"Rational Religion" in Restoration England

Relocating the Conflict Between Science and Religion at the Foundations of the History of Science

“…Numerous scholars have also noted the close association between the Cambridge Platonists and English Latitudinarian divines, who similarly sought to minimize doctrinal discord by emphasizing human reason in understanding revelation. Indeed, the tendencies of the Cambridge Platonists found fuller expression in the rational theology of the Latitudinarians, which included such men as William Chillingworth (1602–1644), John Wilkins (1614–1672), Simon Patrick (1626–1707), Isaac Barrow (1630–1677), John Tillotson (1630–1694), Edward Stillingfleet (1635–1699), Joseph Glanvill (1636–1680), and Gilbert Burnet (1643–1715), among others (Shapiro ; Marshall ; Spurr ; Griffin ; Spellman ). Tillotson, a skilled preacher at Lincolns Inn and later Archbishop of Canterbury, was perhaps the most effective communicator of the Latitudinarian message.…”

Enlightenment and Religious Politics in Restoration England

“…42 Spurr recognized that when contemporaries referred to 'rational' or 'moderate' religion (the supposed trademarks of latitudinarianism), they were both attempting to claim a label for their own ideological perspective that was coveted by many other groups in the period, and referring to a set a of scholarly resources that were in fact employed by most learned Restoration churchmen. 43 Most of what we normally refer to as 'rational' descriptions of religion in this period are better described as rhetorical or historical ones, since they were primarily produced by the evaluation and use of testimony. 44 The widespread appeals to 'rational religion' in this period therefore indicate the extent to which he historical culture of the early Enlightenment had become a common, contested ground in late seventeenth century religious politics, a set of resources that could support a variety of agendas.…”

The Faith of Unbelief: Rochester's “Satyre,” Deism, and Religious Freethinking in Seventeenth-Century England

“…12 However, the more the orthodox produced rational defenses of Christianity against the doubts of the infidels, the more the infidels rejected reason itself as merely another instance of doctrinal humbug. 13 Referring to Rochester's "Satyre," Stillingfleet expresses the culmination of this predicament thus: "And because it is impossible to defend their extravagant courses by Reason, the only way left for them is to make Satyrical Invectives against Reason; as though it were the most uncertain, foolish and (I had almost said) unreasonable thing in the World." 14 In this rendering, the unbelievers' heterodoxy turns out to lie more in their dismissal than in their glorification of the powers of reason.…”