Faith in Restoration Literature
The Restoration period has given us some of the most important religious literature in the English language. John Milton's Paradise Lost—which tells the epic tale of the banishment of man from the Garden of Eden—was published during this period (though Milton himself was a bit of an outsider to the Restoration literary scene, because he identified as a Puritan).
John Bunyan's (no relation to Paul) Pilgrim's Progress , a religious allegory, was also published during the Restoration.
Why were faith and religion such big preoccupation for many Restoration writers? Because this was a period when the country was also going through a lot of religious upheaval. With the Restoration of monarchy, the Puritans were kicked out of power (a bunch of them went to settle in America, btw), and the country reverted back to a less dogmatic kind of Anglicism. There was a lot of religious soul-searching going on during this period, and we see that reflected in the literature.
Chew on This
John Milton's Paradise Lost is an epic poem that features God, Christ, and Satan as characters. Check out these quotations from the poem, which deal with fate and free will.
Samson, a character from the Bible, is the hero of John Milton's Samson Agonistes. Delve into an analysis of this character here.