Honestly, how much biblical knowledge do i need to start reading paradise lost?

Honestly, how much biblical knowledge do i need to start reading paradise lost?
I’ve read the gospels, a few other books from the New and Old testaments. But that’s about it. Should i just forget about reading anything else until i complete the Bible in its entirety? And even then, do i need to read the church fathers? And must i also read Martin Luther before getting to PL?

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Just read it faggot. Paradise Lost is not a book you read once. Get an annotated addition of you are that anal about it.

Actually the most relevant book to Paradise Lost is completely apocryphal, The Book of Enoch.

But anyone who tells you that you need to read the Bible to understand any literature is just trying to indoctrinate you.

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The fuck you on about?
It's not a treatise on pre-biblical history - just read the damn thing.

Just the common sense is enough. It's only the story of the fall of Lucifer and of Adam and Eve.

I'm doing fairly ok being an agnosticfag that hasn't ever touched the bible. Just google shit like names you don't know. There are a lot references of things that are out of the bible as well, so even that won't give you a decent grasp. I'd say it helps, but it's not nescessary. However the apocalypse and genesis books are the most relevant, for obvious resons.

This Dartmouth course has somewhat helped me, it's free and fairly decent
edx.org/course/john-milton-paradise-lost

I have the Oxford World Classics-edition and it's filled with footnotes that explain basically everything.

Yea Forumss obsession with being "prepared" is plain silly, as if there's a hard barrier on books unless you've read the prerequisite works.

Imagine thinking one of the most important works to the development of the western cannon isn't important. You really don't have to though, just have a basic understanding of the story. I hadn't read it when I read PL, but, to be fair, I was taking a class which devoted the entire semester to PL.

The main character of my future novel has paradise lost read to him by his father as if it was the actual bible.

Every time I provoke Christians to provide profound, insightful and beautiful passages in the bible, they generally respond by giving me heavy-handed excerpts of moralizing or those which are only theologically significant.

t. read most of the Bible and regretted it

Good for you. Doesn't invalidate its importance at all.

AIDS is important too, doesn't mean everyone needs to know the exact mechanics of it.

Ecclesiastes

Yes, I read it. What about it? Solomon just says how everything is a vain pursuit because of the fugaciousness of the joy experienced from it, except of course worshippin' the Lord, which magically restores meaning to life in the face of absurdity.

brainlet allegory

>misusing "allegory"

Now who's the brainlet? (though I agree, it was a dumb comment)

Milton tells you what happens over the course of it
desu paradise lost is more divine than the bible, it was written by a blind genius instead of selectively assembled to further jewish power structures. you should just read it if you can only choose one

uh, not really
actually it's Zen as fuck
it's about being humble and in the present moment
everything other than humility and presentness is vanity
you don't even have to be a theist to get this good message from it

you worship Belial

>except of course worshippin' the Lord, which magically restores meaning to life in the face of absurdity.
>implying it doesn't

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>waaaaaaaah

What's so great about Paradise Lost?

It's the devil's perspective of the christian story.

have you not read it?
it's arguably the greatest poem in the English language, if you have a mind for poetry you should at least give it a shot

So? Why would that matter?

Why should anyone read poetry?

Why should anyone do anything?

Because Lucifer is very human.

Flourishing. Living a better life; making the world a better place.

What is valuable in that?

Why?

Milton would be appalled.

Makes you think about your decisions and desires.

Because better is better. Not striving for the better is foolishness.

>indoctrinate you

Hello schizophrenia my old friend

The Bible isn't enough for you to think about your decisions and desires?

Every good book brings a new perspective of life.

Are all perspectives good?

Are you accusing Milton of eisegesis?

If they were, there would be no good.

>the Jews' perspective is bad but literally Satan's is good

No, but it makes you think about life. You gain experience without living it.

sounds reasonable desu

Same goes for poetry, you pleb.

I think anons point is that this realm of the fantastical is superfluous compared ti the Bible, it's but an echo of what it wishes to represent.

fuck

Lo. Li. Ta