De Doctrina Christiana (Milton) - Background

Background

The only manuscript of Christian Doctrine was found during 1823 in London's Old State Paper Office (at the Middle Treasury Gallery in Whitehall). The work was one of many in a bundle of state papers written by John Milton while he served as Secretary of Foreign Tongues under Oliver Cromwell. The manuscript was provided with a prefatory epistle that explains the background and history to the formation of the work. If it is correct, the manuscript is the same work referred to in Milton's Commonplace Book and in an account by Edward Phillips, Milton's nephew, of a theological "tractate".

Because Milton was blind, the manuscript of De Doctrina Christiana was the work of two people: Daniel Skinner and Jeremie Picard. Picard first copied the manuscript from previous works and Skinner prepared the work to be copied for typesetting, although there are a few unidentified editors who made changes to the manuscript. After Milton died in 1674, Daniel Skinner was given possession of Christian Doctrine along with Milton's other manuscripts. In 1675, Skinner attempted to publish the work in Amsterdam, but it was rejected, and in 1677 he was pressured by the English government to hand over the document where it was then hidden.

There have been only two translations of De Doctrina Christiana. The first was the Charles edition was first produced in 1825 titled A treatise on Christian doctrine compiled from the Holy Scriptures alone. The original Latin text was included alongside of the English translation. However, the next translation produced by Carey was not in a dual language format. Both of these two original translations identified Milton as the author.

However, there is a minority line of criticism that denies Christian Doctrine as a work produced by Milton, but there have been no authors substituted by these critics in place of Milton. These denials are grounded in the assumptions that a blind Milton would struggle to rely on so many Biblical quotations and that the Christian Doctrine is the sole reason why Milton is viewed as having a heterodox theological understanding. In response to this argument, many critics have focused on defending Milton's authorship. This argument also fails to account for the high Biblical literacy of the time. Because of the overwhelming evidence supporting the Miltonic authorship of the piece, most editions of Milton's prose includes the work.