ABSTRACT
Francis Godwin’s The Man in the Moone imagines a sentient Lunar society that practices a religion similar to Christianity. In this chapter, I argue that Godwin intentionally gives the Lunars access to salvation by Christ, emphasizing both the inevitability of sin and the greatness of Christ’s salvific act, despite the danger and theological complications of such a literary exploration. Milton, in Paradise Lost , found no specific uses for Godwin’s hero’s adventures, but he was apparently favorably impressed by Godwin’s speculations that our moon and outer planets might harbor “thrice happy” inhabitants fortunately overlooked by the enemies of God. However, Milton proves unwilling to disrupt the course of his narrative for such theologically treacherous waters, and “stay[s] not to inquire.”
