Writings on religion

John Locke: Writings on Religion brings together for the first time a broad selection of John Locke's writings on religion and theology, some of which have never been published before.

Locke was a founder and shaper of modern thought and society, and his principal works are among the most influential ever written.

Much that he wrote is either about religion or touches on it, which is not surprising, for he lived and worked during a time of heightened religious sensibility.

Subjects that today would be considered to have little or no bearing on religion were viewed by him and his contemporaries within a theological frame: the nature of knowledge and belief, the origin of ideas, the nature of language, metaphysical questions concerning substance, personal identity, the relation of mind and body, the foundation of morality, the origin of civil society, toleration.

A right understanding of Locke requires that all of his opinions be viewed within this religious frame.

Read together, and in context, these writings illustrate the deep and pervasive religious motivation in Locke's thought.

They are key texts in intellectual history.