John Selden: Scholar, Statesman, Advocate for Milton's Muse

John Selden was a seventeenth-century English jurist, philosopher, and poet who opposed abuses of power and influenced John Milton's poetry. He accepted non-biblically rabbinic Adamic/Noachide precepts as universal laws of perpetual obligation and employed rhetorical strategies in his works to prepare his readers for what might otherwise have shocked them. His only surviving debates from the Long Parliament were as a lay member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and this book fills in the gaps and makes the speeches coherent by finding their contexts in Selden's printed works.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 17 June 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press

John Selden (1584-1654) led a life that was both contemplative and active. He was the most learned person in seventeenth-century England and was a prominent opponent of abuses of power, both by Charles I and later by the Presbyterian-controlled Westminster Assembly. Selden's ability to find analogies among different cultures, such as Greco-Roman, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic, greatly influenced the poetry and prose of John Milton, the century's greatest poet.

In the field of family law, Selden and Milton may have had some influence on each other. Milton cited Selden in his works, and Selden owned two of Milton's treatises on divorce, which were published in 1645. These treatises were likely acquired while Milton was writing "Uxor Ebraica" (1646). Selden accepted the non-biblically rabbinic, externally imposed, coercive Adamic/Noachide precepts as universal laws of perpetual obligation, rejecting his predecessor Hugo Grotius' view of natural law as the innate result of right reason.

Selden used rhetorical strategies in his work "De Jure Naturali et Gentium" (The Law of Nature and of Nations) to prepare his readers for what might otherwise have shocked them. While he was actively involved in the Long Parliament, his only surviving debates from that decade were as a lay member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. The Assembly's scribe left many gaps in the transcript, making it sometimes indecipherable. This book fills in the gaps and makes the speeches coherent by finding their contexts in Selden's printed works, both the scholarly "De Synedriis" and the witty and informal "Table Talk."

Selden's life and work demonstrate his commitment to promoting justice and equality and his ability to bridge different cultural and intellectual traditions. His influence on the poetry and prose of John Milton is a testament to his lasting legacy in the world of literature and politics.

Weight: 592g
Dimension: 164 x 240 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192842923