Gregory D. Dodds – författare

Restoration England (1660–88), with its new coffeehouses, newspapers, early political parties, and increasingly engaged populace, saw the idea of the people’s voice become distinctly powerful. Yet that voice also generated conspiracy theories, misinformation, partisan division, censorship, and fears of civil disorder and violence.In Vox Populi Gregory Dodds explores how assumptions about the common people and their views were entwined with ongoing political and religious conversations on the perceived choice between national security and individual liberty – debates that continue to shape public life today. Popularity within the rapidly expanding Restoration intellectual marketplace was quickly replacing the influence of elite authority. While some celebrated this shift, institutional and governmental writers responded with forceful resistance, seeking to restrict the general population’s voice and convince commoners that truth, understanding, and social order could never arise from a populist understanding of the world. Dodds argues that, for elite authors, the common people therefore occupied a paradoxical position in the public arena of ideas, one where they were at once a coveted audience and rejected participants.Drawing from texts deliberately targeting a broad audience – written by both advocates and opponents of religious toleration and political liberty – the book offers a distinctive analysis of the concept of “the people” and the , implications of their increasingly powerful voice for debates on political theory, policy, theology, and natural philosophy. A timely investigation into a turbulent period in England, one in which the rhetoric and reality of fear loomed large, Vox Populi helps navigate the false dichotomy between rights and safety.

Desiderius Erasmus' humanist works were influential throughout Europe, in various areas of thought including theology, education, philology, and political theory. Exploiting Erasmus examines the legacy of Erasmus in England from the mid-sixteenth century to the overthrow of James II in 1688 and studies the various ways in which his works were received, manipulated, and used in religious controversies that threatened both church and state.In viewing movements and events such as the rise of anti-Calvinism, the religious politics leading to the English civil war, and the emergence of the Latitudinarians during the Restoration, Gregory D. Dodds provides a fascinating account not only of the reception and effects of Erasmus' works, but also of the early history of English Protestantism. Exploiting Erasmus offers a critical new angle for rethinking the theology and rhetoric of the time. It is a remarkable study of Erasmus' influence on issues of conformity, tolerance, war, and peace.