J.E. Force - Böcker

This collection of essays is the fruit of about fifteen years of discussion and research by James Force and me. As I look back on it, our interest and concern with Newton's theological ideas began in 1975 at Washington University in St. Louis. James Force was a graduate student in philosophy and I was a professor there. For a few years before, I had been doing research and writing on Millenarianism and Messianism in the 17th and 18th centuries, touching occasionally on Newton. I had bought a copy of Newton's Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John for a few pounds and, occasionally, read in it. In the Spring of 1975 I was giving a graduate seminar on Millenarian and Messianic ideas in the development of modem philosophy. Force was in the seminar. One day he came very excitedly up to me and said he wanted to write his dissertation on William Whiston. At that point in history, the only thing that came to my mind about Whiston was that he had published a, or the, standard translation of Josephus (which I also happened to have in my library. ) Force told me about the amazing views he had found in Whiston's notes on Josephus and in some of the few writings he could find in St. Louis by, or about, Whiston, who was Newton's successor as Lucasian Professor of mathematics at Cambridge and who wrote inordinately on Millenarian theology.

Dick Popkin and James Force have attended a number of recent conferences where it was apparent that much research was being done in the fields of interpreting Newton's and Spinoza's contributions as biblical scholars and of the relationship between their biblical scholarship and other aspects of their particular philosophies. This collection represents the current research in this area. It brings together the current work on these topics. Its primary audience is specialized scholars of the thought of Newton and Spinoza as well as historians of the philosophical ideas of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Over the past twenty-five years -- since the very large collection of Newton's papers became available and began to be seriously examined -- the beginnings of a new picture of Newton has emerged. This volume of essays builds upon the foundation of its authors in their previous works and extends and elaborates the emerging picture of the 'new' Newton, the great synthesizer of science and religion as revealed in his intellectual context.

Thanks to the work of legions of scholars, the millenarian expectations within large segments of the population in Cromwellian England have been carefully examined. The widespread belief that England, with its messianic leader 1 Cromwell, heralded the millennium is well known. Less well examined, perhaps, has been the cultural conceptions of the role of millenarian and messianic ideas in the "long" eighteenth century. Especially during the stable Hanoverian era - until the American and French Revolutions - the common­ place millennial expectations of the English Civil War appeared to recede. By the end of the eighteenth century, with the Napoleonic wars, millenarian views and interpretations underwent a minor renaissance but with nothing like the fervor, it is commonly thought, of the Puritan era when so many believed that the end was near. By the end of the eighteenth century, so the "official" story goes, the religious sceptics and deists of Enlightened England such as David Hume had done too well their work of tarring such religious radicalism with the brush of "enthusiasm. " Happily, this "official" interpretation of the events of the early modern period - in which scholars have too often taken their cue from writers such as Hume and simply ignored millenarian contexts and expectations in the Age of Reason - has undergone a marked shift in the past twenty years.

Sir Isaac Newton's pre-eminence in the history of science remains ?xed, yet the picture which we have of the whole man, and of the in?uence of his wide-ranging intellect, has been changing rapidly as scholars have incre- ingly taken cognizance of those aspects of Newton's thought hitherto hidden in his unpublished manuscripts. At the start of the third millennium, we ?nd ourselves poised to launch the greatest revolution yet in Newton studies as an international team of scholars has been assembled to publish all of Newton's widely scattered unpublished papers. The William Andrews Clark Memorial LibraryhasbeenassociatedwiththeworldofNewtonianscholarshipforsome yearsthroughitspurchase,in1961,ofanimportantmanuscript("Paradoxical Questions concerning ye morals & Actions of Athanasius & his followers") and through its long association with Professor Richard H. Popkin (U. C. L. A. ) and Professor James E. Force (University of Kentucky). Through the g- th th erous sponsorship of both the U. C. L. A. Center for 17 - and 18 -Century Studies and the U. C. L. A. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library-which areunderthedirectionofProfessorPeterH.Reill-ProfessorsForceandP- kinwereabletostageaseriesofClarkLibraryconferencesdevotedtoNewton throughout the 1990s. The papers delivered at these conferences evolved into a series of important edited volumes whose general theme was the centrality of theological and religious ideas to Newton's intellectual formation. In the present volume, this longstanding project continues. Once again thanks to the th generosityofProfessorReillandtheresourcesoftheU. C. L. A.

