God's Word Questioned: Biblical Criticism and Scriptural Authority

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

God's Word Questioned: Biblical Criticism and Scriptural Authority God’s Word Questioned: Biblical Criticism and Scriptural Authority in the Dutch Golden Age Utrecht, 30 August- 1 September 2012 Academiegebouw Domplein 29, 3512 JE Utrecht (030) 253 8259 THURSDAY, 30 AUGUST 2012: PHILOLOGY 9: 00-9:45: Coffee, tea Opening 9:45-10:00: Henk Nellen An Outline of Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age, I: The First Half of the Century 10:00-10:15 Piet Steenbakkers An Outline of Biblical Criticism in the Dutch Golden Age, II: The Second Half of the Century 1. Philology I: Greek and Latin Scholars 10:30-11:00 Grantley McDonald Erasmus, the Johannine Comma and the Politics of Biblical Scholarship 11:00-11:30: Coffee break 11:30-12:00: Ralph Häfner Biblical Poetry and the Challenge of Biblical Criticism in the Early Seventeenth Century 12:00-12:30: Dirk van Miert The Janus Face of Scaliger’s Heritage: Heinsius and Grotius 12:30-13:00: Jan Krans Stronger than Fiction. The ‘Velesian Readings’ of the Greek New Testament 13:00-14:30: Lunch 2. Philology II: Hebrew scholars 14:30-15:00 Irene Zwiep and David Kromhout The Jewish Bible in the Seventeenth Century 15:00-15:30 Theodor Dunkelgrün The Biblia Hebraica (1666-67) of Joseph Athias and Johannes Leusden 15:30-16:00 Tea break 16:00-16:30: Jason Rosenblatt John Selden Distributes What Hugo Grotius Condenses: a Case Study of Rabbinic Exegesis of Scripture 16:30-17:00 Martin Mulsow Johann Ernst Gerhard’s Oriental Studies and Dutch Biblical Scholarship 19:00: Conference dinner FRIDAY, 31 AUGUST: REMONSTRANTS AND SPINOZISTS 9: 00-9:30: Coffee, tea 3. Orthodox Calvinists versus Remonstrant Latitudinarians 9:30-10:00: Aza Goudriaan Views on the Bible and the World in Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) 10:00-10:30 Kestutis Daugirdas The Biblical Hermeneutics of Philipp van Limborch and its Historical Challenges 10:30-11:00: Coffee break 11:00-11:30: Keith Stanglin Inspiration and Authority of Scripture in Simon Episcopius and Etienne de Courcelles 11:30-12:00 Jetze Touber Cocceian Biblical Studies in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century 12:00-13:30 Lunch 4. Spinoza 13:30-14:00 Pierre-François Moreau Spinoza et le Tractatus theologico-politicus: problèmes et controverses 14:00-14:30 Theo Verbeek Chapter 7 of the Tractatus theologico-politicus: What is it all about? 14:30-16:00 2 hour break 16:00-17:30: Pick up and drive to Amsterdam, Nieuwmarkt 17:30-19:30: Dinner (at own costs) near Nieuwmarkt (it is advisable to start ordering dinner between 17:45 and 18:00). 20:00-22:30: Friday Evening: Public Lectures Spinoza’s critique on God’s Word: Bashing the Bible? Venue: Trippenhuis (address: Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam; close to Nieuwmarkt Square) Chair: Wijnand Mijnhardt (director Descartes Centre Utrecht) 20:00-20:30: Anthony Grafton Spinoza’s Hermeneutics: Some Heretical Thoughts? 20:45-21:15: Jonathan Israel Did Spinoza Declare War on Theology and Theologians? 21:15-21:45: Audience discussion 21:45-22:00: Book presentation Isaac Vossius (1618-1689) between Science and Scholarship, eds Eric Jorink and Dirk van Miert Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 214, Leiden and Boston (Brill) 2012 22:00: Drinks SATURDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER: LATER SCHOLARSHIP 9: 00-9:30 Coffee, tea 5. Late Seventeenth-Century Biblical Scholarship 9:30-10:00 Scott Mandelbrote Anthonie van Dale (1638-1708) and the Authority of the Septuagint 10:00-10:30 Jonathan Sheehan Scripture against Christianity: Hobbes, Theology, and the Martyrs 10:30-11:00 Coffee break 11:00-11:30 Luisa Simonutti Locke’s Biblical Hermeneutics on Bodily Resurrection 11:30-12:00 Maria Cristina Pitassi Bayle, the Bible and the Remonstrant Tradition 12:00-13:30: Lunch 13:30-14:00 Jean Bernier Pierre Bayle and Bible Scholarship 14:00-14:30 Tea break 6. Early Eighteenth-Century Biblical Scholarship 14:30-15:00: Bernd Roling The Limits of Scepticism: Johann Scheuchzer (1672-1733) and his Followers on Dutch Biblical Criticism 15:00-15:30: Geert Lernout Richard Bentley’s Proposed Edition of the Bible Closure 15:30-16:00 Henk Nellen and Piet Steenbakkers Today’s Last Words on God’s Word 16:00-17:00 Drinks .
