English deism and natural law : the case of Matthew Tindal
Date
1997
Authors
Kavcic, John Andrew
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Abstract
This thesis sets out to explore the problem of the nature of the late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century movement known as English deism. To do so, it takes the case of one of the English deists, Matthew Tindal. Following a detailed examination of a variety of primary and secondary sources, the study draws the following conclusions: that Tindal was not a political nor a social radical but rather a supporter of the post-Glorius Revolution political establishment; that he was not part of a movement of covert atheists but that he did launch a veiled attack on Christianity; that in his chief work, Christianity As Old As the Creation, he uses natural law as one of the cornerstones of his critique of Christianity and hence that the tradition of natural law should be considered as a factor in the intellectual origins of English deism. This study also examines the relation of John Locke to both this movement and Tindal in particular.