John Locke's Christianity

The Biblical Roots of Locke's Theory of Personal Identity

“…Locke emphasized the role of individual responsibility in the pursuit of salvation not only in the Essay , but also in The Reasonableness of Christianity and other theological writings. His moralist soteriology entails a denial of original sin (Spellman 1988; Artis 2012; Lucci 2021, 96−105). In the Reasonableness , he blamed “some Men [who] would have all Adam ’s Posterity doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment for the Transgression of Adam , whom Millions had never heard of, and no one had authorized to transact for him, or be his Representative” (Locke 1999, 5).…”

“…Nevertheless, whereas Locke argued that the Law of Faith had reaffirmed the Law of Nature and had complemented it with a strong incentive to moral conduct, he did not claim that accepting the Law of Faith and believing in otherworldly rewards and sanctions necessarily and unfailingly leads to act morally. He admitted that even those who believe in an afterlife with reward and punishment are still liable to commit evil deeds, due to the imperfection and weakness of human nature (Locke 1975, II.xxi.60−73, 273−87, II.xxviii.12, 356−57; Spellman 1988, 57; Sell 1997, 230; Locke 1999, 19, 120, 130; Lucci 2021, 92). Therefore, he followed the Socinians in emphasizing Christ's promise of God's forgiveness of the repentant faithful.…”

“…It is widely believed that Locke's theory of personal identity resulted from his intention to clarify the principium individuationis in accordance with his way of ideas, which entails an agnostic stance on the ontological constitution of substances, including thinking substances or souls. However, Locke's theory of personal identity was also intended to complement and sustain his moral and theological commitments to a system of otherworldly rewards and sanctions (Weinberg 2011, 398; Boeker 2014., 242; Lucci 2021, 106−33). And, since Locke's views on divine judgment and the afterlife were grounded in his reading of Scripture, his biblical theology also conditioned his notion of personal identity.…”

“…Locke's mortalism has raised the interest of several scholars (Wainwright 1987, 51−56; Almond 1994, 129−30, 140−43; Marshall 1994, 399−401; Higgins‐Biddle 1999, cxxi–cxxii; Marshall 2000, 159−61; Snobelen 2001, 114−20; Ball 2008, 120−26; Giuntini 2015, 239−85; Jolley 2015, 99−115; Simonutti 2019; Lucci 2021, 107−17). However, there is still a need to reassess the role that his mortalist ideas had in his reconsideration of personal identity.…”

“…Some of Locke's critics depicted his views on these matters as inconsistent with traditional scholastic language and as promoting anti‐Trinitarianism, Socinianism, Hobbism, Spinozism, materialism, and even immorality. This debate has received significant attention in historiography on Locke (Sell 1997, 239−67; Marshall 2000, 156−61; Giuntini 2015, 299−331; Lucci 2021, 115−17, 159−73). However, this debate is beyond the scope of this article, which aims at reevaluating the impact of Locke's biblical theology, and hence of his soteriological views and mortalist ideas, on his theory of personal identity.…”