Religion, Politics and Dissent, 1660-1832

James Bradley's work has illuminated the nature of eighteenth-century Protestant dissent and its relationship with political life. This festschrift begins with an introduction by the editors offering a valuable insight into Bradley's work and his place in contemporary historiography. After reading it, one is tempted to think that the essays which follow will probe particular aspects of his work and ideas. This notion is unfounded for this is not a volume dedicated to a theme; rather, the eleven contributors offer essays relating to a variety of aspects of dissent and politics. Moreover, the majority explore the first half of the long eighteenth century, whereas James Bradley's main contribution has been to the second half of that century. This is not to suggest, however, that they have no relevance to his work. On the contrary, the essays, divided into two parts—the first dealing with religious hetorodoxy and the second with religion, politics, and society—emphasize, as he has done, the importance of context. Generalizations such as the natural alliance of Dissent to Whiggism in the pre-Georgian period, the heretical tendency of Newton and the Newtonians, and the homogeneity of late eighteenth-century heterodoxy are subject to close scrutiny. The picture that emerges is complex, and for the most part, without arguing as such, the essays show that J. C. D. Clark's view that heterodoxy constitutes the essence of the radical challenge to church and state needs modulating, as indeed James Bradley has shown. Dissent was not monolithic, heterodoxy came in many varieties, one generation viewed things very differently from another, preoccupations changed with the times, and events forced the re-appraisal of existing prejudices. Indeed, one is struck by the profoundly different situation of dissent at the beginning of the long eighteenth century when Protestant dissent was created by the expulsion of Presbyterian Anglicans from the established church and suffered severe if fitful persecution until the Revolution of 1688–1689, and the end of the period when significant steps were taken toward the emancipation of dissent from its second class status, and when even heterodox dissent had taken several steps toward respectability. These essays offer rich insights into eighteenth-century Protestantism and are a fitting tribute to their dedicatee, James Bradley. Students of the subject need to read his work and now these essays which honor him are available.

Dissent · Heterodoxy · Orthodoxy · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Religious pluralism · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious studies

• Who Wrote What When

  Open Access•Geert Lernout•European Review•2012

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• Edward Hart

  Simon Lewis•History of European Ideas•2021

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• The Occasional Conformity Controversy, Moderation, and the Anglican Critique of Modernity, 1700–1714

  Open Access•Brent S Sirota•The Historical Journal•2014

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