Warner: American Revolution
Media Freedom and Spiritual Identity
nMilton’s
Areopagitica (1644) is address to Parliament,
for the “liberty of unlicensed printers”
nMilton situates
man in the central Christian drama to
argue the spiritual value of media freedom:
nKnowledge of good is “involved and interwoven with knowledge
of evil”
nThe
test of virtue: “That which purifies is by trial”
nWithout
freedom to choose: “a mere artificial Adam such as in the motions” (puppet
shows)