Recommended publications
  • Truth and Toleration in Early Modern Thought
    King’s Research Portal Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Antognazza, M. R. (2019). Truth and Toleration in Early Modern Thought. In I. Hunter, & R. Whatmore (Eds.), Philosophy, Rights and Natural Law Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognize and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. •Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research. •You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain •You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the Research Portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
    [Show full text]
  • Philipp Van Limborch Y John Locke. La Influencia Arminiana Sobre La Teología Y Noción De Tolerancia De Locke
    05_ManfredSVENSSON.qxd:Maqueta.qxd 22/6/09 13:01 Página 261 PHILIPP VAN LIMBORCH Y JOHN LOCKE. LA INFLUENCIA ARMINIANA SOBRE LA TEOLOGÍA Y NOCIÓN DE TOLERANCIA DE LOCKE MANFRED SVENSSON Universidad de los Andes, Santiago de Chile RESUMEN: El presente trabajo constituye un análisis del modo en que la principal obra de la teología arminiana del siglo XVII, la Theologia Christiana de Philipp van Limborch, influyó sobre John Locke. El objetivo es doble: mostrar, por una parte, la influencia de van Limborch sobre las reflexiones teológi- cas de John Locke y, por otra parte, el modo en que la concepción de tolerancia de Locke se enmar- ca dentro de ese tipo específico de teología. PALABRAS CLAVE: Locke, van Limborch, tolerancia, teología, necesario-no necesario, adiaphora. Philipp van Limborch and John Locke. The Arminian Influence on Locke’s Theology and Theory of Toleration ABSTRACT: The aim of this essay is to present an analysis of the way in which the principal theological work of Dutch Arminianism of seventeenth-century, Theologia Christiana of Philipp van Limborch influenced John Locke. The aim is twofold: to show, on the one hand, the influence of van Limborch’s theology on Locke’s theological reflections, on the other hand, the way in which Locke’s understanding of tolerance is embedded in this kind of theology. KEY WORDS: Locke, van Limborch, tolerance, theology, necessary-non necessary, adiaphora. I. INTRODUCCIÓN Philipp van Limborch (1633-1712) es un autor hoy completamente desco- nocido. Sin embargo, su nombre es impreso aún hoy con cierta frecuencia, a saber, cada vez que se imprime la Epistola de Tolerantia de Locke, a él dedica- da 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Intolerância Religiosa E Excomunhão Em Amsterdã: O Caso Uriel Da Costa
    INTOLERÂNCIA RELIGIOSA E EXCOMUNHÃO EM AMSTERDÃ: O CASO URIEL DA COSTA Ernania Santana Santos*1 Resumo: A intolerância religiosa apesar de ser um tema ainda tão atual, remonta ao século XVI, e foi responsável por causar várias vítimas ao longo dos tempos, nesse sentido, se insere o caso de Uriel da Costa, cristão-novo que após empreender fuga para Amsterdam, onde havia uma certa liberdade religiosa para praticar o judaísmo, mas por defender ideias ortodoxas terminou sofrendo