Christian vs. non-Christian readers
. Readers always respond to works of
literature in terms of who they are and what they bring to the text in terms of
their own values and worldview. But Paradise Lost is in a category by itself in
this regard. There is a long tradition, still dominant in the secular classroom,
that claims that Satan is the sympathetic hero of Paradise Lost and God the
unsympathetic villain. Secondary claims then accompany this major premise,
because Milton portrays Adam as the head of the family, Milton is a misogynist
(hater of women).
Christian readers of this guide should turn a deaf ear to these claims. The
claims come from readers who are hostile to Christianity. Milton took his mate-
rials from the Bible, and Christian readers surely operate from the same prem-
ise. Non-Christian readers misread the Bible in the same ways that they misread
Paradise Lost. There is so much good and edifying material in Paradise Lost that
Christian readers should concentrate on it in a spirit of celebration. They should
refuse to allow themselves to be diverted from relishing a Christian poem by the
claims of readers who operate from a non-Christian orientation.
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