Hubbub strange

I hear through the grapevine about an upcoming talk that asks if Jesus is a terrorist in Paradise Regained. I'm guessing the paper will actually start by acknowledging the silliness of the title (standing up on top of a building is not the same as...) and go on to say reasonable things. But I'm really hoping that the titles of Milton papers and talks start to sound less and less like things shouted at town hall meetings.

Or else! I swear to God the Almighty Terrorist that I'll win this game of one-upmanship. You can expect papers like "Was Milton of Hitler's Party Without Knowing It? Early Modern Republicanism and the Rise of National Socialism"; "Milton and the Hartlib Circle Jerk: Scattering the Seed of Republican Virtue"; "Pro-Choice Milton: Plunging Into that Abortive Gulf." And so on.

Why I read Milton the way I do (maybe)

It struck me, randomly, that I've never actually shared this info with anybody, and I thought this would be the fitting venue.

When I was in high school, I became a devout evangelical and biblical literalist. I had identified myself as Christian since attending a small parochial school from kindergarten to grade five, but my latter conversion was somewhat peculiar--a combination of Christian radio and self-motivated reading of the Bible. (I would go on to read it cover-to-cover six times. I have to confess, though, that without much scholarly or editorial apparatus, this doesn't lead to very comprehensive knowledge. A big part of the problem is the ordering of books in the Christian/Protestant Bible.)

But this much people know about. What I haven't shared is that, early on in these studies, I rejected Trinitarian doctrine. And for a simple reason: the New Testament doesn't really say a whole lot to support it. 

Once I wanted to join a religious community, though, it became clear that my views were heretical. And so I caved by coaxing and convincing myself that, yes, Father, Son, Holy Ghost were three distinct persons but one God. But doubts persisted for a long while.

NB: Miltonista now considers himself something like an anti-theist; he believes that even if there were a God, ample empirical evidence exists that that God would likely be incompetent and/or a jerk, not someone worth getting to know.