Polytheism

Throughout his authorial career, Milton had a complex relationship with monotheism — the concept that there is only one God — and with polytheism — the idea of multiple different gods. Much of Christian belief is predicated on the value of Christianity as a monotheistic religion, following in the Jewish tradition. However, most sects of Christianity have also always had multiple divine or quasi-divine figures. For instance, most Christian groups, including the Protestant religions that Milton would have engaged with throughout his life, believed in a tripartite godhead, usually called the “Trinity,” with Christ as the son of God, a father God figure aligned with the god of the “Old Testament” who is sometimes referred to by the anglicized spelling of the Tetragrammaton (his four-letter, unpronounceable Hebrew name), Yahweh, and finally the “Holy Spirit,” an entirely intangible representation of divine will. These three gods are all cosmically one being...