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.
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;
