it is also clear that they will suffer greatly as a result of having turned away from God. Atheism was indeed another point of contention regarding the supposed failure of religion. Michel de Certeau emphasizes that “in France, at the beginning of the 17th century, atheism became the subject of not only a whole literature, but also political measures, judicial condemnations and social precautions against atheists… “The atheism", which had never been spoken of a hundred years earlier, became a recognized fact. Gavin Hyman continues to add that "in early modernity, minds in England and France began to be afflicted and tormented by doubt, [and] the term 'atheism' was used here [in the 17th century] more often the same way. of an accusation, a term of insult.” Both Milton and Bunyan take a similar position in response to the idea of ​​atheism. In the middle of Book I, Milton mentions the story of Eli, a priest whose debauched sons slept with the women gathered at the door of the tabernacle; “when the priest / Becomes an atheist, as did the sons of Eli, who filled / With lust and violence the house of God” (I, II. 494-496, p. 20). Undoubtedly, this reflection on atheism is disapproving, and Milton echoes the doomed fate of the house of Eli for acts against God (1 Samuel 2-4). Contrary to the idea of ​​uniting the faiths, Milton seems to take a clear position on the irreparable fate of atheists, just like Bunyan. As mentioned earlier, Bunyan includes an atheist among his characters, who “fell into very great laughter” at the idea of ​​Christian's pilgrimage and full of hope (p. 135). The atheist's claim that he has been "seeking this city for twenty years" echoes Ecclesiastes, chapter 10, verse 15, that "the work of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way of the city.” Bunyan describes the atheist as ignorant, both because shortly after Hopeful and Christian reach Mount Zion, and by referencing the Bible. As Christopher Hill said, "the Bible is Bunyan's anchor, his defense against despair and atheism." The 17th century experienced “a particularly rich time for reading and rereading the Bible…Private reading of the Bible was, after all, one of the pillars of the Reformation.” Bunyan's response to atheism was therefore to reinforce what the Bible says about lack of belief and, given that the vast majority of his readers were familiar with the Bible, this was probably an effective way of emphasizing the importance of religion for the world. country, and to address potential disinterest in Christianity by providing such messages through a story of battles, heroes and villains. Considering the importance of religion, both authors responded to the idea of ​​the failure of religion by emphasizing the importance of religion. consequences of an irreligious life, in which God is abandoned, with fearful descriptions of hell contrasting.