St. Augustine’s Press

John Locke and Christianity

Nuovo, Victor

Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity, published anonymously in 1695, entered a world upset by fierce theological conflict and immediately became a subject of controversy. At issue were the author’s intentions. John Edwards labeled it a Socinian work and charged that it was subversive not only of Christianity but of religion itself; others praised it as a sure preservative of both. Few understood Locke’s intentions.

This work describes the background to Locke’s book and documents the disputes that followed its publication. Providing an invaluable insight into the context of its conception and reception, it includes contributions by Samual Bold, John Edwards, Charles Blount, and Daniel Waterland, bringing the discussion up to the eighteenth century. Also included is a review found among Locke’s unpublished papers and published here for the first time.