This lecture is primarily about the thoughts of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the Earl of Shaftsbury, with a connection to modern thoughts along the same lines. Also, Shaftesbury’s thoughts are here scrutinized by Brown.

Ian Ramsey Centre: The Deist Controversy

Lecture 07: Shaftesbury on Free-Thinking and Religion

The Deist Controversy was an extended debate that took place first in England and then Continental Europe roughly from the late 1600s through the mid 1700s. The deists, most of whom believed that there was a god worthy of worship who had created the world, denied special divine action beyond creation. Hence they claimed that Christianity as a revealed religion was false or even contemptible. A wide array of scholars responded to the deists and the resulting arguments shaped a landscape of ideas that largely persists to the present day. This podcast series consists of eighteen lectures delivered as a graduate-level online course at Western Michigan University, USA, 11 May - 1 July 2015 by Timothy McGrew, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy. The series was produced in collaboration with the Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford University Faculty of Theology and Religion, as part of the Special Divine Action project, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.

About

Ian Ramsey Centre: The Deist Controversy