SOURCE: "Jesus as Saviour in Blake's Jerusalem," in English Studies in Canada, Vol. VI, No. 2, Summer, 1980, pp. 154-75.

In the following essay, Mathews considers whether Blake's portrayal of Jesus in Jerusalem coincides with or refutes the orthodox Christian view of Jesus as savior.

Near the end of William Blake's last major poem [Jerusalem], there is a dialogue between Jesus and Albion in which Jesus explains his mission as saviour in terms which seem entirely compatible with Christian orthodoxy: "Fear not Albion unless I die thou canst not live / But if I die I shall arise again & thou with me." There is much in the poem to suggest that Blake's Jesus is, in his role as sacrificial victim, precisely parallel to the Jesus of the New Testament. Both versions of Jesus, for example, are referred to as the Lamb of God. Both become victims voluntarily. In both cases, this...