Atheism and deism revalued heterodox religious identities in Britain, 1650-1800 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2014)
Cover; Contents; Notes on Contributors; Foreword; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction: Atheism and Deism Revived; 2Atheism and Deism Demythologized; 3Thomas Hobbes, 'Father of Atheists'; 4Deism, Biblical Hermeneutics and Philology; 5The Undivulged Event in Toland's Christianity Not Mysterious; 6Collins's Cicero, Freethinker; 7 Blasphemy in the Eighteenth Century; 8 William Wollaston's Religion of Nature; 9 'God can require nothing of us, but what makes for our Happiness'; 10 'God always acts suitable to his character, as a wise and good being'
11 'Atheists or Deists, more charitable than superstitious Zealots'12Was Hume an Atheist?; 13 Henry Dodwell the Younger's Attack on Christianity; 14Gibbon's Heterodoxy: Private Belief and Public Profession; Afterword; Index
In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the terms 'atheism' and 'deism' involved fine distinctions that have not always been preserved by later scholars. The original deployment and usage of these terms were often more complicated than much of the historical scholarship suggests. Offering new perspectives on a range of prominent figures, this collection problematises the older view that individuals were atheist or deists in a straightforward sense and instead explores the plurality and flexibility of religious identities during this period