Enlightenment and Modernity

The writers known as the English deists were not simply religious controversialists, but agents of reform who contributed to the emergence of modernity. This title claims that these writers advocated a failed ideology which itself declined after 1730. It argues for an evolution of their ideas into a more modern form.

Wayne Hudson is Adjunct Research Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia and Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, Australia.

Chapter 1 Deism, Enlightenment and Modernity; Part I Problematizing Revealed Religion; Chapter 2 Christianity Challenged; Chapter 3 Two Clerical Critics; Chapter 4 The Diffusion of Disbelief; Part II Agents of Reform; Chapter 5 'Philosophy' and Reform; Chapter 6 'Religion' and Modernity; conclusion Conclusion Shaftesbury And Bolingbroke;