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so like paradise lost is a whole bunch of theological debate made narrative, which is pretty fun in and of itself, and of course it has influenced basically all narrative pop culture theology, but it occasionally has some very hot takes compared to most other theology-heavy fiction ive seen
like the whole bit where god insists that no, actually, every angel always had free will, because what would be the point in them offering their loyalty if they're not doing it freely
paradise lost update! finally got to the bit which makes this aaaall worth it
nah just kidding, reading this is actually a lot of fun. but i HAVE been looking forward to this part: The One Where Adam Asks Raphael About Angel Sex
(@ 15-year-old J who once tried to read this book just to get to this paragraph, for good omens reasons, this one is for you)
john milton really said what kind of heaven would it be if you couldn't fuck
paradise lost update, god has resorted to asking raphael to pop down to earth and have a friendly chat with adam over lunch and casually drop into the conversation what a bad move it would be to eat the apple
trying to take this seriously
paradise lost update: raphael just told adam that it's not good to ask or to know too much of god's works, because knowledge is like food, and too much of it will... give you gas. metaphorically. in your mind. folly is brain farts
classic of english literature right here
i picked up paradise lost again for the first time since i tried and failed to read it in 10th grade (tad ambitious for a second language speaker, though in hindsight i persevered pretty far), and im having a lot of fun with the amount of things that good omens has (unsurprisingly) either directly quoted or very closely paralleled
something very lovely about milton using the old alternative spelling "quire" for "choir" (which i had never seen before), e.g. And silence was in Heaven: on Man's behalf / He ask'd, but all the heavenly quire stood mute. the actual meaning of "quire" (it derives from quaternus) is "collection of sheets of paper" - either a 20th of a ream, or (as i know it) the 8 leaves, or 16 pages, which are stitched together to form a section in a bound book. i enjoy the implied connection here between the component parts of a printed work and the hierarchies of heaven - whether you wanna imagine that every angel is sewn into place, or that every page (or even every word) is an angel, and the work itself is heaven. some very fun arguments lurking in the back of that about the act of creation and the word as divine (which i as non-religiously-raised am not qualified to comment on, but i like to spot them as they pass)
paradise lost update: lucifer just invented guns !!
there were cannons in the war in heaven apparently
paradise lost update not out of chronology:
adam is currently expressing his disbelief that all the stars and planets and the entire vastness of space were created "merely to officiate light / round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot," and would like to know "How Nature wise and frugal could commit / Such disproportions, with superfluous hand / So many nobler bodies to create,"
in other words: it's the Universe! it's just put there to twinkle???
