Man, religion, and politics in the works of Jeremy Taylor.
Date
1971
Authors
Sanger, Peter
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Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is: firstly, to examine the work of the Anglican divine, Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), and show it illuminates various aspects of the intellectual and political history of his time; secondly, to demonstrate that Taylor was one of the progenitors of the natural religion and secularized society of the eighteenth century.
The thesis basically is organized around four main aspects of Taylor's thought: his theories concerning moral activism, epistemology, Nature, and politics. Chapter One serves as an introduction by placing Taylor within the seventeenth century theological context. It adumbrates the themes of the thesis, and provides a summary biography drawn from secondary sources. Chapter Two is concerned with Taylor's bias towards moral activism, while Chapter Three, building upon this foundation, considers Taylor's epistemology. Chapter Four is transitional chapter calculated to summarize the conclusions of the two preceding chapters by showing how they apply to social and religious conduct. In its examination of Taylor's concept of Nature, this chapter also erects the teleological framework for Chapters Five and Six which are expositions of Taylor's political theory. Chapter Seven concludes the thesis by briefly estimating Taylor's influence upon philosophy, religion, and society after his death. In addition it gives a summary view of his work pointing out inconsistencies and weaknesses, and noticing several criticisms levelled either directly at Taylor or at the type of thought which he represented by adherents of an alternative tradition.