This lecture focuses on Anthony Collins, one of the major figures in the Deist movement, and includes responses by Bentley, Leland, and Chandler. The modern scholar Richard Hays is discussed as an extension of Chandler’s arguments.
Lecture 08: Anthony Collins on Free-Thinking and Christianity
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The Deist Controversy was an extended debate that took place first in England and then Continental Europe roughly from the late 1600s through the mid 1700s. The deists, most of whom believed that there was a god worthy of worship who had created the world, denied special divine action beyond creation. Hence they claimed that Christianity as a revealed religion was false or even contemptible. A wide array of scholars responded to the deists and the resulting arguments shaped a landscape of...