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. The next three chapters show that advocates of pantheism likewise drew heavily on contemporary scientific theories in advancing and defending their pantheistic views of God, the world, humans, ethics, science and religion, and the future of religion. They were strongly attracted to theories that implied a unified and creative universe, such as the correlation of forces, the idea of living matter, and the evolutionary theory of life. Scientific practitioners John Tyndall and Thomas Huxley and evolutionary philosopher Herbert Spencer were their most popular scientific sources. In consequence of pantheistic uses of science, these writers and their theories were sometimes criticised for being pantheistic, and pantheism was often treated as a science-related threat by Christian critics. This dissertation demonstrates that pantheism was more widely accepted in Victorian Britain than has been previously recognised and that pantheistic thinkers drew extensively on science. 3 Table of Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 9 Historiography ............................................................................................................ 14 Pantheism as a Historian’s Category .......................................................................... 25 Dissertation Structure ................................................................................................ 32 1 Pantheism in Victorian Britain ................................................................................. 35 1.1 Pantheistic Traditions ........................................................................................... 36 1.1.1 Spinoza and German Idealistic Pantheism .................................................... 36 1.1.2 Poetical Pantheism ........................................................................................ 42 1.1.3 Materialistic Pantheism ................................................................................. 50 1.2 Changing Views of Pantheism .............................................................................. 57 1.2.1 Growing Concerns with Pantheism from the 1830s to the 1850s ................ 57 1.2.2 New Supports for Pantheism from the 1860s to the 1890s .......................... 62 1.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 74 2 Diverse Ways to Pantheism in Victorian Britain ...................................................... 77 2.1 John Hunt (1827–1907), Church of England Clergyman and Historian................ 81 2.1.1 Hunt’s Life and Publications .......................................................................... 81 2.1.2 Hunt’s Support for Pantheism ....................................................................... 84 2.2 Alfred Barratt (1844–1881), Anglican Layman and Oxford Fellow ...................... 90 2.2.1 Barratt’s Life and Publications ....................................................................... 90 2.2.2 Barratt’s Pantheistic Ideas ............................................................................. 91 2.3 James Martineau (1805–1900), Unitarian Minister ............................................. 93 4 2.3.1 Martineau’s Life and Publications ................................................................. 93 2.3.2 Martineau’s Pantheistic Ideas ....................................................................... 94 2.4 Thomas Elford Poynting (1813–1878), Unitarian Minister and Teacher on Scientific Subjects ....................................................................................................... 98 2.4.1 Poynting’s Life and Publications .................................................................... 98 2.4.2 Poynting’s Higher Pantheism ....................................................................... 100 2.5 James Allanson Picton (1832–1910), Congregational Minister and Politician ... 102 2.5.1 Picton’s Life and Publications ...................................................................... 102 2.5.2 Picton’s Christian Pantheism or the Religion of the Universe ..................... 105 2.6 James Hinton (1822–1875), Surgeon and Preacher of Hintonism ..................... 112 2.6.1 Hinton’s Early Life and Intellectual Development ....................................... 112 2.6.2 The Development of Hinton’s Pantheistic Philosophy ................................ 114 2.7 Charles Bray (1811–1884), Non-Sectarian, Manufacturer, and Lay Phrenologist .................................................................................................................................. 122 2.7.1 Bray’s Life and Intellectual Development .................................................... 123 2.8 Constance E. Plumptre (1848–1929), Writer on Occult Philosophies and Supporter of Secularism ............................................................................................................ 128 2.8.1 Plumptre’s Life and Publications ................................................................. 128 2.8.2 Plumptre’s Support for Pantheism .............................................................. 130 2.9 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 134 3 Pantheistic Uses of the Science of Force ............................................................... 137 3.1 Scientific Theories of Force ................................................................................ 138 3.1.1 The Concept of Force ................................................................................... 138 3.1.2 The Correlation of Forces and the Conservation of Force .......................... 141 3.1.2.1 William Grove and the Correlation of physical forces ......................... 143 3.1.2.2 Michael Faraday and the Conservation of Force ................................. 146 5 3.1.2.3 William Carpenter and the Correlation of Vital, Mental, and Physical Forces ............................................................................................................... 147 3.1.3 Matter-as-Force Theories ............................................................................ 151 3.1.4 Hans Christian Oersted and the Unity of Mind in Nature ........................... 154 3.2 Pantheistic Uses of Scientific Theories of Force ................................................. 155 3.2.1 James Martineau and the Correlation of Forces and the Unity of Mind .... 156 3.2.2 Thomas Elford Poynting and the Ideas of Matter-as-Force and Force-as-Mind .............................................................................................................................. 160 3.2.3 Constance Plumptre and James Allanson Picton and Conservation Theories .............................................................................................................................. 166 3.2.4 Charles Bray and His Theory of Force-as-God ............................................. 169 3.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 176 4 Pantheistic Uses of the Science of Matter ............................................................ 179 4.1 Scientific Theories of Matter .............................................................................. 180 4.1.1 The New Atomism as the Consensus