John Locke's Christianity

Provides a thorough analysis and reassessment of Locke's original, heterodox, internally coherent version of Protestant Christianity.

Diego Lucci (Author)

9781108836913, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 October 2020

260 pages
16 x 23.5 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

'Diego Lucci's John Locke's Christianity is a fabulous work of scholarship - meticulously researched, well argued, and judicious. It should be required reading for everyone interested in John Locke's thought … Lucci not only provides an excellent account of Locke's Christian beliefs but also shows how those beliefs are relevant for interpreting and understanding some of Locke's philosophical positions. Lucci's book will be read and discussed by scholars for years to come.' Benjamin Hill, Journal of the History of Philosophy

John Locke's religious interests and concerns permeate his philosophical production and are best expressed in his later writings on religion, which represent the culmination of his studies. In this volume, Diego Lucci offers a thorough analysis and reassessment of Locke's unique, heterodox, internally coherent version of Protestant Christianity, which emerges from The Reasonableness of Christianity and other public as well as private texts. In order to clarify Locke's views on morality, salvation, and the afterlife, Lucci critically examines Locke's theistic ethics, biblical hermeneutics, reflection on natural and revealed law, mortalism, theory of personal identity, Christology, and tolerationism. While emphasizing the originality of Locke's scripture-based religion, this book calls attention to his influences and explores the reception of his unorthodox theological ideas. Moreover, the book highlights the impact of Locke's natural and biblical theology on other areas of his thought, thus enabling a better understanding of the unity of his work.

Introduction
1. The context and background of Locke's biblical theology
1.1 Rejecting antinomianism and deism
1.2 Searching for the foundations of morality
1.3 Reason, revelation, and morality
2. Engaging with scripture and heterodoxy
2.1 Socinianism and Arminianism
2.2 Scriptural authority and historical method
2.3 The way of fundamentals
3. A scripture-based moralist soteriology
3.1 Natural theology, biblical theology, and natural law theory
3.2 Law of nature, law of Moses, law of faith
3.3 Original sin, satisfaction, and atonement
4. The soul and the Last Judgment
4.1 Death and resurrection
4.2 Personal identity and moral accountability
4.3 Consciousness, repentance, and salvation
5. The Trinity and Christ
5.1 The Trinitarian controversy
5.2 Locke's messianic and non-Trinitarian Christology
5.3 The debate on Locke and the Trinity
6. Religious toleration and Christian irenicism
6.1 The theoretical framework of A Letter concerning Toleration
6.2 Locke's omissions and exceptions to toleration in the letter and other writings
6.3 Salvation and toleration in Locke's theological writings
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB], Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge [HPK], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]