uma impiedosa perseguição que levou a excomunhão, consequentemente não suportando tamanha desonra cometeu o suicídio. Nesse período Holanda já se apresentava como centro econômico promissor, mas também com várias congregações judaicas e como refúgio para muitos perseguidos de praticar sua fé judaica em regiões onde o santo ofício atuava. Entre a historiografia há uma certa tendência em perceber uma evolução do pensamento de Da Costa dividido por fases transitando desde o catolicismo até o deísmo com paradas no marranismo criptojudaico e no judaísmo mais ortodoxo pelo meio do caminho. Palavras-chave: Intolerância, Excomunhão, Ortodoxia, Heterodoxia ABSTRACT Summary: Religious intolerance despite being a subject still so present, dates back to the sixteenth century, and was responsible for causing several casualties over time, in this sense, fits the case of Uriel da Costa, a New Christian who undertake after escape to Amsterdam, where there was a certain religious freedom to practice Judaism, but to defend orthodox ideas ended up suffering a merciless persecution that led to excommunication, thus not supporting such dishonor committed suicide. During this period the Netherlands has presented itself as promising economic center, but also with various Jewish congregations and as a refuge for many persecuted to practice their Jewish faith in regions where the holy office acted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Letters of Burchard De Volder to Philipp Van Limborch
    THE LETTERS OF BURCHARD DE VOLDER TO PHILIPP VAN LIMBORCH ANDREA STRAZZONI In these notes I provide the transcription and annotated edition of the only four extant letters of the Dutch Cartesian-inspired philosopher and mathem- atician Burchard de Volder (1643–1709), professor at Leiden from 1670 to 1705, to the Remonstrant theologian Philipp van Limborch (1633–1712), pro- fessor of theology in the Amsterdam Remonstrant seminary from 1668 to 1712. As the reader can find detailed reconstructions both of De Volder’s and Van Limborch’s lives and intellectual paths in a variety of secondary sources,1 it is enough to give here some insights into their direct connections only, be- fore turning to the correspondence itself. Burchard de Volder, born in Amsterdam in 1643 son of Joost de Volder, Mennonite landscape painter and translator of Hugo Grotius’s De veritate reli- gionis Christianae (1627) into Dutch,2 received his master’s degree at Utrecht in 1660 (under Johannes de Bruyn), and his medical doctorate at Leiden on 3 1 As to De Volder, see KLEVER 1988; WIESENFELDT 2002, 54–64, 99–132; WIESENFELDT 2003; LODGE 2005; NYDEN 2013; NYDEN 2014; VAN BUNGE 2013; VAN BUNGE 2017. As to Van Limborch, see BARNOUW 1963; SIMONUTTI 1984; SIMONUTTI 1990; SIMONUTTI 2002; HICKS 1985; VAN ROODEN, WESSELIUS 1987; DE SCHEPPER 1993; VAN BUNGE 2003; LANDUCCI 2015; DAUGIRDAS 2017. 2 Cf. GROTIUS 1653. On Joost de Volder, see BECK 1972–1991, volume 4, 422–427; WELLER 2009, 216–219; LAMBOUR 2012. 268 Noctua, anno V, n. 2, 2018, ISSN 2284-1180 July 1664 (under Franciscus Sylvius).
