Christian deism in eighteenth century England

International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 75 (3):205-222 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In eighteenth century England, there were thinkers who said they were Christian deists and claimed pure, original Christianity was deism. Most scholars do not believe these thinkers were sincere about their religious beliefs, but there are many good reasons to believe they were. Three English deists have the best claim to be considered Christian deists because they alone called themselves Christian deists or called their ideas those of a Christian deist. These three thinkers, Matthew Tindal, Thomas Morgan, and Thomas Amory, developed a theology in which Christianity was deism and natural religion. The important point, though, was that their version of natural religion included supernatural elements as well as true religious piety. When read closely, these three thinkers believed in miracles, revelation, prayer, and continuing direct divine inspiration. The Christian deists were neither conventional deists nor traditional Christians. Nevertheless, it is not legitimate to exclude them from either category as some scholars do. They cannot be excluded from the category of ‘Christian’ on the basis their contemporaries all saw them as non-Christian. They also cannot be excluded from the category of ‘deists’ because they were pious and believed in an active God.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Joseph Priestley's Time Charts: The Use and Teaching of History by Rational Dissent in late Eighteenth-Century England.Arthur Sheps - 1999 - Lumen: Selected Proceedings From the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 18:135.
Rousseau, Clarke, Butler and critiques of deism.Robin Attfield - 2004 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 12 (3):429 – 443.
Deism in Eighteenth Century America.Herbert M. Morais - 1936 - Philosophical Review 45:97.
England Imported into Late Eighteenth-Century La Rochelle: Economic Consumption and Paradoxes of Cultural Exchange.Robert James Merrett - 1996 - Lumen: Selected Proceedings From the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 15:115.
Deism and the absence of Christian sociology.Bruce C. Wearne - 2003 - Philosophia Reformata 68 (1):14-35.
Evidences of the Christian Religion: Using Pascal to Revise Addison in Eighteenth-Century Scotland.Gordon D. Fulton - 2007 - Lumen: Selected Proceedings From the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 26:227.
The Uses of Empiricism: Ernst Christian Trapp and the Tribulations of an Educational Reformer in Eighteenth-Century Germany.Norman R. Diffey - 1997 - Lumen: Selected Proceedings From the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 16:147.
Morais, Herbert M., Deism in Eighteenth Century America.Crighton Crighton - 1935 - Studies in Philosophy and Social Science 4:451.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-09-04

Downloads
19 (#682,951)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Joseph Waligore
University Wisconsin (Alumnus)

Citations of this work

Philosophy of religion and two types of atheology.John R. Shook - 2015 - International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 76 (1):1-19.

Add more citations