Dick Popkin and James Force have attended a number of recent conferences where it was apparent that much new and important research was being done in the fields of interpreting Newton's and Spinoza's contributions as biblical scholars and of the relationship between their biblical scholarship and other aspects of their particular philosophies. This collection represents the best current research in this area. It stands alone as the only work to bring together the best current work on these topics. Its primary audience is specialised scholars of the thought of Newton and Spinoza as well as historians of the philosophical ideas of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Over the past twenty-five years - since the very large collection of Newton's papers became available and began to be seriously examined - the beginnings of a new picture of Newton has emerged. This volume of essays builds upon the foundation of its authors in their previous works and extends and elaborates the emerging picture of the `new' Newton, the great synthesizer of science and religion as revealed in his intellectual context.

Thanks to the work of legions of scholars, the millenarian expectations within large segments of the population in Cromwellian England have been carefully examined. The widespread belief that England, with its messianic leader 1 Cromwell, heralded the millennium is well known. Less well examined, perhaps, has been the cultural conceptions of the role of millenarian and messianic ideas in the "long" eighteenth century. Especially during the stable Hanoverian era - until the American and French Revolutions - the common­ place millennial expectations of the English Civil War appeared to recede. By the end of the eighteenth century, with the Napoleonic wars, millenarian views and interpretations underwent a minor renaissance but with nothing like the fervor, it is commonly thought, of the Puritan era when so many believed that the end was near. By the end of the eighteenth century, so the "official" story goes, the religious sceptics and deists of Enlightened England such as David Hume had done too well their work of tarring such religious radicalism with the brush of "enthusiasm. " Happily, this "official" interpretation of the events of the early modern period - in which scholars have too often taken their cue from writers such as Hume and simply ignored millenarian contexts and expectations in the Age of Reason - has undergone a marked shift in the past twenty years.

Sir Isaac Newton's pre-eminence in the history of science remains ?xed, yet the picture which we have of the whole man, and of the in?uence of his wide-ranging intellect, has been changing rapidly as scholars have incre- ingly taken cognizance of those aspects of Newton's thought hitherto hidden in his unpublished manuscripts. At the start of the third millennium, we ?nd ourselves poised to launch the greatest revolution yet in Newton studies as an international team of scholars has been assembled to publish all of Newton's widely scattered unpublished papers. The William Andrews Clark Memorial LibraryhasbeenassociatedwiththeworldofNewtonianscholarshipforsome yearsthroughitspurchase,in1961,ofanimportantmanuscript("Paradoxical Questions concerning ye morals & Actions of Athanasius & his followers") and through its long association with Professor Richard H. Popkin (U. C. L. A. ) and Professor James E. Force (University of Kentucky). Through the g- th th erous sponsorship of both the U. C. L. A. Center for 17 - and 18 -Century Studies and the U. C. L. A. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library-which areunderthedirectionofProfessorPeterH.Reill-ProfessorsForceandP- kinwereabletostageaseriesofClarkLibraryconferencesdevotedtoNewton throughout the 1990s. The papers delivered at these conferences evolved into a series of important edited volumes whose general theme was the centrality of theological and religious ideas to Newton's intellectual formation. In the present volume, this longstanding project continues. Once again thanks to the th generosityofProfessorReillandtheresourcesoftheU. C. L. A.

This collection of essays is the fruit of about fifteen years of discussion and research by James Force and me. As I look back on it, our interest and concern with Newton's theological ideas began in 1975 at Washington University in St. Louis. James Force was a graduate student in philosophy and I was a professor there. For a few years before, I had been doing research and writing on Millenarianism and Messianism in the 17th and 18th centuries, touching occasionally on Newton. I had bought a copy of Newton's Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John for a few pounds and, occasionally, read in it. In the Spring of 1975 I was giving a graduate seminar on Millenarian and Messianic ideas in the development of modem philosophy. Force was in the seminar. One day he came very excitedly up to me and said he wanted to write his dissertation on William Whiston. At that point in history, the only thing that came to my mind about Whiston was that he had published a, or the, standard translation of Josephus (which I also happened to have in my library. ) Force told me about the amazing views he had found in Whiston's notes on Josephus and in some of the few writings he could find in St. Louis by, or about, Whiston, who was Newton's successor as Lucasian Professor of mathematics at Cambridge and who wrote inordinately on Millenarian theology.