'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment

This book shows how the concept of 'religion' and 'the religions' arose out of controversies in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England.

Peter Harrison (Author)

9780521385305, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 November 1990

288 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.565 kg

"Professor Harrison has produced a meticulously documented, systematically organized, and challenging monograph. His use of the printed literature and sources of the period is exemplary. Although a demanding exercise in intellectual history, this book is profoundly significant for scholars concerned with English religious thought." Albion

This study examines the changes which took place in the understanding of 'religion' and 'the religions' during the Enlightenment in England, the period when the decisive break with Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance notions of religion occurred. Dr Harrison's view is that the principles of the English Enlightenment not only made a special contribution to our modern understanding of what religion is, but they pioneered, in addition, the 'scientific', or non-religious approach, to religious phenomena. During this period a crisis of authority in the Church necessitated a rational enquiry into the various forms of Christianity, and in addition, into the claims of all religions. This led to a concept of 'religion' (based on 'natural' theology) which could link together the apparently disparate religious beliefs and practices found in the empirical religions.

Introduction
1. Antecedents
2. 'Religion', revelation, and the light of nature: Protestants and Platonists
3. The religious instinct and priestly corruptions: Lord Herbert and deism
4. Sacred history and religious diversity
5. From sacred history to natural history
Epilogue
Notes
References.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX]