God the Father, God the Son, Christ as Son Incarnate, Adam as man and thus the Son of God -- these complex filial relationships are a distinctive recurring theme in the poetry of John Milton. Comparing the views of Milton with those of Calvin, the Socinians, and the Cambridge Platonists, Hugh MacCallum presents in this study a new and clearly defined interpretation of Milton's emphasis on filial freedom and filial growth.
After a short review of figures of mediation in the minor poems and Samson Agonistes, MacCallum turns to the pre-existent Son as he is defined in Milton's theology and characterized in Paradise Lost. He shows how subtly and effectively the poet dramatizes the growth of the Son to an earned Godhead. Turning to Adam's sonship, MacCallum traces the relationship from the innocence in which Adam progressively actualizes the image of God, through the Fall, to the ultimate restoration of sonship. The final chapters deal with the Incarnate Christ, the mediator who is at once God and man.
Throughout, MacCallum places Milton's views in the context of Reformed thought and thereby illustrates the originality and uniqueness of the poet's vision.