    [Show full text]
  • Lutheran Synod Quarterly
    LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 52 • NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 2012 The theological journal of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF........................................................... Gaylin R. Schmeling BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ......................................................... Michael K. Smith LAYOUT EDITOR ................................................................. Daniel J. Hartwig PRINTER ......................................................... Books of the Way of the Lord FACULTY............. Adolph L. Harstad, Thomas A. Kuster, Dennis W. Marzolf, Gaylin R. Schmeling, Michael K. Smith, Erling T. Teigen The Lutheran Synod Quarterly (ISSN: 0360-9685) is edited by the faculty of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary 6 Browns Court Mankato, Minnesota 56001 The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is a continuation of the Clergy Bulletin (1941–1960). The purpose of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly, as was the purpose of the Clergy Bulletin, is to provide a testimony of the theological position of the Evangelical Contents Lutheran Synod and also to promote the academic growth of her clergy roster by providing scholarly articles, rooted in the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures and the LSQ Vol. 52, No. 4 (December 2012) Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. ARTICLES The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is published in March and December with a Perspicuity: The Clarity of Scripture ..............................................267 combined June and September issue. Subscription rates are $25.00 U.S. per year Shawn D. Stafford for domestic subscriptions and $35.00 U.S. per year for international subscriptions. The Formula of Concord in Light of the Overwhelming All subscriptions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the following Arminianism of American Christianity ..........................................301 address: Timothy R. Schmeling Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary The Divine Liturgy and its Use .....................................................335 Attn: Lutheran Synod Quarterly Gaylin R.
    [Show full text]
  • Johannes Hudde (1628-1704) the Person in Whom Science, Technology, and Governance Came Together
    The Most Versatile Scientist, Regent, and VOC Director of the Dutch Golden Age: Johannes Hudde (1628-1704) The person in whom science, technology, and governance came together Michiel van Musscher, Painting of Johannes Hudde, Mayor of Amsterdam and mathematician, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (1686). Name: Theodorus M.A.M. de Jong Student number: 5936462 Number of words: 32,377 Date: 14-7-2018 E-mail address: [email protected] Supervisors: prof. dr. Rienk Vermij & dr. David Baneke Master: History and Philosophy of Science University: Utrecht University Table of Content blz. Introduction 4 1. Hudde as a student of the Cartesian philosopher Johannes de Raeij 10 The master as student 10 Descartes’ natural philosophy in De Raeij’s Clavis 12 2. Does the Earth move? 16 The pamphlet war between Hudde and Du Bois 16 3. The introduction of practical and ‘new’ mathematics at Leiden University 23 The Leiden engineering school: Duytsche Mathematique 24 Hudde’s improvement of Cartesian mathematics 25 Hudde’s method of solving high-degree equations and finding the extremes 27 4. The operation of microscopic lenses in theory and practice 30 Hudde’s theoretical treatise on spherical aberration, Specilla Circularia 30 Hudde’s alternative to lens grinding 31 5. Hudde’s question about the existence of only one God 35 Hudde’s correspondence with Spinoza 35 Hudde’s correspondence with Locke 40 6. From scholar to regent 47 Origin and background 47 The road to mayor 48 Hudde as an advisor to the States-General 50 The finances of the State of Holland 52 The two nephews: Hudde and Witsen 54 7.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Pursuing Christian Love According to the Theology of John Wesley A
