Thomas J.J. Altizer’s article “The Revolutionary Visions Of William Blake” really goes along with the topic of our blog. He takes William Blake’s ideas about the Church and theology into great depth. As one reads through the article they begin to notice how great Blake’s mind was. He brings in the idea of, “Self-Annihilation of God”, which shows how radical he was. Altizer takes this idea and continues to develop if throughout the article. He tends to visit some of Blake’s other ideas, but continually goes back to this one. This idea was going so far against what was believed that it has to be studied for some time to understand it. Altizer is essentially writing in the same sense that our groups is, to read through Blake’s works, and try to interpret them the best he could. This can be a dangerous trail to walk on though, because if one were to speak against what was believed they could be looked down and disregarded. New ideas about old topics can be disregarded and thrown aside without having the article fully looked out. Change can be considered almost like a disease; people try to get rid of it as fast as they possibly can. This change can come in many forms, including ideas like this, “Here at the center of Blake’s most revolutionary vision, one calling forth himself God as Satan”. Ideas and visions like this can bring harsh judgment upon those who support them, but ideas like this have come from our most read and inspiring scholars. Altizer’s article really gets down to how big of a revolutionary Blake was. This main idea of “God becoming Satan” is so hard to comprehend that it is still discussed. He went against the religion and beliefs of the time in order to support what he believed. Altizer builds on Blake’s ideas and takes them farther by further explain their meaning, as well as using new references to gain more understanding. By taking Blake’s ideas further he really gives a deeper understanding into the mind and works of William Blake, which is what our blog group is attempting to do.
The ideas that Altizer bring up can go along and against what my interpretations of Blake are. A few of his interpretations about Blake’s individual poems can have a good impact, and can provide more depth to the argument about the content of the poem. The ideas, and mainly the one about The Marriage of Heaven and Hell I do not really agree with his interpretation. I believe that Blake was trying to change the way people believed, as well as what they believe. I do not agree with the way he phrases and goes on talking about God having be killed and become Satan. He brings up a valid point in changing the way people believe, but goes about it in too strong of a manner. If Altizer changed the ways he brought up Blake’s ideas, he would be easier to follow and trust in. By taking a softer approach he can slowly bring up the ideas and explain them, but instead he brings them straight into the article as Blake’s most revolutionary ideas. He needed to start explaining the idea before he brought it up. His use of reference was a good start to being able to understand what he was saying, but was still confusing. The article is mainly about the one super radical idea of the Christian God specifically having to die, or be “Self-Annihilated” and “Become Satan”. He does explain that by doing this and he would “Self-Annihilate Satan”. By bringing up this idea Altizer bring up a highly debated topic that raises a ton of questions. I believe that part of this idea can be considered relevant, because he is effectively trying to get rid of Satan. The way he goes about this does not help one try to understand the idea without seriously questioning the article and its relevancy. The idea that was originally brought up by Blake could seriously make someone question the way they believe, but it could also make others believe Blake was a crazy man that tried to make the people of his time disregard their belief system.
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