Browsing by Author "ASIATIDOU, Kyriaki"
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Item THE RELATIONSHIP OF REASON AND HUMAN PERFECTION IN MILTON’S AND BLAKE’S RELIGIOUS POETRY(2022-02-22) ASIATIDOU, Kyriaki; Gültekin, Azade LerzanThis dissertation explores the use of reason in John Milton’s and William Blake’s poetry within the context of its orthodox Christian definition as the means of man’s perfection, viz., man’s attainment of his supranatural true Self. Milton and Blake identify reason in man with the nature of Christ Who is the Logos of God and thus they explore the intimate relationship of man and God. The intimate relationship of man and God through reason is delivered in the poetry of both poets with imageries of abundance, excess, fertility, and eroticism inspired by the ‘‘marriage imagery’’ early fathers of the Church used to explain the Son’s/Christ’s ‘‘hypostatic union’’ doctrine. This dissertation focuses on Milton’s and Blake’s poetry that understands the true meaning of reason as the prerequisite for man’s union with God, his perfect state of being. Prior to an orthodox interpretation of the redeeming nature of reason for man in Milton’s and Blake’s poetry, the writer provides an inclusive definition of orthodox Christianity that is grounded on the Christological and Soteriological doctrines formulated by Eastern Patristic theologians and traces the continuation of this orthodox Christian tradition in the West by medieval mystics and later, Reformers who, in this dissertation, are mainly respresented by the Cambridge Platonists and John Wesley. Particularly, the writer focuses on the Eastern Patristic doctrine of the Trinity, the ‘‘hypostatic union’’ doctrine, Christ as the Logos of God, and man as the image of God, which comprise the orthodox Christian understanding of the nature of God, the nature of man, and the relationship of God and man and which reveal the divine nature of reason and its role as the sole path to man’s spiritual immortality.