The Cambridge Platonists and early modern philosophy : inventing the philosophy of religion / Samuel M. Kaldas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaldas, Samuel, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in religion and Platonism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cambridge Platonists.

Philosophy, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 314 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

"The seventeenth-century philosophers known as the Cambridge Platonists were recognised in their time as some of England's most influential and controversial philosophers. In this study, Samuel M. Kaldas explores the intellectual contributions of the group, which serve as the foundation for the modern field of philosophy of religion"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Series page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Note on the Text

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: The Cambridge Platonists and Philosophy of Religion

Part I The Origins of Cambridge Platonism

1 Learned and Ingenious Men

The Lives and Times of the Cambridge Platonists

Benjamin Whichcote (1609-1683)

Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688)

John Smith (c. 1618-1652)

Henry More (c. 1614-1687)

On the Idea (and Existence) of Cambridge Platonism

The Evidence of the Eight Letters

The Learned and Ingenious Men and Their Platonic 'Veine of Doctrine'

2 'Plato and His Scholars': Early Cambridge Platonism

What Is a Platonist?

The 'Public Profession of Platonism' at Cambridge

University and College Life

Henry More

Ralph Cudworth

John Worthington

John Smith

John Sadler and Peter Sterry

Laurence Sarson

Early Cambridge Platonism, c. 1635-1640

3 Puritanism and Predestination

Puritanism and Reformed Theology, 1600-1640

The English Puritans

Double Predestination

The Rise of Anti-Calvinism: 'Arminianism' and 'Laudianism'

'A Cataclysmic Showdown'

Puritans in Power

Calvinism and Anti-Calvinism at Cambridge, c. 1626-1649

Emmanuel and Christ's: Puritan Seminaries

'The Godly Emmanuel Mafia'

Philosophy in the Puritan Colleges

Pricking the Conscience

Cambridge Anti-Calvinists

4 Cambridge Platonists versus Cambridge Calvinists: John Goodwin and the 1651 Whichcote-Tuckney Correspondence

The Parliamentary Purges

John Goodwin and Redemption Redeemed

Charles Hotham and the 'Goodwin Fan Club'

Umbra Comitiorum and the 1651 Commencement

Conclusions

Part II Rival Conceptions of God and Goodness: The Platonic Anti-Calvinism of the Cambridge Platonists

5 Goodness and the Will of God: Moral Realism versus Voluntarism

Metaethical Voluntarism in Calvinist Theology

Luther's Bondage of the Will

Calvin's Appeal to Voluntarism

Perkins and Preston: Voluntarism in the Cambridge Calvinists

Ralph Cudworth's Moral Realism

The Commons Sermon: The Euthyphro Dilemma

Dantur Rationes Boni et Mali Aeterni et Indispensabiles

Henry More's Moral Realism

John Smith's Moral Realism

Benjamin Whichcote's Moral Realism

God 'Under the Power of Goodness'

Later Whichcote on Moral Realism

Conclusions

6 Is God an Arbitrary Tyrant? Platonic Participation versus the Decree of Reprobation

The Problem of 'Divine Tyranny'

Arbitrariness and Tyranny in Political Discourse, c. 1620-1650

Reprobation as Divine Tyranny

More, Cudworth and Smith against Divine Tyranny

Whichcote against Divine Tyranny

What Glorifies God? Communication versus Reprobation

Crypto-Realist Defences of Reprobation

Divine Communicative Intent

Reprobation and the Glory of God

Divine and Human Goodness

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 May 2024).

ISBN:

9781009426947

100942694X

9781009426909

1009426907

9781009426930

1009426931