Abstract

Employing scotus' distinction between god's absolute and ordained power, This essay examines the episode of satan's fall in "paradise lost". The evil angels rebel because God exercised absolute authority in order to transform the natural into a moral order, One in which an angel's natural advantage is distinguishable from the good. Messiah operates in two roles: as the word, Instrumental to the natural order; as the son, Chief exponent of the moral order