Overview
Offers first sustained treatment of the decline and fall of religious innatism in early modern Britain
Presents alternate theory of intellectual change focusing on changing cultural threats
Encourages readers to think about intellectual history as multivocal debates
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book demonstrates that the common belief that humanity is naturally disposed to religion did not disappear with the emergence of the Enlightenment. Going beyond a narrow focus on John Locke’s empiricism, this vivid analysis reconstructs the vociferous, multivocal debate over the natural origins of religious belief in England and Scotland between c. 1650 and c. 1750. It enriches our understanding through examining hundreds of discussions of the relationship between human nature and religion, from a variety of genres and contexts. It shows that belief in religious innatism was a ubiquitous and enduring claim about human nature across the continuum of Christian thought in early modern Britain, and one deployed for a variety of reasons. While the doctrine of innate religious ideas did fall out of use, the belief that human nature was framed for religion continued in new forms into the eighteenth century.
Reviews
"With this impressively erudite and lucid book, Mills recovers a vitally important tradition in European thought that has hitherto been neglected. By debunking the shibboleth that the doctrine of innate religious ideas was consigned to oblivion by Locke, he places Enlightenment intellectual culture in a whole new light." (--Dr Niall O’Flaherty, Senior Lecturer in the History of European Political Thought, King’s College London. UK)
"Why do humans believe in God? Are religious beliefs natural to humanity and held in all societies? It used to be argued that John Locke’s philosophy radically changed how intellectuals answered these questions. In this learned and lucid book, however, R J W Mills shows that Locke’s contribution has been misunderstood. The concept of innate religious ideas fell from fashion, but writers after Locke continued to argue that humans were predisposed to religion and that there was universal consent to the existence of God. Drawing on a huge range of contemporary texts, Mills guides us through a lively debate – in which Locke was one participant among many." (--Dr Alasdair Raffe, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Edinburgh, UK.)Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Religious Innatism Debate in Early Modern Britain
Book Subtitle: Intellectual Change Beyond Locke
Authors: R.J.W. Mills
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84323-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-84322-9Published: 21 September 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-84323-6Published: 20 September 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 132
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: History, general, History of Britain and Ireland, History of Early Modern Europe, History of Philosophy, History of Religion