    Pursuing Christian Love According to the Theology of John Wesley A Thesis Submitted to the University of Manchester For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Faculty of Humanities 2017 Michael H. Browder, Jr. School of Arts, Languages, and Culture Nazarene Theological College Manchester 1 Contents List of Diagrams 5 Abbreviations 6 Abstract 7 Declaration 8 Copyright 9 Dedication 10 Acknowledgments 11 Chapter 1: Introducing Wesley’s Aims 12 Background to Wesley’s Ministry: A Search for True Religion 15 The Goal of Christian Living 18 Debates in Secondary Literature 20 Summary of this Project 30 Chapter 2: Active and Passive 32 A Mighty Typology 32 Highlights from Eighteenth Century Libertarians 38 Approach for Clarifying Active and Passive 40 Preliminary Illustrations 41 Illustrations of the Active Dimension 41 Illustrations of the Passive Dimension 43 Illustrations of Focus 44 Two Kinds of Spiritual Growth in John Wesley’s View of Moral Agency 48 For Wesley, Liberty is Action 50 Responding to Secondary Literature: Harris v. Long 53 Chapter 3: The Will and Liberty 59 Other Views of the Will 59 The Will “Properly Speaking” 63 Free Will 65 2 Responding to Edwards? 68 Responding to Secondary Literature: Outler on Liberty 71 Chapter 4: The Heart 77 Desires of the Heart 78 Happiness 81 The Language of Tempers, Dispositions, and Affections 83 The “Fire” and “Flames” of the Heart 88 Practical Reason and the Heart 91 Responding to Secondary Literature: Clapper, Maddox, and Collins on the Affections 94 Summarizing the First Task of this Project
    [Show full text]
  • Representation and the Fall∗
    Modern Intellectual History,page1 of 30 C Cambridge University Press 2018 doi:10.1017/S1479244318000501 representation and the fall∗ eric nelson Department of Government, Harvard University E-mail: [email protected] This article makes the case that the early modern debate over political representation was deeply intertwined with a theological debate over the Fall. The “resemblance” theory of representation adopted by English Parliamentarians was first formulated by Calvinists to make the case that Adam represented humanity, despite the fact that humanity had never authorized him to act in their name. The Royalist rejoinder, which treated authorization as a necessary and sufficient condition of representation, began life instead as a Pelagian response to Calvinist orthodoxy. This theological dispute provides a crucial context for the interventions of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. i John Locke opens his essay on The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)with a striking claim. Since it is “obvious,” he writes, that the Christian “Doctrine of Redemption, and consequently of the Gospel, is founded upon the Supposition of Adam’s Fall,” it follows that, in order to understand “what we are restored to by Jesus Christ, we must first consider what the Scripture shows we lost by Adam.”1 The orthodox answer to this question had been supplied by Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, according to which all of humanity fell with Adam; our spirit is depraved as a result, and we are incapable of meriting election by obeying the law. Rather, we depend utterly on God’s grace, which comes irresistibly to those he has predestined for salvation by means of faith in the Atonement.
    [Show full text]
  • Locke's "God" Problem: Predicating God and Liberty Amid the Secularizing Effect of "Uneasiness"
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2015 Locke's "God" Problem: Predicating God and Liberty Amid the Secularizing Effect of "Uneasiness" Kathleen M. Ryan Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/616 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] i Locke’s “God” Problem: Predicating God and Liberty Amid the Secularizing Effect of “Uneasiness” by Kathleen M. Ryan A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2015 ii © 2015 Kathleen M. Ryan All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. David M. Rosenthal __________________ ________________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Prof. John Greenwood __________________ ________________________________________________ Date Executive Officer Supervisory Committee Prof. Bernard Baumrin Prof. Joseph Dauben Prof. Peter Phillips Simpson Prof. Catherine Wilson THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract Locke’s “God” Problem: Predicating God and Liberty Amid the Secularizing Effect of “Uneasiness” by Kathleen M. Ryan Advisor: Professor Bernard Baumrin Notorious among philosophy texts, Locke’s Essay stands between the God-intoxicated 17th century and the science-intoxicated 18th century and has had a significant role in the transition of the one intoxication to the other.
