Pantheism and Science in Victorian Britain
Pantheism and Science in Victorian Britain Jincheng Shi Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science September 2018 Intellectual Property and Publication Statements The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Jincheng Shi to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by Jincheng Shi in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 1 Abstract In discussing the relationship between science and religion during the Victorian period, historians have paid much attention to Christian monotheism, deism, spiritualism, materialism, agnosticism, and atheism; however, pantheism has received little attention. Yet the Victorians published thousands of discussions of pantheism, which shows that pantheism was a significant religious position in the Victorian ferment of faith. Through exploring these writings, this dissertation shows that there was considerable interest in pantheism among Victorian thinkers concerning the viability of pantheism and its relationship with science. The first two chapters present a general account of pantheism in Victorian Britain, with eight Victorian advocates of pantheism being identified and their lives and philosophies being introduced. These people are John Hunt, Alfred Barratt, James Martineau, Thomas Elford Poynting, James Hinton, James Allanson Picton, Charles Bray, and Constance Plumptre. As science became the dominant intellectual authority in Victorian Britain, many Victorian religious thinkers made use of it in support of their religious doctrines.
[Show full text]