For those of you who were not quite as excited about, "Paradise Lost," as I was.... Here's what Samuel Johnson had to say about it:

“None ever wished it longer than it is.”

and

“Paradise Lost is a book that, once put down, is very hard to pick up again.”

I leave you now with a smile, and travel with Christian on his Pilgrim's Progress.

I’m slow on my feet, but in answer to Bob’s question about the value of fiction in the Christian Classics group, I believe that a skillfully constructed work of fiction, operating on several levels and engaging both the intellect and the emotions, can be more effective in conveying a truth than a strictly reasoned argument. Poetry or prose crafted with beautiful words and phrasings is like music that fires the imagination and becomes part of a person on a deeper level than just intellectual assent.

One of the things that struck me in this chapter, is that Satan did not anticipate the consequences of his rebellion. Misery, fear, and pain had been non-existent before his sin, and Milton gives the sense that Satan was shocked by his first experience of these things (p. 139, 141, 143). No wonder we identify so closely with Satan as a character.

Satan begins to work on earth, not by violence, but by deceit and lies (p.112). Targeting the mind, he encourages dreams of disobedience, and desires to be godlike, the very same desires which led to his own fall. Once the first taboo is broken, the next step is easier, and it becomes easier yet for others to follow into sin. Things that would never have seen the light of day fifty years ago are commonly accepted today. Milton’s picture of Sin and Death following Satan’s trail and laying down a paved road to hell (p. 54), is an apt analogy.

Satan is back with all the grand emotion. However, I found it interesting that he is now compared to animals, rather than God, light, or angels. There's an interesting blurb in the Cliffs Notes commentary about that. Its not just man who's changed by his fall (p. 100).

Surprisingly, Satan isn't acting out of hatred toward man. Instead, he seems drawn to man, likes him even, although that won't change his plan to ruin him. Satan feels that what he plans is a pity, but insists the blame rests with God, not him. (p. 88-89).

Egads. The pressure! One suggestion to try and make reading easier, is not to pause at every line ending. You’ll get used to it after awhile. I do have to sometimes reread and put in my own mental punctuation. Some chapters are easier than others. Chapter IV is easier to read and paints more of a word picture and sense of mood. The text notes are very good, and often “translate” confusing sections. I think Bob picked a good edition.

Book II

Things to ponder:

Did anyone find it ironic that one of the pastimes in hell for those of a philosophical bent, was to reason about and debate the issues that were of interest to us at the last meeting. They spent hours debating “of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate, fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute and found no end in wand’ring mazes lost” (p. 41-42). Evidently Milton would agree with Luther, that there things about God reason just can’t grasp,

So here it goes....my attempt to understand this Milton guy.

Book 1:
So I guess the main theme is all these many demons are waking up in the Lake of Fire and congregating. Once they meet they construct a city to hold a council meeting to decide how to get back at God.

Main thoughts:
Personally I am finding his writing extremely difficult. I have never been great at literature, but, I am up for the challenge. I think this poetic form is so different from what most of us read, so I am hoping that I am not the only one that feels lost!

Ok...so Paradise Lost is written in iambic pentameter. Reading about this cadence may help us understand how the cadence of this poetry is supposed to be read/heard.

You can read about this meter at: http://en.wikipedia....

Also, Shelly pointed out that the Cliff's Notes to this writing are online. I found them at:
http://www.cliffsnot...

Hopefully both of those can help us in reading this beast!

Wow guys....better start this book today! It IS a toughy so far. I am hoping that after reading his writing I will get used to it some and get a bit quicker at each page.

Anyway...just a heads up. Get it today! (oh and let me know if they carry the Cliff Notes of this ;) )

It's good for us to challenge each other like this...thanks for being a part of this group!

Just a reminder....Our next book club meeting, about Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" is this Tuesday at 6:00.

See the details here: http://community.st-...

So, I just got my Calvin "institutes of the christian religion" in the mail today. Anyone else start reading this already?

Who's going to be in for January?

So, Who has thoughts on Luther's "Bondage of the Will"? I figured we could discuss it here, since we missed this month's meeting. Here's my thoughts (post yours in the comments):

First, I was amazed that I agreed with his approach as much as I did. Everyone kept telling me how much I'd disagree with the book, yet I never fully did.