    [Show full text]
  • Socinianism, Islam and the Radical Uses of Arabic Scholarship
    AL-QANÆARA XXXI 2, julio-diciembre 2010 pp. 549-586 ISSN 0211-3589 SoCiNiANiSm, iSlAm ANd ThE rAdiCAl uSES of ArAbiC SCholArShiP El SOCiNiANiSmO, El iSlAm Y lOS uSOS rAdiCAlES dE lA ErudiCióN árAbE MARTIN MULSOW Erfurt University Socinianism —or, broader: anti-trinitarian- El socinianismo, o más ampliamente el anti- ism— was often paralleled to islam: both trinitarismo, fue comparado muchas veces the Christian heresy and the muslim reli- con el islam: tanto la herejía cristiana como gion reject the doctrine of the Trinity and la religión musulmana rechazan la doctrina regard Jesus only as a prophet, not as a de la Trinidad y consideran que Jesús fue god. There are indeed numerous historical tan solo un profeta y no un dios. de hecho, connections between both currents. From hay numerosos vínculos históricos entre las michael Servetus onward, the Qur’ān and dos corrientes. desde miguel Servet, el Co- islamic writings had an impact on the rán y las escrituras islámicas tuvieron un emerging Socinian critique. Antitrinitarians gran impacto en la crítica emergente socinia- tried to establish a historical genealogy na. los antitrinitarios intentaron establecer from early (Ebionite) Christianity through una genealogía histórica que iba desde el islam (which preserved the true monotheis- primer cristianismo de los ebionitas hasta el tic idea) to the present. They often took presente, pasando por el islam (que preservó their knowledge from much more orthodox la verdadera idea monoteísta). A menudo los Christian Arabist scholarship, which pro- antitrinitarios adquirieron sus conocimientos vided e.g. translations of passages from al- de las obras mucho más ortodoxas de los Qarāfī’s critique of St.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    BLBK574-01 BLBK574-Stuart Printer: Yet to Come August 13, 2015 11:51 Trim: 244mm × 170mm Part I Life and Background COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 25 BLBK574-01 BLBK574-Stuart Printer: Yet to Come August 13, 2015 11:51 Trim: 244mm × 170mm 26 BLBK574-01 BLBK574-Stuart Printer: Yet to Come August 13, 2015 11:51 Trim: 244mm × 170mm 1 Locke’s Life MARK GOLDIE When John Locke was born, in 1632, England’s universities were dominated by Scholastic Aristotelianism, its authors obliged to submit their books to censors, its people ruled by a monarch who had ceased to call parliaments, and its worshippers punished if they did not conform to the established Church. When he died, in 1704, England had a burgeoning American and oceanic empire, its armies were crushing the Continental superpower France, its regime was a parliamentary monarchy, its universities were coming to terms with Newton’s Principia, its coffee houses were bestrewn with uncensored print, and Trinitarian Protestants could worship as they chose. During Locke’s childhood, the English overthrew and executed one Stuart monarch, and, in his middle age, deposed another. Locke was both a witness and an agent of England’s transformations, and his own life, like his country’s, turned upon the axis of 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution. Before then, he was obscure and unpublished, and for some years an exile; afterwards, he was famous and pro- lific. In his annus mirabilis, 1689, he published his cardinal work of epistemology, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, his epitome of the Whig theory of liberty and revolution, Two Treatises of Government, and his critique of religious coercion, ALet- ter Concerning Toleration.
    [Show full text]
  • John Locke on Atheism, Catholicism, Antinomianism, and Deism1
    201 Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics, XX, 2018, 3, pp. 201-246. ISSN: 1825-5167 JOHN LOCKE ON ATHEISM, CATHOLICISM, ANTINOMIANISM, 1 AND DEISM DIEGO LUCCI American University in Bulgaria [email protected] ABSTRACT Locke’s religious conception of morality played a primary role in shaping his views on toleration and salvation. In A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), Locke excluded from toleration atheists, whom he considered inherently immoral, and Roman Catholics, whose morals he judged harmful to society. In The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695), he turned to Christian revelation in search of the foundations of morality. His moralist soteriology denied the possibility of salvation to those who, like antinomians and deists, rejected Christ’s moral and salvific message. To Locke, antinomians denied any importance to good works, while deists relied on natural reason alone, thus neglecting the limits of unassisted reason and the weakness of human nature. Nevertheless, Locke’s hostility to antinomianism and deism did not lead him to invoke the civil power against antinomians and deists, whom he judged still able to understand, albeit partially and imperfectly, the divine law and, thus, to behave morally. KEYWORDS Antinomianism, atheism, Catholicism, deism, Locke 1. INTRODUCTION John Locke is widely known as the founder of modern empiricism and the father of political liberalism. However, his works also denote a strong interest 1 This essay is one of the results of a study period I spent at the University of Hamburg from February to July 2018, when I was a Senior Research Fellow of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (MCAS). I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, Prof.
    [Show full text]